Posted by Kaitlin King on Mon, Aug 02, 2010 @ 07:10 PM
By Jennifer Porcher, Vice President of Educational Services
“Is your team in conflict?” would be better stated, “Are you creating an environment of healthy debates?”
So often we find companies are more concerned with keeping their team in harmony than challenging one another’s decisions. It sounds right to not have people in disagreement, and it seems like the perfect situation to have constant harmony in the workplace. Isn’t that what we work towards, having a compatible team? We hire different personalities to balance out our strengths and weaknesses, but we don’t always take the time to listen to all perspectives or create an environment where people feel valued and heard.
As Dee W. Hock of Fast Company says, “Never hire or promote in your own image. It is foolish to replicate your strength and idiotic to replicate your weakness. It is essential to employ, trust, and reward those whose perspective, ability, and judgment are radically different from yours. It is rare, for it requires uncommon humility, tolerance, and wisdom.” The point is that we need to see different perspectives to be successful.
Then there are the companies who hire right, but don’t know how to maximize their resources by allowing discord. Why work so hard to create a diverse team if you are not allowing them to voice their individual views? Leaders can break this pattern, and encourage an environment of healthy debate by understanding and applying the following:
- First, know your people. You should have a good idea of how each member of your team makes decisions. You should know each member’s motivation and what drives them to succeed. The better you know your people, the more effectively you can manage the debate.
- Second, develop trust amongst your team. People will not expose themselves if they do not feel they can trust those around them. The best way to gain trust in any situation is to start by exposing vulnerabilities, to encourage team members to let down their guard. This is the most important action a leader can take, but they must lead by example and demonstrate their own vulnerability first. This takes time and consistency to establish, and once it is in place teammates must be given a safe place to reveal their true opinion and feel heard.
- Third, invest in a tool that helps team members understand one another. A personality profile like Myers-Briggs, DISC, or Worktraits™ is an excellent exercise to help with the process of understanding personalities and temperaments. Knowing these differences helps to honor individual uniqueness rather than allowing differences to be a source of irritation. It is not only important for you to know your people, but for your people to know one another.
- Finally, be a leader who is not afraid to “put it out there.” This process requires courage to look at an issue with a genuine desire to work through it. Willingness to hear everyone’s opinion and proof that the opinion is truly heard are vital. Leaders must demonstrate patience, and not take things personally. It’s not always about getting everyone to agree—the process of agreeing to disagree can even be a solution. It’s about hearing all perspectives.
Most people aren’t willing to challenge a thought process because they don’t have all the answers. However, creating a safe environment for healthy debate can encourage your team to express their opinions. By engaging in productive conflict and revealing individual perspectives and opinions, a team can increase a company’s capabilities.
Take the time to know your people, encourage your team members to share their vulnerabilities, invite them to build a strong level of trust with one another, and invest in a resource that provides further understanding of personality differences. Ultimately, allowing your team to feel heard by engaging in healthy debate will inspire a united front of individuals who are determined to see their group succeed. Their determination to collaborate for the greater good will sustain accountability and become your most powerful source of profitability.
Posted by Michael Gunther on Thu, May 27, 2010 @ 05:53 PM
Written by: Michael Gunther
I learned early in life the importance of setting clear roles and responsibilities for work groups. Looking back, I'm amazed that our house full of 17 children was always clean and organized, since in my own household today (with only two of us) we struggle to maintain order. Of course, I have to attribute this early experience to my parents who were ingenuous in their organizational skills.
My First Roles & Responsibilities
We called it the "Job Board," the chart on the kitchen wall that clearly defined the roles and responsibilities assigned to each one of us. Some of the roles were based on skills, some on experience - creating an ideal team environment.
Across the top of the Job Board were the chores that needed to be done; down the left were the list of the family members. The chores each person was responsible for were identified with a star or a mark next to their name. The color of the star or mark indicated whether that chore was to be completed daily or weekly. Some of the more tedious assignments (like dishes) rotated between two or three people, so no one person was stuck doing them day in and day out.
Because each person's tasks were assigned for a full year, we quickly learned to negotiate or swap tasks in order to avoid certain responsibilities on the major holidays like Christmas and Thanksgiving. Of course everyone wanted his or her birthday off as well - this is when I really learned the art of negotiation, but that's another story! Each year as the older siblings moved off to college or the younger siblings developed more skills, my parents would adjust the Job Board accordingly, changing the team dynamic and allowing each of us to adapt to new roles and responsibilities.
The Job Board for Businesses
It is all too common in business today that employee roles and responsibilities are not clearly defined; most leaders rarely, if ever, take the time to analyze the roles of their team members. This leaves employees who want to have a positive impact on their business feeling uncertain about how to make it happen, and business owners continuing to take on tasks that could easily be delegated to their employees if each person's roles and responsibilities were clearly defined.
Without this clarity, an organization's foundation will begin to crack - and things will fall through.
Your Team's Roles & Responsibilities
The Job Board is more than just a happy memory for me; it set a precedent and taught me that developing roles and responsibilities in an organization contribute to its success. I'd like to pass on the following three important strategies that I learned from watching my parents run a successful family.
Set clear roles and responsibilities. Make the time to ensure every employee in your organization understands their role as a team member - and what their role means for the future of the organization.
Evaluate employee roles annually, at a minimum. As team dynamics and industry change, so should employee roles. For example, last year at Collaboration, we didn't have a role for social media; today we have two people who hold various responsibilities in managing our social media projects.
Develop team growth plans. As a leader, you should always be analyzing your own tasks and role to determine whether someone else on you team should be performing them - allowing you to change your functions as well.
The Bottom Line
Take some time to develop a "Job Board" for your team. Clearly identify their capabilities, and then identify tasks or roles that they can own. Be sure to include some of the tasks on your own plate. Create an action plan to train your staff on their new roles, and prepare yourself to let go of the roles you are transferring. Speaking of, I have to run... and update Collaboration's Job Board!
This is the third in a series of articles on Michael's entrepreneurial story and how being raised in a large family influenced his career. To read the previous articles in this series, go to www.collaboration-llc.com/our-blog. You can email Michael at MGunther@collaboration-llc.com or call him at (805) 541-9040.
Michael Gunther is Founder and President of Collaboration LLC, a team of highly skilled business professionals who are dedicated to assisting proactive business owners to build profitable, sustainable businesses through results-oriented education, coaching, and consulting services. Learn more at www.collaboration-llc.com.
Posted by Eric Hubbs on Fri, Apr 30, 2010 @ 05:34 PM
Ever wonder what great organizations have in common? My experience has shown that these organizations' leaders and management teams have a strong collective vision and the drive to operate their organization based on a clear set of core values. Operating an organization based on a clearly defined vision and values creates a domino effect of success.
Because most employees want to work toward a purpose (no matter what the industry or role they play within it), a strong vision passionately communicated by their leaders and a set of core values consistently modeled within an organization gives employees guiding principles and a sense of security and structure. These employees tend to be more committed to the success of the organization, and these organizations tend to have better than industry performance.
I was fortunate to get first-hand experience early in life with two such organizations.
The Gunther Organization
My first great organization experience was with my family. My parents had a strong vision for the type of family unit and household they wanted to create. They started their marriage with a goal to have 13 kids (my dad wanted to be beat his dad by one), and as with many organizations that have a strong vision, they beat their goal - by 4.
In addition, my parents had a strong set of 12 guiding core values (rules to live by) that they taught us and lived by themselves. These core values were framed on the wall next to our toaster, where my bread-loving family would see the core values regularly. Our vision and values were based on working hard for what we wanted, respecting one another, appreciating what we had, and giving back to our community. My parents consistently modeled these principles, instilling them into each of my siblings and me.
Shurgard Storage Centers
My second great experience was with an organization called Shurgard Storage Centers. Yes, storage centers. I spent almost eight years with this incredible organization, which had a strong vision to be the industry leader in service, quality, and employee satisfaction. Their 10 core values guided company leaders to assess annual growth plans and directed all employees' day-to-day decisions. Because this organization walked their talk, they built an incredibly committed workforce - from the hourly waged workers to the senior management - and achieved double-digit returns even in the worst economic times.
Your Vision & Values
As a business leader, what is your vision and what are your core values? You can create a more successful business and increase employee loyalty and productivity if your employees know where your organization is going and understand what their role can be in making it happen. Think of it this way, would a baseball team start the year without the goal or vision of winning the World Series?
Before you criticize your employees for making poor decisions, lacking work ethic, or not understanding the importance of their tasks, consider whether you have truly provided them with a solid framework to represent your organization appropriately. Have you communicated your vision to them? Have you modeled your core values for them? It all starts from the top, and it all starts with a strong vision and strong set of core values.
The Bottom Line
Set a clear vision for where you want your business to be over the next 3 to 5 years and identify a strong set of core values that you will operate within. Once you take the time to create these tools, share them with your team and use them as guidelines for all your decisions and actions. Do this consistently and you will create the structure for a more productive work environment and, in turn, achieve above average results.
This is the second in a series of articles on Michael's entrepreneurial story and how being raised in a large family influenced his career. You can email him at MGunther@collaboration-llc.com or call him at (805) 541-9040.
Michael Gunther is Founder and President of Collaboration LLC, a team of highly skilled business professionals who are dedicated to assisting proactive business owners to build profitable, sustainable businesses through results-oriented education, coaching, and consulting services. Learn more at www.collaboration-llc.com.
Posted by Michael Gunther on Mon, Jul 27, 2009 @ 07:21 PM
By Michael Gunther, President of Collaboration LLC, Business Growth Specialists
I must admit, as a business owner, I feel the need to create balance in my life quite often. In fact, I originally thought when I started my business that I would have more free time and flexibility by being my own boss. More time to exercise, to be with family and friends, to take kayaking lessons, or finally get that painting job done at home.
Yet, like many business owners, I am so busy working in my business that I'm afraid before I know it summer will be over and my dreams of taking a summer vacation will have slipped away. So I've decided to go on a family camping trip - one that has been a tradition in my family for over 40 years. I grew up in a family with 17 children and this trip is an annual reunion for those siblings who can still brave the camping regime. In fact, my 85 year old mother still camps with us; further motivation for me to find time to go.
Here I am, on the eve of my camping trip, stressing about going out of town for just a five day break. I'm stressing about getting out of town, stressing about my business surviving without me, stressing that I will not be able to relax enough before I turn around and come back home, stressing at my hectic schedule I will return to. Does this sound familiar to anyone?
The irony is not lost on me: I work with business owners on balancing their lives, and yet I struggle with that very same challenge. I am fully aware that every time I take a break or create more balance in my life, I come back more energized, more focused, and with about 50 more ideas on how to grow or improve my business.
I have been pondering this dilemma; knowing the value of getting away from the office (whether for just a few short hours or days) yet still not partaking in the activities or trips that I know would make me a better leader, business owner, and consultant . And I realized that we stay so busy working towards achieving a goal or dream that we do not take time to enjoy the journey. Before we know it weeks, months, or years go by - time we can never regain.
I encourage you today to take a few minutes and identify a list of activities, goals, or dreams that you want to do to create balance your life; to enjoy this glorious summer season. With this list, plan when you will start the top three items - block the time on your calendar if necessary. Keep a commitment to yourself that with all the hours you work, you will spend at least a couple of hours a week on activities you believe will create balance your life.
The Bottom Line
To be more effective in your role as leaders or business owners, you need to make sure that you create balance in your life by making time for the activities or relationships that bring you happiness.
Click here to see our business services that can help you and your business succeed.