|
articles & white papers on
Talent Retention
& Team
Building
September 9, 2005
HRLook.com
Employees distrust
senior management: Study
Employees have a high
level of distrust in senior management, according to a new survey by Mercer
Human Resource Consulting.
The survey of more
than 1,100 British employees found that fewer than four in 10 employees trust
senior managers to always communicate honestly. That was down from 39 per cent
in 2002.
The findings are similar to a recent Mercer survey in the
United States, where just 40 per cent of employees trust management to
communicate honestly.
The survey also found
that levels of trust decline with length of service. Fifty-seven per cent of
employees with under a year's service trust management to communicate honestly,
which falls to just 26 per cent for employees with 15 or more years. And just 53
per cent of respondents felt their organization does a good job of keeping
employees informed about matters that affect them.
Other findings: 48
per cent thought of respondents there is sufficient contact between managers and
employees in their organization, while 58 per cent thought their manager does a
good job of being available when needed.
http://www.chicagotribune.com
Chicago Tribune -
Chicago,IL,USA
Megan Waitkoff
May 20, 2005
1st female
`Apprentice' gets points for teamwork
The "book smart" real estate professional is hired. The 37-year-old entrepreneur
and mother of two is heading back to Iowa.
In the end, Donald Trump chose Kendra Todd's college credentials over Tana
Goertz's degree from the school of hard knocks, making Todd his first female
"Apprentice." He made the choice Thursday on the live third season finale of
NBC's "The Apprentice."
In the final boardroom battle, Goertz and her team, which she dubbed "The Three
Stooges," ran an event promoting New York as the site for the 2012 Olympics.
Todd, 26, and her teammates successfully coordinated a Best Buy video game
competition. A joyous sob-fest followed. "You're both winners in every sense of
the word," Trump said. But only one can work with the comb-over. Trump chose
Todd, citing her ability to motivate her team.
Her new job: helping Trump renovate a 68,000-square-foot mansion in Palm Beach,
Fla. Her new salary: $250,000.
In the previous two "Apprentice" finales, Trump chose cigar business owner Bill
Rancic to oversee the Trump International Hotel and Tower in Chicago and
software executive Kelly Perdew to work on the Trump Place real estate
development and Trump Ice bottled water projects in New York.
http://www.computerweekly.com
ComputerWeekly.com - UK
by Julia Vowler
Tuesday
17 May 2005
Building team spirit to
boost productivity
The link between staff who work closely in a team and a happy, productive
workplace has been recognised for decades.
Team-building events are often extra-curricular, taking place outside the
office, and are usually a mix of work-oriented and purely social activities.
Their purpose is to simultaneously break down barriers between individuals and
departments and foster an esprit de corps among employees.
However, despite its benefits, an ethos of teamwork has to be balanced against
goals and responsibilities for each employee. Teamworking events and policies
need careful planning and budgeting. At property services group Telereal, winner
of the Best Places to Work Award in the business services category, the
principle of teamwork is one of six core corporate values. "We have a structured
regional events programme - for example, recently we have had wine tasting at
Vinopolis and a trip to Segaworld. We also have an IT football team that
challenges business teams and occasionally wins," said Adam Burstow, IS manager
at Telereal.
The ethos of teamwork extends to Telereal's contract IT staff. "We treat
everyone the same, whether they are contract or permanent," said Burstow. With a
ratio of roughly 50:50 permanent to contract IT staff, that equality of
treatment and attitude is very important, he added. "Our contract staff make a
terrific contribution." The teamwork between permanent and contract staff is so
seamless that many business staff are unaware who is contract staff and who is
permanent. Communication between different departments is encouraged through
formal and informal measures. "All my senior managers sit in the same area,
rather than in their own teams. I also sit with my senior management team, and
so am in constant communication with them," said Burstow.
"We all have a mutual understanding of our roles and responsibilities, and how
we each align to those. I set objectives and identify the different roles needed
to achieve them in a variety of ways, such as delivering, managing and
supporting [each objective]." However, although an emphasis on teamwork brings a
host of benefits - from helping to bond colleagues to working collaboratively -
it is important that it should not become an excuse for staff to shirk their
individual obligations and targets. "Teamworking has to fit within the context
of individual responsibility and ownership [of tasks]," said Burstow. "It is
important that the individual retains clear ownership of their objectives and
the
business benefits they are
responsible for delivering."
In addition, the IT staff have clearly defined targets but are encouraged to
work outside their usual role when necessary to help colleagues. "We are
flexible in how we support each other," said Burstow. "We each have our own
jobs, but sometimes it is a question of 'whoever is there'. Because we are a
team, people will pick that up and support each other."
Teamworking activities and social
networking, for the IT department
and throughout the company are common. The teamwork ethos is also boosted by the
challenging nature of the work at Telereal, said Burstow. "The increasing
complexity of work and speed of change means that there is no place for the
classic stereotype of the computer techie working in a darkened room. Everyone
in my team has to communicate and be a proactive part of our team in IT and
across the business as a whole. I cannot think of anyone who is not constantly
expected to be able to do that."
Burstow stressed that teamwork needs to be nurtured by an organisation. "I think
teamwork needs a lot of attention to help it flourish," he said. "But however
many mechanisms you have in place to create and support teamwork, you can still
be taken by surprise: unanticipated issues come up, or someone doesn't know
something you thought they did." Teamwork also has to adapt to changing IT and
business circumstances. "We constantly try new things in respect of teamwork,"
said Burstow. "Most recently we set up the Telereal Change Programme. It runs
across the whole business, but I am the programme director for it."
One of the programme's benefits has been to provide a structure to help the IT
department plan and track the progress of its projects. "Within IT we will sit
down and run through key projects together, and we have set up all our projects
on our corporate portal so everyone in both IT and business can see the status
on individual projects," said Burstow. "This aids our communication on
projects."
Tips
for successful teamworking
-
A culture of teamworking reduces
excessive competitiveness between staff in the same department, which can harm
overall productivity
-
Teamworking does not arise
spontaneously among staff. It requires an investment of time, attention and
budget to create, maintain, harvest and monitor
-
Teamwork is not an end in itself, and
is justified only when it contributes to overall, long-term productivity
-
Teamworking can help knowledge
transfer between staff
-
Not all teams work well together.
Managers must ensure that the right mix of personalities engage, otherwise
friction can develop in the team, which can be destructive.
http://news.enquirer.com
Cincinnati Enquirer -
Cincinnati,OH,USA
By John
Eckberg
May 15,
2005
You build a team by
building up the individuals
It is an old and tired phrase. But that does not stop Peewee
football coaches, youth baseball coaches, idealistic mid-level managers and
wordy assistant directors of market development from using it again and again
and again: "Think about it," they say. Long pause. "There is no 'I' in
team." And it's true - there's no I in team. Can't argue with that.
But there is an M
and there is an E and that's why many - if not most - people pose a
silent question after being told they will now be one of a handful of people
assigned to a team.
What's in it for ME?
The answer, more often
than not, is frustration, discord and discontent, says Michael Finley, co-author
with Harvey A. Robbins of "The New Why Teams Don't Work: What Goes Wrong and How
to Make It Right" (Berrett-Koehler Publishers). "Teams are made up of people,
and people are not naturally motivated by team goals," Finley said. "People are
motivated by their own goals." What usually happens, Robbins said, is that
something he calls "team tyranny" takes over whenever firms or company divisions
have difficult or improbable tasks and so create a team. "Managers think
everybody has to be on a team, whether it makes sense or not. They go: O
ooooo, humans working together - cooooool. Cool idea."
Except that humans are
not cogs in a machine and they almost never smoothly mesh like gears, wheels,
sprockets and sockets. Robbins has presented seminars about team building to
about 100 groups of an estimated 100 people and done it each year for the last
10 years - that's 100,000 people. "Probably 75 percent of the people in the
sessions will ask about and like the idea of teamwork, but they just can't
figure out how to make them work," Robbins said.
Here are some
suggestions:
"Some people aren't
attractive, and they want to be around attractive people, so they'll want to be
part of the team," Robbins said. "Other people want to be around smart people,
or they don't want to work hard and want to be around people who do work hard.
"It's probably going to be stupid stuff like that."
"Analyticals want it in
writing," Robbins said. "Expressives want the information while they're having a
good time. We say buy them a T-shirt."
-
The most important
aspect of team creation is to set clear goals or objectives and when those
goals are met, disband the group. "Otherwise, it's like dragging a dead horse
around," Robbins said.
The smart team leader
needs to understand that people are always going to have private agendas. "And
to some degree, a smart team leader will allow those agendas to happen," Finley
said.
http://www.expresshotelierandcaterer.com
Express Hotelier & Caterer
- Mumbai,India
May 16, 2005
by
Gene Ference
Is Your Team In
V-Formation? Focus On Teamwork
Geese fly in V-formation for aerodynamic efficiency. Is management
and staff focused on reaching a common goal through teamwork? Employee
satisfaction surveys can help in making sure teams stay focused and fly in
V-formation to customer satisfaction.
In nature, teams work together to more easily achieve common goals.
Wolves hunt together in packs, forming a formidable force to be reckoned with
when they surround and in unison, move in on their prey. They are much more
efficient in a pack than is the proverbial lone wolf. Geese work together when
in flight, taking turns as the leader when forming the familiar V-formation that
aerodynamically cuts the air for more efficient flying. Even ants find better
results through teamwork, whether in building nests or in finding the shortest
route to food as they leave pheromones behind as they walk. As a result, ants
that have found the shortest route to food leave behind more pheromones than
those that have taken a longer route, effectively helping all of the following
ants to take the shorter route.
The same should be said for your property. Every employee should be
focused on reaching a common goal through teamwork. They should have clearly
defined responsibilities that management supports by identifying strengths of
each team member. Team members should be selected to compliment one another by
utilising their differing skills and experiences.
During the team building process, associates' feedback, concerns
and ideas are all important towards developing the team into a well-oiled
machine. Semi-annual and/or annual employee satisfaction surveys can offer a
wealth of knowledge and insight into these areas. Because the responses and
resulting data are kept in strict confidence, the responses are therefore
truthful and informative. HVS/The Ference Group and The Center For Survey
Research has been providing the hotel industry with custom, detailed reports
that have been data-mined from these surveys for over 20 years.
Associates that network and perform as a team in order to respond
to guest's needs allow managers more time to continue to upgrade the working
environment and help celebrate successes. Managers that communicate their
approval and let their team members know of the great job they are doing inspire
their team to even greater heights. Developing their team through education and
allowing them time to problem solve is an investment that pays dividends for
both the individuals as well as the property. Making sure that recognition is
fairly distributed and that the team is appreciated can be an extremely
beneficial tool.
Teams that have fun and enjoy their work will focus on yet higher
goals and be more willing to get the job done, as opposed to employees that
commit only to a humdrum existence of working their shift each day with no
incentives in sight. If at all possible, throw a party, have an outing or invite
your team for an informal get-together after work. Even if you can celebrate a
team's success with pizza for lunch or a cake during a break, it is another
positive reinforcement of the team effort and a building block to future
successes.
Once again, whether or not employees are recognised for the
contributions they are able to make to the success of the property is a
measurable survey question that can aid in furthering recognition and promoting
teamwork. It is extremely important to find out what the team's perception of
their efforts are and not rely only on what management thinks or looks at.
Realising the shortfalls as well as the successes of the teams can initiate new
and improved avenues of attack to acquiring a more satisfied and loyal guest.
In a time when every customer is precious, when every hotel and
casino is seeking a bigger piece of the pie, and when each property is looking
to gain more loyalty in guests returning time and time again, the road to
success may lie in the focus on teamwork. Individuals must work together within
their department to wow the customer. Teams must work together between
departments to present a seamless experience for each guest as well.
Management must focus on supporting, improving, recognising and
rewarding excellence in teamwork. Line staff must focus on using their strengths
and developing a close-knit team that effectively takes care of each guests'
needs. Both management and staff need to focus on celebrating success and having
fun while reaching team goals.
As in nature, when teams come together, they can offer a formidable
force to be reckoned with. Finding that 'V-formation' that cuts through to
service excellence and discovering the shortest route to your goals can provide
limitless success to both individuals and to teams, and ensure that each
property will not only survive in these challenging times, but prosper and grow.
by Stever Robbins
How should we think
about the importance of diversity, and how best to understand and value cultural
differences?
Diversity, the
misunderstood child of the Age of Aquarius and Political Correctness, is an
incredibly powerful tool for an organization. Diversity brings thoughts,
feelings, and cultural knowledge that benefits decision making, marketing,
operations, culture-building, hiring, firing—just about everything a business
does. But its true power comes out only when diversity starts at the top and
pervades the business. Alas, most businesses score dismally when it comes to
understanding and using difference.
In my experience,
many diversity programs are really anti-harassment programs. Someone says
something offensive about a different race, gender, religion, geographic origin,
or sexual orientation. The diversity police jump in and mandate "diversity
training." It's a good thing they jump in—inaction sends the wrong message and
can bring big lawsuits—but the motivation and the training many times boils down
to, "Don't say these things because people get upset." In really enlightened
companies, diversity training happens before it's needed, so that first incident
can be avoided, too.
Don't get me wrong;
diversity training can produce some effect. The true bigots who don't intend to
change at least know now which conversations to save for behind closed doors.
People who are ignorant but care will be able to change a bit. But don't expect
much benefit beyond a decline in harassment.
What is diversity?
Diversity takes
many forms. We mostly notice and legislate the visible stuff: people have
different skin color, talk with different accents, wear different clothes, have
different (dis)abilities, are different ages, have same-sex partners, practice
different religions, and use different hands when they write. Most
discrimination targets the visible stuff, and many anti-harassment programs help
people understand that despite surface differences, deep down all people are
worthwhile and valuable.
Surface diversity
is what we deal with when we wish to avoid problems. We teach people to value
the person within. But it's the diversity within that brings great benefits.
Inner diversity includes the Psych 101 stuff—different personality and work
styles, brain dominance, etc. More subtly, it includes different thinking styles
and different fundamental assumptions about the way the world works.
The
invisible diversities
of
culture, religion, value systems, etc., are where you can reap real business
benefit.
It's easy to assume
outer diversity signals inner diversity and vice versa. Not necessarily. A
professor once remarked within my earshot, "Never again will most of these
students be somewhere with such diversity of race and geographic origin. And
never again will they be somewhere with such uniformity of thought and
attitude."
Inner diversity
gives the biggest bang for your buck. Personality and behavior style profiles
are widely used to help groups identify and talk about inner differences. Not
only can the distinctions help explain why people clash, but used in team
building, they can help you balance the skills needed to finish a project. For
example, one profile distinguishes "people people" from those who are task and
process oriented. If you were designing a customer service call center, you
would involve both profile types so your systems are efficient but also give a
good interpersonal experience.
Profiles can also
help match people with jobs. Using profiles, some companies discover all top
performers share common attributes. With that knowledge, they can do a better
job matching. If Myers-Briggs ESTJs make the best salespeople for your
organization, your chronically dissatisfied engineer whose profile is ESTJ may
become a huge resource if given a chance in sales.
Cultural differences
and deep learning
Though personality diversity is valuable for team building and job matching,
even different personalities from the same culture will share a common set of
cultural assumptions. The invisible diversities of culture, religion, and value
systems are where you can reap real business benefit.
Cultural
differences are where you discover the most basic assumptions that you've never
even questioned. This causes problems; questioning deep assumptions can feel
very threatening. So threatening, in fact, that reactions are defensive
bordering on violent. But if you can manage the emotion and create a safe space
to play "what if," you may find your thinking changes dramatically.
A reader wrote in
last month, "Americans work 50 percent more per week than people in my country
and take four weeks fewer vacation, yet they don't get more done than we did in
my country." America has cultural assumptions about working a lot and measuring
it by face time. A foreigner can point out that there's another way. An American
company that listens and learns might be able to offer six weeks of vacation and
short hours to attract outstanding employees. (And I know of at least one
company that has done this.)
The Dalai Lama
points out in his book The Art of Happiness that Eastern cultures believe
in reincarnation. As such, they approach even daily tasks very differently. So I
tried it (believing, that is, not reincarnating). Believing in future lives
removes a lot of my daily stress in this one and also gives me a much
longer-term time horizon. Suddenly, consuming my grandchildren's oil seems like
a bigger deal, because those grandchildren might be me, reincarnated!
A company that
explores a reincarnation belief might end up taking a long-term view on their
products. Seventh Generation does just that. They produce environmentally
friendly household products. Their cultural source isn't reincarnation, however.
The name refers to the Iroquois Confederacy practice of considering consequences
seven generations out.
Challenging an assumption doesn't automatically
point to opportunity,
but
it's a start.
Cultural differences
can hint at new markets. Gloria Estefan recognized that the American music
business is highly English-centric and has built her own business empire in
America's Latin and Spanish-speaking populations—populations almost invisible in
mainstream media. The wildly popular reality TV show, "Queer Eye for the
Straight Guy," has helped the mainstream world enjoy "gay sensibility," with
USA Today reporting (March 3, 2004) that sales for products mentioned on the
show soar as much as 300 percent.
Challenging an
assumption doesn't automatically point to opportunity, but it's a start. A
European colleague proposed hiring me to speak in his country. I asked, "Where
should I stay? What are the good areas of town?" He was amused. "A very American
question!" he proclaimed. "Have you ever considered a town might have only good
areas?" Um, no. I never had. Even before our current fear-filled time, "bad
areas of town" were a given. Knowing it's possible prompts me to ask how to make
it happen. Is there a business there? I don't know. But an urban planning or
civil engineering firm might find a few trips overseas could trigger some great
ideas.
Some of the ways to
extract diversity's benefits:
-
Identify previously
overlooked cultural markets.
-
Create new products
for existing markets.
-
Change corporate
culture to attract a different employee mix.
-
Form relationships
and making inroads internationally.
-
Get things done in
better ways.
"Comfy" diversity
programs held for compliance reasons that skirt the real issues waste time and
money. Your leadership challenge is to draw out the differences and help the
group safely explore what those differences suggest about the business. You
might find new opportunity, but either way, it's simply the right thing to do in
an increasingly diverse workforce. It helps people feel valued and more
worthwhile, and at the end of the day, why do we even have business if not to
have more worthwhile, valuable lives? That's my underlying assumption,
and if it isn't yours, your first diversity assignment is to try it on for size.
http://www.itbusiness.ca
ITBusiness.ca - Canada
4/27/2005
by Vawn Himmelsbach
Inco
tries fresh approach to IT team building
The mining outfit creates
relationships with toys and games
TORONTO –
Inco Ltd. is one of the largest mining companies in the world,
supplying 20 per cent of the planet’s nickel. While it’s primarily a nickel
company, it also produces copper, precious metals, cobalt and sulphuric acid.
And here were its top IT people from around the world, in a room with
whiteboards and colourful markers, stuffed animals and music playing in the
background. “My first reaction was, is this a daycare centre?” said Subi
Bhandari, vice-president and chief information officer with Inco Ltd., when he
first saw
Capgemini’s Accelerated Solutions Environment (ASE).
Capgemini officially
opened its Toronto ASE Wednesday, one of about 20 ASEs around the world. The
facility is designed for team building and collaboration exercises to help solve
specific business problems. The traditional way to deal with these problems is
to have one-hour meetings, every week, indefinitely. Not everyone shows up every
week and very little actually gets accomplished.
Inco is a highly
distributed company, with operations spread from Sudbury, Ont., to the jungles
of Indonesia. It has refineries in Japan, China and the U.K. And it had a
problem: its IT personnel were located within each different business group,
with no central leadership. To become more cost-effective, Bhandari said the
company needed to come together as a group. For example, if an IT manager in
Sudbury came up with a solution to a problem, it was unlikely that a person in
the middle of the jungle in Indonesia would know about it or be able to make use
of it.
In a two-day session at
the ASE facility, Bhandari brought together employees from as far away as
Australia and Indonesia. While the concept behind the session sounds warm and
fuzzy, he said it was less of a brainstorming session and more of a facilitated
methodology. The goal was to establish a common understanding of its IT strategy
and how that strategy was linked with business, focused on delivering more
cost-effective IT services.
As a result, it
developed an IT transformation program, which is taking place over three to five
years. It’s still in the transformation process, but has been able to fast track
certain projects, as well as articulate its IT strategy to business managers.
“This team (is) closer together despite geographic distances and time zones,” he
said, stressing the importance of collaboration.
Every two weeks,
Bhandari holds a manager’s meeting via telephone and videoconferencing to find
out what each IT department is working on. So far, it’s been able to consolidate
its IT resources and budget for North America. The concept of collaboration is
evolving from transactional-based collaboration to co-creation, according to Rob
Evans, global ASE lead with Capgemini. The best example of co-creation, he said,
is the iPod. This concept didn’t spring from Steve Job’s head, he said, but was
the combined effort of several companies, including Apple, Sony and Toshiba.
It took less than nine
months to develop the iPod – a fact that flies in the face of the assumption
that collaboration is too time-consuming, he said. “That’s not true in business
today and it’s not true when you’re trying to create something new.”The ASE is
designed to work on several levels: rational, emotional and political. “People
don’t dislike change,” he said. “That’s why we buy new ties.” What they resist
is the possibility of failure.
Part of the philosophy
behind the ASE is to bring large groups of people together, to get the politics
out on the table and create a common culture. “It’s a purpose-built environment
that’s peculiarly designed for collaborative work,” he said of the ASE.The
process involves “scan, focus and act,” said Mads Jensen, Toronto ASE lead with
Capgemini. Participants come up with ideas, test them, build models, rebuild
those models and develop an action plan. This environment offers specific
deliverables, he said, and takes traditional barriers out of the process.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com
By WALLACE IMMEN
April 27, 2005
The more
women in groups, the better
Fill a team with
women and you'll get the most creative and innovative results, a new study at
the University of Toronto finds.
"The more women
participating equally in a project, the better the outcome," concludes Jennifer
Berdahl, a business professor at the university's Rotman School of Management
and lead author of a study published in the March issue of the journal Group
Dynamics.
Her research found that, while all teams begin with one person
taking control early, groups of men tend to follow the lead of that dominant
person throughout a project. Women, on the other hand, tend to share leadership
roles and become more egalitarian as the work continues.
"In
a creative project team, it's really important to ensure there is equal
opportunity for participation," Prof. Berdahl says.
She and co-author
Prof. Cameron Anderson of New York University examined the leadership behaviour
of 169 students enrolled in Prof. Berdahl's organizational behaviour courses.
Students were divided into three types of groups: work teams made up mostly of
men, teams with equal numbers of men and women and teams that were predominantly
female.
Each group chose an
organization to study, presented a proposal to the rest of the class and wrote a
project paper. They also answered a questionnaire about their preferences for
egalitarian or hierarchical structures in groups.
The male-led teams
with one dominant leader received poorer grades on their project, which involved
coming up with an original approach to a problem and presenting an analysis of
options. Mixed-sex teams in which a man dominated also scored worse than teams
in which women were actively encouraged to share lead roles.
http://www.scoop.co.nz
Scoop.co.nz (press release) - New
Zealand
27 April 2005
Press Release: Denis Orme
Should
your business place more emphasis on building high-performance teams?
I would
suggest that the first issue is recognising whether or not there is the need for
team building within your company to improve motivation, morale and results. -
or - should team-building exercises/strategies be part and parcel of every
company agenda, regardless of the current climate within your business?
My
conclusion is that the only thing successful companies has is a team of
motivated and focussed people who see the exciting vision or goal for the
business and are working for a company that cares about them and their career.
It goes without saying that also they feel they are being fairly compensated.
There are
three basic types of teams:
1.
Problem-solving.
2. New venture teams.
3. Work process teams.
People
work together or not as the case maybe, depending on climate and motivation
levels within the business. Just because they are in a group is no assurance
that they will work as an effective team.
If, as a
business owner or team leader you do not recognise the following then it is
likely that yours could be an under-performing business or team.
Personality.
If you do
not understand your own personality and the personality of those you are going
to have in your team then you will not understand the most effective way to get
the best out of the team. Personality tests are easy and inexpensive to
administer.
Common goal.
Have team
members helped you to develop the goal of what you are trying to achieve? -- if
they have, then they will be more likely to commit to implementing the goal. If
the goal was just imposed on team members then chances are that it will be less
likely to be achieved.
Resolving
Conflicts.
Do you
currently have any unresolved conflicts? Unresolved conflicts destroy morale and
trust. They become the undercurrent and they feed the grapevine. Make sure you
resolve conflicts in a positive way, and remember to leave the egos of team
members intact.
Communication.
How
active is the grapevine currently? An over-active grapevine probably means that
there is not open communication and environment of mutual trust and respect. You
cannot communicate too often, or in too many different ways in order to get the
message across effectively. Teams go stale -- if you are putting people together
on a longer-term project recognise that they may go stale. Build some short-term
wins into the project and celebrate successes. On a long-term project you may
need to consider rotating members off the team.
Job
Security.
If
you bring a team together to solve problems or for a new venture then in all
likelihood the team will achieve its purpose and disband. What will happen to
team members when the task is complete? Will team members have a job at all, or
will they be going to another department or part of your business? Team members
will start to become anxious as the project nears completion and so I always sit
down with each person 60-90 days before the end of the project in order help
them plan their next career move. This may involve a discussion around helping
them to find a new career path through recruiters or other companies within the
same industry.
With
large corporates there are obviously 'teams' at every level. By sheer weight of
numbers of people in the organisation it means that it will be easier for
non-team types (as opposed to disruptive personalities etc) to function in the
large business setting.
In a
small firm environment not only must each person pull their weight but it is
critical that they all function as part of a team. In a larger firm setting it
is more practical to have people working more autonomously. That said, it is
virtually impossible to effectively grow a business without high-performing
teams. The power of 2+2=5.
Typically
I separate out whether or not the team will be one of close inter-dependant
relationships, or a situation where, even though people may be part of a larger
team they may not need to be actively participating team members. Good examples
would be.
Close-knit team. A group of people in accounting processing jointly all customer
monthly invoices and statements. Time-deadline, common task and a collective
result.
Project
team - say, building a bridge. Part of an overall team with a common goal but a
range of individual tasks towards the team goal. Designers, engineers and then
the actual bridge builders. Independent tasks with regular meetings on the
overall project plan and task activity. In this case a lot more of independent
work and thinking.
Once you
determine whether you need a close-knit team or a team having just a common
project goal you can then assess the personalities of prospective team members
in order to determine if each person will be a good fit for the type of team you
are setting up.
If you
have a dysfunctional team right now chances are you have either unresolved
conflicts or you do not understand, or have learned to work with the different
personality types of team members.
Some
people work for their personal love of the job; others work for personal
fulfillment. Others like to accomplish goals and feel as if they are
contributing to something larger than themselves, something important. Some
people have personal missions they attain through meaningful work.
Others
truly love what they do or the clients they serve. Some like the camaraderie and
interaction with customers and co-workers. Other people like to fill their time
with activity and just so they can pay the bills and do other things with their
life. Some workers like change, challenge, and diverse problems to solve and
others do not.
In my
experience those persons committed to a career path will simply not stay for the
pay check alone.
Not just
to have them remain with the company, but to deliver consistent over-the-top
business results or customer service requires staff to appreciate:
- An exciting believable vision.
- An exciting vibrant company with great values, and
- An environment where leaders or managers of the business are interested in me
and my career growth.
- That they are fairly compensated.
http://www.bangkokpost.com
The Bangkok Post
21 April 2005
Teamwork is Key at Kimberly-Clark
Thailand
Kimberly-Clark Thailand focuses on creating an office environment
that supports and encourages staff members to work at their best and highest
efficiency. ``We consider people as the company's most important asset to help
build our success today, and we look after them very well,'' said human
resources director Siriporn Fuangmarayat.
The consumer products giant has emphasised four pillars of its corporate
strength. The four pillars are being a good employer for whom employees want to
work; providing job security and better-than-expected incentives; rewards to
achieving staff, and helping to build a balance of work and family life. The
four pillars help Kimberly-Clark accomplish its corporate mission, which is to
be the producer of best quality products for consumers around the world.
Mrs Siriporn said the company stresses teamwork and leadership. Staff work
together to build strong brand awareness for Kimberly-Clark, which in turns
leads to consumer confidence and satisfaction. ``Staff members will get very
good rewards and incentives, above expectations, if they help the company
achieve its business goals,'' Mrs Siriporn said.
Low staff turnover proves employees are happy. The company also has an employee
referral programme, where staff members can recommend candidates for vacant
positions. Kimberly-Clark has long focused on training to develop staff skill
and capability. The Thai unit gets support from the parent firm, allowing
employee exchanges among subsidiaries around the world. This encourages staff to
take a wider business perspective and stay up to date about the dynamic consumer
products industry.
Mrs Siriporn says at Kimberly-Clark, staff members are encouraged to set their
own work plans and goals, and to complement the overall company business plan
every year. A 360-degree work assessment plan is to welcome input from staff,
direct and indirect, through bosses as well as colleagues.
The company is confident employees are paid reasonably and the total
compensation packages to staff are competitive in the industry. In 2004, the
Labour Ministry chose Kimberly-Clark Thailand as the company with best
incentives and labour relations.
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