How to Make Team Building Effective

A manager says he’d like us to conduct team building programs for his employees. “You know, something where you take them outside and teach them how to work together”.

“Why?” we ask. “What do you want to accomplish?” 

Hesitation.

“I want them to work together better than they do now. They barely talk to each other, and when they do, it sounds more like sniping than conversation. Worse than that, they line up at my door, wanting me to solve their problems and settle their disputes, and I don’t have time for that. So, I thought I’d get you to do some team building with them. I don’t have to be there do I?”

A day of team building will be as effective as the manager is willing to participate, watch, listen, learn and lead. No gathering of individuals will automatically become a cohesive unit unless there is a compelling reason. “Because I want them to!” isn’t reason enough.

If you want your team to work as a team, start by getting out there with them. Clarify the outcomes you want and why you want them. Be specific about what the deadlines are and how they’re connected to outcomes. Tell them who’s accountable for what and how you’re going to measure it. They need to know.

It’s your job to find out what they don’t know and what they need to know. You need to know the resources they’ll need and the resources that are available. You need to be accessible; not to solve their problems but to know what the problems are.

Team building exercises provide opportunities for participants to observe strengths and abilities in themselves and others that they would otherwise miss. Your challenge as their manager is to take that awareness from the off-site to the work-site. If you assume that every employee automatically carries that learning back to the office and applies it, you’ll be disappointed. It is your job, as their manager to make the connections, see what they miss, understand what they don’t, and clarify the differences again and again.

Evaluate your team. Do they share your vision for the future? Do they know you have a vision and that they play a part in it? Are each of them aware of the unique part they play?

Do team members trust each other to get their part of the job done? Do you trust them and they you? Do they believe that you are telling them the truth and communicating with them as responsible adults?

Do you hire the talent you need to get the job done? Are you doing more of the job than you ought because you fear that delegating will result in failure? Your failure?

Do you confront conflict as it happens, in a candid and considerate way? Do you know what the problems are because you can see them, as well as experience the fallout from them?

Bottom  line: Communicate goals, concretely. Communicate individual and team accountability, specifically. Manage obstacles to success, whether interpersonal, operational, or financial, fairly. Focus on results.

Get used to not having all the answers. You’re in this job to ask the right questions in a clear, efficient, and effective way. Your team has the answers.

A strong team has complementary strengths: interpersonal, problem solving, and technical. It’s not likely that each employee will possess all three. That’s the value and wisdom of  teamwork. That’s synergy. That’s what you might discover on a crisp day during an outdoor “team building” exercise. The challenge is discovering it on the job, and celebrating it when you do.

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Yes! You may use this article in your blog, newsletter or website as long as you include the following bio box:

Joyce Richman (www.richmanresources.com) has been specializing in executive and career coaching since 1982. She works in a variety of environments including: higher education, manufacturing, sales, marketing, media, technology, pharmaceuticals, medicine, banking and finance, service, IT, and non-profit sectors. A member of the adjunct faculty at the Center for Creative Leadership, Joyce is certified to administer a number of feedback and psychological instruments. Joyce is a weekly guest on WFMY-TV and the career columnist for The Greensboro News & Record. She is the author of Roads, Routes and Ruts: A Guidebook to Career Success and co-author of Getting Your Kid Out of the House and Into a Job. A popular speaker, Richman conducts seminars and workshops throughout the United States, Canada and Europe. Her coaching profile can be found at www.thecoachingassociation.com.

Hats Off to Those Leading the Nonprofit Sectors

Here’s to you who direct non profit agencies. Your challenge is Herculean. You’re called upon to be all things to all people and to smile beatifically while you’re doing it.

You are supposed to lead, manage, empower, empassion, conceptualize, sanitize, systemize, and fund raise on a shoe string budget and a strung thin staff.

The boss is your board, the public is your client, and you are your most severe critic. And that’s just part of the load that you carry.

You supervise the activities of countless volunteers so that money can be raised, and important goals can be achieved. Your organization can not function successfully without them.

You appreciate your volunteers and tell them so, as often as you can remember (along with the others things you’re trying to remember; like when you last cleaned your house or visited your in-laws).

Those cherished volunteers (and may their numbers multiply) come from all walks of life and all levels of experience. They are independent, self reliant people. They aren’t paid for their time or effort. They offer both freely because they want to. As noble as that is, and as good as they are, there’s a challenge that accompanies such a gift.

They don’t have a boss and don’t want one. They don’t have to show up on time, or even show up. They don’t have to complete a job or stay until the job is done. That’s the whole idea. That’s why they volunteer: to make a difference, but to do it in their own way.

In a perfect world, it works perfectly. Volunteers universally step up to the plate. But in the world where you live, it can feel more like herding cats. You encourage here, and cajole there, and sometimes feel that you’re running in circles, just trying to keep everything and everyone on track and moving forward.

So many masters. So little time. Especially if you put too much pressure on yourself. As a director, you can meet and exceed probably two thirds of what is reasonable to ask of yourself. It’s not that you can’t do it all, but that you insist that you can.

Optimistic board members want to believe they can hire miracle workers who squeeze water out of rocks (or squeeze the work of ten out of a payroll of three), and envision more than possibly be attained. Their newly minted, altruistic directors arrive filled with inspiration and boundless energy. If they spin themselves into a frenzy proving that they can achieve unrealistic goals, they run the risk of burning out on the very fuel that got them there in the first place.

The most savvy directors know how to lead people, manage process, and massage egos. They know that the most critical measure of their success is dependent upon their ability to build, value, and sustain a team of staff and volunteers that complement each others strengths.

They realize that their paid employees aren’t in it for the big bucks or high falluttin’ titles, so the successful leader takes time to listen to ideas, reinforces initiative, appreciates effort, and says so, with gusto.

They can turn a “no” into a “yes”, and “why you can’t” into “here’s how you can”. They do it consistently and they do it often.

They state their expectations early, clearly, and completely to staffers and volunteers alike.

They take time out to celebrate every victory, as a team.

They realize that everyone wants to make a difference, in their own way.

The most effective board members believe in the organization’s mission, connect with its message, and work together to make it happen.

They follow through when they say they will and say so when they know they can’t.

They provide guidance without guilt, and support without strings.

They understand that commitment is defined by their time, talent, and the intangible spirit of doing whatever it takes.

We all benefit from the work of non profit organizations. Some of us are direct beneficiaries and realize that we couldn’t have made it, emotionally, financially, or physically, without their help. Others of us benefit indirectly by the assistance our neighbors and friends receive at a time of need.

We are all enriched by their presence.

They help us become a community that cares.

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Yes! You may use this article in your blog, newsletter or website as long as you include the following bio box:

Joyce Richman (www.richmanresources.com) has been specializing in executive and career coaching since 1982. She works in a variety of environments including: higher education, manufacturing, sales, marketing, media, technology, pharmaceuticals, medicine, banking and finance, service, IT, and non-profit sectors. A member of the adjunct faculty at the Center for Creative Leadership, Joyce is certified to administer a number of feedback and psychological instruments. Joyce is a weekly guest on WFMY-TV and the career columnist for The Greensboro News & Record. She is the author of Roads, Routes and Ruts: A Guidebook to Career Success and co-author of Getting Your Kid Out of the House and Into a Job. A popular speaker, Richman conducts seminars and workshops throughout the United States, Canada and Europe. Her coaching profile can be found at www.thecoachingassociation.com.

Are You a Greater Risk Than a Reward?

How’s this for a cautionary tale?

“He is so blatant in his demands it’s just breathtaking. That’s his style; impolite, self centered, arrogant, dismissive. I’m not alone in this opinion but I may be the only one willing to take what he dishes out. I’ve been working here ten years, the last five, for him. I’m one of the few still standing. He intimidates everyone, including our company’s President. We’ve had constant churn since he took over as VP. Many of our top producers have left or are leaving us to work for the competition.”

She’s describing what it’s like to work for a combination steamroller-wrecking-ball; someone whose behavior she has endured and has no intention of leaving. He’s the pain she knows, the cross she’ll bear, and the insult so familiar that to be without it leaves her feeling disoriented.

“I don’t want to work for someone else. This person needs me. He depends on me. Who else would take it?  Yes, he’s rude and insensitive but I don’t think that he’s a bad person; that’s just how he is. And I’m not perfect, none of us are. I make mistakes and so does he.”

After so many years of enduring the expected, tolerating it, sometimes welcoming it, she is still being surprised, offended, and hurt by it. She has no desire to find another job, and no intention of telling him what she thinks. She won’t or can’t entertain the thought.

“He’d never let me finish my sentence. He’d cut me off with a few choice expletives and tell me to get back to work.”

Her boss describes their relationship this way:

“She’s used to me and it doesn’t bother her. She’s tough; she can take it. If I really offended her she would have left, so I’m not concerned. Am I politically incorrect? Absolutely. I don’t have time to couch my words and make nice, I don’t have patience with people who need coddling and I’m not going to Charm School.  If employees want to sing Cumbaya, they need to work somewhere else. Turnover doesn’t bother me. People who quit bother me. I don’t have a problem finding talent to replace them.

I like to compete and win. That’s who I am and what I do. I want the life I want, and in my universe, that happens when you focus on the end game, work hard to make it happen, and if people get in the way, you get them out of the way. If they’re too soft to take it, they leave on their own or I tell them to go.  It’s business, it’s not personal.”

I wouldn’t bother telling you all this if it weren’t for the irony of the situation. Several weeks after this self proclaimed King of the Hill described his take on business and his role in it; he was terminated, effective immediately. Who did him in? His long-suffering secretary? The dozen or so employees who left because they couldn’t take him?  Those who remained and wanted him gone? No. The Board. They fired their “intimidated” President and hired a replacement who saw an accident waiting to happen and took action before the company was sued for supporting an environment of harassment or discrimination.

If you consider yourself untouchable, indispensable, and indestructible, because you drive decisions and people harder and faster than whoever is in second place, you may not be as safe as you think. At some point someone bigger than you can take you out for no reason greater than you’re a bigger risk than you are a reward. And they’ll tell you it’s business, not personal. 

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Yes! You may use this article in your blog, newsletter or website as long as you include the following bio box:

Joyce Richman (www.richmanresources.com) has been specializing in executive and career coaching since 1982. She works in a variety of environments including: higher education, manufacturing, sales, marketing, media, technology, pharmaceuticals, medicine, banking and finance, service, IT, and non-profit sectors. A member of the adjunct faculty at the Center for Creative Leadership, Joyce is certified to administer a number of feedback and psychological instruments. Joyce is a weekly guest on WFMY-TV and the career columnist for The Greensboro News & Record. She is the author of Roads, Routes and Ruts: A Guidebook to Career Success and co-author of Getting Your Kid Out of the House and Into a Job. A popular speaker, Richman conducts seminars and workshops throughout the United States, Canada and Europe. Her coaching profile can be found at www.thecoachingassociation.com.

Economic Shifts and Challenges

Like it or not, employed or not, you’re in the middle of the busiest business intersection you’re likely to experience. It’s hard to know whether to wait for traffic to clear, cross against it, or jump in and go with the flow. One thing’s for sure, you can’t stay in one place for long, so what do you do? Let’s look at the possibilities.

Wait for traffic to clear: The last time the economy went south and took employment with it, significant numbers of twenty and thirty-somethings, caught between too many layoffs and too few jobs, sat it out by applying to graduate schools, and  schools of medicine and law. If they finished their respective programs (many did not),  they ran into some unexpected obstacles. They had either glutted the market they gambled on and there were no positions available, or they didn’t want the jobs for which the degree prepared them. Instead of getting ahead of the game, they lost time, money, and momentum.

This a great time to enhance your education, just do it wisely and do it without dropping out of the workforce. Take courses that improve your ability to do what you do best, talk to industry insiders, network with heavy hitters who have gone where you want to go. Think they won’t talk to you? Give it a try. It’s likely they have more time and readiness to talk now, when the market is flat, than when they’re too busy to give a rip.

Stay employed.If you can’t get the job you want, deal with it by finding work that enables you to cross train in your industry, area of specialization, or allied field.  What’s the advantage? You’ve increased your arena of experience, your marketablity, and your workplace credibility. With increased employment flexibility you’re likely to stay employed longer.

Stay alert. Watch out for pot holes, like lower salaries and fewer benefits. In an effort to stay afloat without major layoffs, businesses are cutting payroll by offering less in salaries, wages, and bonuses. Take it in stride. When the economy turns around, salaries and perks will slowly rebound. Here’s why:  

Many employees are waiting out the recession, holding onto jobs they need but don’t want, working for companies or bosses they don’t like. As soon as the economic tides shift, and jobs become available, so will they. Companies will respond accordingly, competing with increased salaries and improved benefits.

Employer nerves are frayed, and for good reason. They’re doing whatever they can to stay in business, keep the creditors at bay, and their employees working.  Yet, try as they might, they don’t feel valued for their efforts. If anything, they feel that employees want for more than they can give. Instead of appreciating the fact that they’re employed, they complain about longer hours and shorter pay.  They don’t seem to realize that the alternative is the unemployment line. Instead of seeing a loyal work force, they see one that is tentative at best, and struggling at worst.

On the other hand, some employees aren’t feeling too charitable about their employers, and for good reason. Every day feels like “what have you done for me lately?” They’re working more because their co-workers have been laid off and they haven’t the good will or energy to put up with the stress of wondering “Will I be the next one to go?”

Embattled employers will do well to see their employees as a lifeline to the future. The company may not be able to pay them more or work them less. They can let them know in countless and creative ways that their work makes a difference, and that the business is surviving because of them.  

It’s important that employers acknowledge that employees struggle with debt, family obligations, and the fear that all Americans share when at the cross roads of economic shift and national challenge. Acknowledge and appreciate their loyalty and your commitment to find ways to make good on their sacrifice. And mean it. 

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Yes! You may use this article in your blog, newsletter or website as long as you include the following bio box:

Joyce Richman (www.richmanresources.com) has been specializing in executive and career coaching since 1982. She works in a variety of environments including: higher education, manufacturing, sales, marketing, media, technology, pharmaceuticals, medicine, banking and finance, service, IT, and non-profit sectors. A member of the adjunct faculty at the Center for Creative Leadership, Joyce is certified to administer a number of feedback and psychological instruments. Joyce is a weekly guest on WFMY-TV and the career columnist for The Greensboro News & Record. She is the author of Roads, Routes and Ruts: A Guidebook to Career Success and co-author of Getting Your Kid Out of the House and Into a Job. A popular speaker, Richman conducts seminars and workshops throughout the United States, Canada and Europe. Her coaching profile can be found at www.thecoachingassociation.com.

Be A Team Player

Most people consider themselves team players. Many of their team-mates disagree.

Patrick Lencioni, in his book The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, does a deep dive into what produces highly functional teams as well as what creates dysfunction.  He lists behaviors that derail the best of intentions as 1. Absence of trust. 2. Fear of conflict. 3. Lack of commitment 4. Avoidance of accountability and 5. Inattention to results.

In For Your Improvement, A Guide for Development and Coaching, Mike M. Lombardo and Robert W. Eichinger describe common characteristics of high performance teams: A shared mindset and common vision; you trust each other, pitch in and help even though it may be difficult for you. You’re honest with each other and talk about problems directly without going behind each other’s back. You have the collective talent to do the job and know how to operate efficiently and effectively. You have good team skills, run effective meetings, have efficient ways to communicate and have ways to deal with internal conflict.

What does this have to do with your ability to get a job and keep it? Plenty. Interviewers look for team players who know when to stand up and lead, step back and follow, and step in when time is short and deadlines are pressing. They want independent self- starters who perform interdependently. They want employees who are emotionally aware, supportive, considerate, open to learning, willing to change, and ready to help when the need arises.

Interviewers are cognizant that their organization’s success requires employees with the willingness to collaborate and use their collective wisdom to be visionary and bottom line; their analytical abilities to evaluate risk and reward; their clarity, passion, and trustworthiness to lead others through change; and their operational skills to streamline function and simplify process that gets the team where it needs to go on time and under budget.

Just as there’s more to a job than an advertisement can explain, there’s more to you than your resume can describe. Because of that you’ll have to prove yourself in more ways than your resume can testify. You’ll need to make your case by providing the evidence that supports your statements. You’ll need to use the right words, tone and inflection to tell a story that’s as compelling as it is engaging.

Talking a good game won’t land the job unless you have the stats to prove your worth. Prepare for your networking meetings, phone screenings, and interviews by reconstructing examples of your most challenging experiences and highlighting the roles you’ve played as an individual contributor and a team player.

Keep in mind, the interviewer is looking for individuals who possess specific skills as well as characteristics that indicate their ability to lead self and others, manage tasks and processes, and to at all times, be a team player.

How can you incorporate all this in an interview? Let’s say that you’re asked to describe a situation in which you performed at your best. You’ll come across as a team player when you share credit with those who blocked, tackled, and provided support as well as encouragement.

If you’re asked to provide an example of a situation in which you didn’t succeed and describe the reasons why, you come across as a team player when you accept responsibility for the role you played instead of blaming your teammates.

Regardless of your age, gender, nationality, or experience, the company that hires you expects you to be as committed to your work as you are to the people with whom you work. They expect you to recognize that mutually supportive, goal focused teams that pull in the same direction consistently outperform any one of the individuals who play on them.

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Yes! You may use this article in your blog, newsletter or website as long as you include the following bio box:

Joyce Richman (www.richmanresources.com) has been specializing in executive and career coaching since 1982. She works in a variety of environments including: higher education, manufacturing, sales, marketing, media, technology, pharmaceuticals, medicine, banking and finance, service, IT, and non-profit sectors. A member of the adjunct faculty at the Center for Creative Leadership, Joyce is certified to administer a number of feedback and psychological instruments. Joyce is a weekly guest on WFMY-TV and the career columnist for The Greensboro News & Record. She is the author of Roads, Routes and Ruts: A Guidebook to Career Success and co-author of Getting Your Kid Out of the House and Into a Job. A popular speaker, Richman conducts seminars and workshops throughout the United States, Canada and Europe. Her coaching profile can be found at www.thecoachingassociation.com.

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