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team building newsletter
Issue #3
(please see Request Form
at the end for
permission to copy
content)
During our team building work with client
organizations, we've compiled a collection of barriers that we see creating
enormous stress for individuals, blocking performance in teams, and robbing
organizations of productivity.
Each month, one of these barriers will be addressed in
our newsletter.
We'll include some suggestions for breakthrough
thinking to give you ideas for
how you might begin busting through these
barriers.
"Management only talks the talk and
'teamwork' is just a word."
“These people just don’t have a clue about real
leadership.”
“This rah-rah teamwork cheerleading is just a bunch of
hype.”
When the world speeds up, it
gets tougher to manage and tougher to work.
All organizations
count on groups and teams to work cooperatively. That’s critical because the
workload continues to increase, and the knowledge base is growing too rapidly
for anyone to take it on alone.
Furthermore, when the group process is working properly, you CAN accomplish
more. Of course, individual effort is critical to success. There’s also a lot
to be said for group process. Numerous studies have proven that when everyone
puts their shoulders to the wheel and backs a decision, its wisdom or its
inaccuracy will be borne out faster.
Team process is here to stay. You might as well get used to it because working
in groups and teams will be “the” process for the foreseeable future.
Team
building competencies
critical for team members during today's uncertain times are different than
same-old "trust circles" and other programs in the "good old days" that worked
well in more stable times.
CRG's Managing Change™
program gives you the team building strategies to move your organization and
your team beyond just surviving, to actually discovering ways to thrive
during uncertain times … by finding the new opportunities that change
always brings. In
these fast-paced times, senior management is called upon to make tough decisions
that can sometimes hurt. They may be under pressure from shareholders and
stakeholders to produce results. This may lead to the perception that they
don’t care, or are completely insensitive to the needs of their employees. The
fact is, they probably have a range of distasteful decisions they have to make.
As an employee, you are likely
among the first to feel the full brunt of the downside of a decision. Let’s say
there’s no money for new offices or furniture or your two best friends had to be
let go. You might easily draw the conclusion that management talks a
“humanistic” line, but doesn’t walk that line. In some cases that just might be
the situation if the organization doesn't have much experience in the art and
science of breaking bad news.
Generally, management tries to do
the best it can under such pressurized circumstances. Sometimes, management has
information that they cannot share just yet, so their decisions may appear to be
harsh and illogical. No one in management wants to make a bad decision.
No one takes any pleasure in being hated by employees. Recognize that the
primary consideration in most management decisions is the impact on the bottom
line. If you disagree with a decision, you only have two options to restore the
"way things were:"
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Get It Back: In an
appropriate and professional manner, provide management with the ammunition or
data it needs to reverse that decision or to reconsider it.
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Give It Up: Get busy
trying to find the positives for yourself that always accompany change. Then,
get on-board with the new change and make it your job to help the organization
succeed.
During change, EVERYONE needs to
be accountable for doing their part to make the changes work. The
consequences of failed change initiatives will be much more unpleasant than
anything you're feeling now. Often, teams ARE the difference between an
organization that is "ahead of the curve" or constantly playing "catch up" in a
world that no longer tolerates companies that change too slow. Just pick
up any newspaper ... it's full of examples of organizations that did not change
quickly enough.
Remember: Good Leaders
Cannot Exist Without Good Followers.
Next month's Barrier #4:
" It’s a
dog-eat-dog workplace … no one cares about my career."
“They throw you into the deep end and you
either sink or swim. No one wants to teach you anything here.”
“I’m replaceable. If I were to mysteriously
disappear tomorrow morning, they’d have someone at my desk by the end of the
lunch hour.”
“I mastered this job years ago. There’s nothing
new to learn.”
to archives:
Issue #1: Barrier #1
"Management
withholds information."
Issue #2:
Barrier #2
"Performance reviews are a combination of ultimatum
and ambush."
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Thank you for your interest in our work.
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for any reason.
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