Toojays Blog

Roundabout or a Road block?

I've worked with a lot of organisations, teams and individuals in my career.

During my time I've tended to come across individuals who can be described as 'Roundabouts' or 'Road blockers'. 

What's that you say? Well its those people who either have a 'can do' attitude or a 'more than my jobs worth approach'.

With customer centric strategies adopted by more and more companies and focus, rightly so, being emphasised on going that extra mile for excellence/customer satisfaction, it still surprises me to come across 'road blockers'.

I'm sure you've experienced them, know them and may even work with them. They can be, like road blocks, so frustrating to the drive toward your or your customers goals. The people who tend to say "ohh, I'm not sure about that..." or take a sharp in take of breath...or "I need to think about that/check the precident on that"

In trying to service our customers needs we experience such road blockers.

Now lets be clear..we never ask anyone to do anything that's illegal, in breach of copyright, IP, moral or ethical codes of conduct. Yet we still come across professionals, experts and individuals that appear to be rowing in the wrong direction!

Navigating Road blocks

So how do you deal with Road blockers? Well historically I used to let my frustration drive my actions. I decided that if 'they' weren't willing to play...then I'd distance myself from them and find someone who was on the same page...and who'd help achieve the goals. Seeking out the shortest route as it were.

This may not always be an option though, so in terms of a longer term strategy it has to be about communication.

You need to explain the bigger picture, explain the context of your requst. You also have to clarify the exact requirement of them as well as reducing their concern over the risk/cost/fear or factor impacting on them.

Only by doing this will you stand a chance of removing the Road block and preventing further blockers in the future with them.

Happy driving!

What? I hear you cry...surely the learning we do at the moment, be it 70:20:10 based or otherwise is always collaborative.

We collaborate with the tutor, the author, the fellow delegates, our coach, our work place colleagues. 

I grant you this may well be the case, but I'm specifically talking about how are we learning from other businesses, other organisations and industries.

I know from my experience the more enlightened professional may look to complete a bench marking exercise to rank their current status or situation against a comparible team or unit. 

But how often do we take the oppotunity to actually engage with that other organisation to discuss, debate, learn from and seek inspiration and creativity?

Not that often I'd wager.

In working with a variety of senior teams across organisations and continents it strikes me that I'm in a very unique position of seeing the familiar process of 'team development' work. One thing I note is that there are common issues and problems within these teams.

I understand the sensativity of corporate IP, and trading information so I'm not necessarily suggesting the collaboration is with your industry rival. However, there are a vast amount of companies and senior teams that are set up and deal with similiar operational, logisitical and strategic issues to perhaps your own.

So why not learn from others experience? Learn from their successes and mistakes..speed up your own teams development as a result.

One thing to consider though before you rush to the nearest comparible organisation asking for them to divulge their key to success....is what's in it for them?! The WIFFM factor.

Consider what can you trade with. What could they benefit from. What would they value in exchange for sharing their learning.

Worth a thought...to speed up the learning process at the very least!

With more and more companies and individuals utilising The Cloud and working remotely it's an increasing requirement for Managers to be skilled in leading decentralised teams.

But is managing within The Cloud a foggy issue for Leaders?

The Following article outlines the Four common pitfalls of remote team management that managers should be aware of.

Managing within The Cloud

How are you ensuring you avoid them?

The seemingly never-ending recession and subsequent fear and job insecurity that it brings places immense pressure on managers to maintain focus and motivation, especially when the company is undergoing restructuring or savings drive.

So how do they rebuild confidence and trust within their teams?

It has to be about being transparent and keeping people informed. There's nothing worse than gossip and the internal grapevine for distorting the facts and de-motiving the workforce. 

Managers shouldn't fear telling people how bad it is.

In difficult times its essential to retain your talent, and keep high levels of faith, trust and confidence in order to deliver BAU targets and performance.

Being aware of the emotions that people go through, including the managers themselves is critical to help people move through any transition. The Change Curve model from Kubler Ross can help with this. http://www.toojays.co.uk/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage_default.tpl&product_id=158&category_id=18&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=62

But there are Three simple steps to help maintain morale during and after any restructuring:

1. Be Transparent

Give staff the truth about the company's current position and future plans - they will respect you for this honesty and it will prevent any unfounded fear and concern among employees.

2. Offer Support and Encouragement

For all staff who have survived a redundancy process ongoing support and encouragement can remove any feelings and emotions of guilt and paranoia.

3. Support staff who are being made redundant

By offerring outplacement services this will prove you are a responsible employer. The remaining staff will appreciate your efforts and even the departing staff will talk about you more favourably ensuring your Brand is not tarnished.

 By following these three steps you are on the way to creating the right atmosphere and culture for continued performance under difficult times.

Its a question a lot of managers and team leaders have found themselves asking.

There's a vast amount of Team Building theory and team development models out there and its often difficult to know your Belbins from your (Myers) Briggs!

So cutting through the Adair, Lencioni, SDI, Insight, Tuckmans Forming, Storming, Norming and Performing and many other models, Lee Martin MD of Toojays gives his view on the essential requirements for making your team gel.

"The pressure to create high performing teams that really do deliver is ever increasing. In order to deliver the team must work well and be cohesive. So how do you achieve this? Well whilst there are plenty of models that will help you analyse and assess it really comes down to just FIVE simple steps.

1. Vision

You need to establish a clear vision,direction or goal for the team to work towards. A common understanding of what they are all trying to achieve.By painting the bigger picture they can understand the importance of their specific role within the team, and relate to its integral part in delivering what ever the teams output is. 

2. Roles

Each individual should have a clearly defined role. They should each know what is expected of them, and their parameters of operation. That's to say what they can and can't do within their role. This is particularly important  in empowering them and creating a sense of value, purpose and motivation. 

3. Skills

You should ensure that each member has the necessary skills and tools to carry out the role expected of them. If they don't how can they be expected to deliver? Never under estimate the importance of interpersonal skills in this instance. A lot can be achieved by utilising your EQ and a good network. Ultimately team members should know what support is available to develop their skills and equip them to perform to the optimum level.

4. Reward

Probably the biggest factor that gets forgotten in so many teams is the need to celebrate sucess. Which is a shame as it's the simplest to carry out! A simple well done or pat on the back can go a long way to ensure morale and motivation remain high and the drive to continue to perform stays with the team. If you are looking to present the team with tangible benefits or rewards make sure they match what the Team value..and not what you think they will value! Example...Cakes bought for the team member who hadn't told anyone they were on a diet! Or drinks bought for the tee totaller!

5. Re-align

It's a myth that a team ever really reaches its High Performance Target...as the reality for a really effective team is that the target gets moved. As performance starts to peak you should be looking to re-align the team, setting ever increasingly stretching targets and goals...and of course then following the Steps 1 - 4 again!"

For more information on how to gel your team and achieve a High Performing Team take a look at our Team Building services Toojays Team Building

This month saw Toojays' first engagement with the Croydon branch of John Lewis at Home. The company was on hand to deliver a one day team event, focusing on the current and future states of a High Performing Team.