Molding Your People into a Pro-active and Productive Team

"Teamwork is a make or break situation. Either you help make it or the lack of it will break you." – Kris A. Hiatt

Before we get into the discussion of molding groups into pro- active and productive teams, let us understand the difference between group and a team.

Group and teams is not the same thing. By definition a group is two or more individuals, interacting & interdependent, who have come together to achieve particular objectives. A work group is a group that primarily interacts to share information and to make decisions to help each member perform within his or her area of responsibility.

A group whose members have complementary skills and is committed to a common purpose or set of performance goals for which they hold themselves mutually accountable is called a team.

The purpose of assembling a team is to accomplish bigger goals than any other individuals working alone.The best managers are those whose gather together a group of individuals and mould them into a high performing team. Listed below are a few differentials which would help a manager mould his group into a pro-active & productive team.

Understanding: In a group, members think they are grouped together for administrative purposes only. Individuals sometimes cross purpose with others. In a team, members recognize their independence and understand both personal and team goals are best accomplished with mutual support. Time is not wasted struggling over "Turf" or attempting personal gain at the expense of others.

Ownership: In a group, members tend to focus on themselves because they are not sufficiently involved in planning the unit's objectives. They approach their job simply as a hired hand. "Castle Building" is common. In a team, members feel a sense of ownership for their jobs and unit, because they are committed to value based common goals that they helped establish.

Creativity and Contribution: In a group, members are told what to do rather than being asked what the best approach would be. Suggestions and creativity are not encouraged. In a team, members contribute to the organisation's success by applying their unique talents, knowledge and creativity to team objectives.

Trust: In a group, members distrust the motives of colleagues because they do not understand the role of other members. Expressions of opinion or disagreement are considered divisive or non-supportive. In a team, members work in a climate of trust and are encouraged to openly express ideas, opinions, disagreements and feelings. Questions are welcome.

Common Understandings: In a group, members are so cautious about what they say, that real understanding is not possible. Game playing may occur and communication traps be set to catch the unwary. In a team, members practice open and honest communication. They make an effort to understand each other's point of view.

Personal Development: In a group, members receive good training but are limited in applying it to the job by the manager or other group members. In a team, members are encouraged to continually develop skills and apply what they learn on the job. They perceive they have the support of the team.

Conflict Resolution: In a group, members find themselves in conflict situations they do not know how to resolve. Their supervisor/leader may put off intervention until serious damage is done, i.e. a crisis situation. In a team, members realise conflict is a normal aspect of human interaction but they view such situations as an opportunity for new ideas and creativity. They work to resolve conflict quickly and constructively.

Participative Decision Making: In a group, members may or may not participate in decisions affecting the team. Conformity often appears more important than positive results. Win/lose situations are common. In a team, members participate in decisions affecting the team but understand their leaders must make a final ruling whenever the team cannot decide, or an emergency exists. Positive win/win results are the goal at all times.

Clear Leadership: In a group, members tend to work in an unstructured environment with undetermined standards of performance. Leaders do not walk the talk and tend to lead from behind a desk. In a team, members work in a structured environment, they know what boundaries exist and who has final authority. The leader sets agreed high standards of performance and he/she is respected via active, willing participation.

Commitment: In a group, members are uncommitted towards excellence and personal pride. Performance levels tend to be mediocre. Staff turnover is high because talented individuals quickly recognise that
(a) Personal expectations are not being fulfilled
(b) They are not learning and growing from others and
(c) They are not working with the best people.

In a team, only those committed to excellence are hired. Prospective team members are queuing at the door to be recruited on the basis of their high levels of hard and soft skill sets. Everyone works together in a harmonious environment.

People Management - Simply Engaging!

Simple measures can make a big difference to employee engagement and organisational performance. ..

Key learnings:

1. Gender, hierarchy, culture and industry have a great impact on employee engagement
2. Employee engagement is best ensured through job satisfaction resulting from contribution
   

Employee engagement is essential for corporate survival. The significance of a committed and engaged staff can not be undermined.

Employee engagement represents the extent of emotional affiliation that employees have with their jobs. It is difficult to quantify engagement levels in terms of numbers. Nevertheless, it is important to measure it. An important factor in measuring employee engagement is the cultural bearing of the organisation. The meaning of employee engagement varies with geography, and depends to a large extent on the cultural disposition of the organisation. The corporate definition for engagement varies widely from country to country. In India, employee engagement is an emotional subject, encompassing elements like loyalty and commitment. Further, in the context of Indian companies, employee engagement is tangible, and can be quantified by the years of association with the company.

Along with different definitions, countries also have different sets of motivating factors. What motivates an Indian may not motivate an American and vice versa. Hence, understanding the interplay of various factors that result in employee engagement or disengagement can help leaders craft a successful strategy.

Engaging dimensions

Employee engagement is best described as the degree of alignment between job satisfaction and job contribution. When employees feel that their contribution is adding value to the job, it results in job satisfaction, which in turn leads to greater employee engagement. Hence, using these two parameters to ascertain the level of engagement can help leaders get a better insight to steer their efforts.

According to Business World – Anexi BlessingWhite survey on employee engagement, employee satisfaction and contribution combine in five different ways. They are:

1. Fully engaged
2. Nearly engaged
3. Honeymooners and hamsters
4. Crash and burn
5. Disengaged

Each of these categories represents the level of employee engagement in the given job. The fully engaged category includes workers who are extremely satisfied with their jobs and contribution to the organisation. The nearly engaged section includes workers who score high on the contribution front, but give a few points a miss on the satisfaction component. The honeymooners and hamsters include those who are new to the job and show great drive to stick around. The crash and burn category includes workers whose contributions always fall short, thereby resulting in a state of perpetual dissatisfaction. The disengaged category, as the word suggests, comprises the disinterested lot, who figure on the underperformers list. In the context of Indian companies, 34 percent of employees are fully engaged, 29 percent nearly engaged and 13 percent are disengaged.

This segmentation of employees on the basis of their engagement levels can help leaders chalk out a better people management strategy. Employee engagement is a dynamic function and is affected deeply by the changes in the external environment. Thus, apart from employee behaviour and individual aspirations, there are other factors that have to be considered for a thorough understanding of the way engagement expresses itself.

Key determinants

Employee engagement, as mentioned earlier, depends on a large number of factors. In addition to an employee’s personal aspirations and cultural moorings, critical factors like gender, hierarchical status and the industry also influence engagement levels. The BW-Anexi survey revealed that men are 10 percent more engaged than women, and 6 percent less disengaged. Further, engagement also increased as one moved up the hierarchy. Those at the lower hierarchical levels showed less engagement, while those at the top exhibited maximum engagement. The difference in the levels of engagement was also evident across industries. In case of research-driven industries like pharmaceuticals, employee engagement was found to be low, while the engagement levels were high in service-oriented industries. Thus, it is evident that employee engagement depends on a number of parameters.

As mentioned earlier, job satisfaction and employee contribution are the two key components of employee engagement. However, understanding each of these, and the factors that lie within, is important to get a clear perspective of the interplay and dynamics of employee engagement and its components. According to the survey, job satisfaction is influenced by the following factors:

1. Career development opportunities and training efforts (30 percent)
2. Challenging work (19 percent)
3. Better opportunities to leverage one’s strengths (29 percent)
   

Employee contribution, on the other hand, was found to be greatly influenced by:

1. Development and training (26 percent)
2. Effective feedback at regular intervals (25 percent)
3. Clarity of goals and a clear understanding of what the individual is required to do and why (22 percent)
   

The aforementioned factors represent the Indian sentiment, but are also consistent with the global opinion about factors influencing satisfaction and contribution.

Final thoughts...

While employee engagement is a dynamic function and is dependent on a number of factors, it surely can be managed by incorporating certain basic measures. However, before doing so, leaders and managers must be sensitised to the various factors influencing engagement and steer their efforts to ensure perfect alignment.

Ref: TheManageMentor.

People Management- Formula for Success

If a HR manager of any organisation is thinking of jumping onto the team-based-management bandwagon, they should first take heed of the lesson many chief executives have learned the hard way: they must give their employees a solid incentive for making teams work and teach them the skills they'll need to earn those incentives.

Take the case of this hypothetical company, Damodaran Industries. The HR manager Sushil Rao had enough foresight to do both: giving incentives and teaching new skills. When he first took the step to help restructure his company, which makes seating and table products for private aircraft, Sushil made an unusual proposal to employees: teams would be paid 25% of sales on the specific product they made, and they would distribute those revenues among their members as they saw fit. They would be responsible for hiring, scheduling, customer service, quality, and even their own cash flow.

That first year, Sushil tried the new system on just one team, promising employees that they would not earn less than they had the previous year. As it turned out, average annual wages increased three-fold. Once employees began to see that if they worked more effectively as a team they would make more money, they had enthusiasm for working in this new way, and they made a commitment to learning. The following year, four more teams were organised similarly.

Indeed, learning was critical to the new system's success. Sushil, who has a background in organisational design, developed his own training programme to teach employees effective communication, team-building skills, and business processes. Employees were required to attend 13 hours of training every quarter for a full year.

Sushil supplemented the training with team coaching. He also made assessments of teams' weaknesses, often suggesting that a particular team repeat a training session. Team leaders were required to put in even more training time, attending three-hour courses at a local community college on hiring, time management, and cash flow.

The training and coaching have paid off. While costs per employee have remained steady, sales were up 50% last year, and the company's margins are at about 20% -- twice the industry standard.

Ref: TheManageMentor

Six Steps to Accomplish Your Goals and Resolutions

Don't let your goals and resolutions fall by the wayside. Chances are that to achieve your dreams and live a life you love, those goals and resolutions are crucial. Goal setting and goal achievement are easier if you follow these six steps for effective and successful goal setting and resolution accomplishment.

• You need to deeply desire the goal or resolution. Napoleon Hill, in his landmark book, "Think and Grow Rich" had it right. "The starting point of all achievement is desire. Keep this constantly in mind. Weak desires bring weak results, just as a small amount of fire makes a small amount of heat." So, your first step in goal setting and achieving your dreams is that you've got to really, really want to achieve the goal.

• Visualize yourself achieving the goal. Lee Iacocca said, "The greatest discovery of my generation is that human beings can alter their lives by altering their attitudes of mind." What will your achievement feel like? How will your life unfold differently as a result? If the goal is a thing, some gurus of goal setting recommend that you keep a picture of the item where you see and are reminded of it every day. If you can’t picture yourself achieving the goal, chances are – you won’t.

• Make a plan for the path you need to follow to accomplish the goal. Create action steps to follow. Identify a critical path. The critical path defines the key accomplish-ments along the way, the most important steps that must happen for the goal to become a reality. Stephen Covey said, "All things are created twice. There's a mental or first creation, and a physical or second creation of all things. You have to make sure that the blueprint, the first creation, is really what you want, that you've thought everything through. Then you put it into bricks and mortar. Each day you go to the construction shed and pull out the blueprint to get marching orders for the day. You begin with the end in mind." He's right.

• Commit to achieving the goal by writing down the goal. Lee Iacocca said, "The discipline of writing something down is the first step toward making it happen." I agree completely. Write down the plan, the action steps and the critical path. Somehow, writing down the goal, the plan and a timeline sets events in motion that may not have happened otherwise. In my own life, it is as if I am making a deeper commitment to goal accomplishment. I can’t fool myself later. The written objective really was the goal.

• Establish times for checking your progress in your calendar system, whatever it is: a day planner, a PDA, a PDA phone or a hand written list. If you’re not making progress or feel stymied, don't let your optimism keep you from accomplishing your goals. No matter how positively you are thinking, you need to assess your lack of progress. Adopt a pessimist’s viewpoint; something will and probably is, going to go wrong. Take a look at all of the factors that are keeping you from accomplishing your goal and develop a plan to overcome them. Add these plan steps to your calendar system as part of your goal achievement plan.

• Review your overall progress regularly. Make sure you are making progress. If you are not making progress, hire a coach, tap into the support of loved ones, analyze why the goal is not being met. Don’t allow the goal to just fade away. Figure out what you need to do to accomplish it. Check the prior five steps starting with an assessment of how deeply you actually want to achieve the goal.

This six step goal setting and achieving system seems simple, but it is the most powerful system you will ever find for achieving your goals and living your resolutions. You just need to do it. Best wishes and good luck.

[About the author: Susan Heathfield is a Human Resources expert. She is a management and organization development consultant who specializes in human resources issues and in management development to create forward thinking workplaces. Susan is also a professional facilitator, speaker, trainer, and writer.]

Organisational Change - HR Practices

Best practices in managing organisational transformation.

Key learnings:

• Organisational change aimed at improving work methods, productivity and business profits must be coherent


• Enthusiastic leadership, flow of creativity and stability in procedure helps in reaching the goals
  

Jargons like organisational change and organisational transformation are often used theoretically and in management talk. The term organisational change is used in the context of companies that are undergoing or have just undergone a transformation.

However, organisational change management is not a 'one-month ordeal'. It is a process that involves rearticulating managerial, technical, financial and business aspects.

A McKinsey Quarterly online survey shows that only 38 percent of the global employees consider change as a positive effect on performance. And, 10 percent believe that most of such transformations are unproductive.

Change management

According to change management experts, two factors are critical for any transformation to click. One is vision or goal-the changes the company aspires to bring about. The second is sustainability. The sustainability factor refers to the unwavering energy, commitment and persuasiveness to reach the goal.

Defining the objective

A well-defined and comprehensive objective spells out the goal clearly for all the employees of the organisation. While different departments may have different approaches, the core aim of transformation remains unchanged. This distinctly clear system ensures an upbeat journey that promotes organisational health, participation of every employee and bottom-line profits.

Defining the role and time frame

A well articulated strategy ensures that there is no overlap of roles. It also rules out misinterpretation. Each employee has his defined role that is personal and challenging. Moreover, since the focus is on 'strengths', the definitive goal of 'effectual transformation' is accomplished.

When the time frame is set over a few months, the employees will be enthusiastic. Goals set over three or five years fall prey to dwindling employee interest. In such cases, the leadership of the organisation plays a very important part. For effective articulation of long term goals, involvement of employees and applying fair and apt metrics to track developments, it is important for employees to remain clued in to developments.

Sustaining energy and flow of ideas

Creativity and ideas are advantages that help sustain organisational change. Many a time, organisations discard ideas doubting their practicality. However, innovation is the key to reach people and bring about desired changes.

Most often, ideas from employees or leaders are considered deeply. Mutually inspiring organisations initiate creativity, responsibility and accountability. To encourage an 'idea sharing' work environment, leaders must espouse innovation and sharing thoughts that can bring about radical transformations.

Channelising energies

When leaders of an organisation announce transformation to employees, two extreme reactions are bound to happen. There will be employee totally gung-ho about the transformations and those who will be cynical. It is important to generate positive stimulation and help employees channelise their dynamism. Some companies reward 'ideas champions', while some appoint 'the master blaster'. Such steps energise the staff towards transformation.

"A smaller set of high-impact, briskly moving initiatives is more energising-and thus more sustainable- than a broader set of initiatives moving at a stately pace."

Seeing is believing

Any results of the transformation, however small, must be highlighted to ensure greater participation. Employees usually remain mute spectators to the brainstorming sessions and meetings that are part of the organisational change. The worth of such sessions is usually taken too lightly. However, even a small success during the transformation reaffirms employee faith in the process and the overall vision.

Learning curve

The transformational process is a learning process for leaders, management and employees. Open communication channels, suitable rewards and discipline are extremely important to understand the change. While the transformation aims at bringing about success in the organisation, individual growth and learning cannot be ignored. Experts rightly suggest that organisational transformations which focus on individual strengths create a more involved staff.
In today's highly dynamic market, being a flexible, employee centric and practical organisation is a plus. An organisational transformation is a dynamic process with multiple levels of planning and execution. However, the reengineering and rebuilding process can be an exhilarating expedition if the leadership has commitment and clarity.

Reference: TheManageMentor.

10 Strategies for Maintaining Commitment in Tough Times.....

There are many factors that will influence which organizations come out strong at the other end our current economic turmoil. One of the most important:

* Will the good people stick it out until and when things start to turn around? ("The good people" being those with the skills and the passion to help fulfill an organization's purpose.)

What Difference Do Passion and Purpose Make?

You've seen this: Two people standing side by side, doing essentially the same work, and yet they have extremely different perceptions of the meaning of what they do. A favorite example: One worker sees her job assembling neonatal respirators as "helping to save the lives of premature babies." A colleague at her shoulder considers himself a "tube hooker-upper." There was a time -- in the dark ages of command-and-control management -- when tube hooker-uppers were the ideal employees. They were replaceable, compliant cogs in the machinery. Not anymore. The evidence keeps mounting that employee engagement and commitment pay off.

Organizations need as many lifesavers as they can get, especially now.

None of us can flip the switch for others when it comes to feeling positive or negative about work. But here are some strategies we've found useful with our clients to help create an environment in which people want to contribute in good times and not-so-good times:

1. Constantly speak to the value of the work your organization does. Meaningful work is a powerful motivator.

2. Involve people early and often in changes that substantially affect their work. In this economy, those kinds of changes are happening daily in some organizations, if not more often.

3. When involving people in decisions and changes, be clear about the level and type of input and involvement you want. Are you brainstorming? Are you looking for feedback about specific plans? And be clear about who is making the final decision so you don't create false expectations.

4. Give people options whenever possible -- in matters big and small.

5. Keep people updated about how you are faring in relation to stated objectives. People want to know the score.

6. Give people control over as much of their own work as possible. Tell them what needs to be done, not how to do it.

7. Create the expectation that complaints should come with solutions. Encourage people to identify problems, but also to suggest how to deal with them.

8. Push as much decision making as close to the people responsible for the work as possible. We all own our personal decisions more than those imposed on us.

9. Delegate as much important work as possible. It helps people learn, grow and feel more a part of the process.

10. Ask for and act upon people's ideas and opinions. You don't have to implement every suggestion, but every suggestion deserves a response, even if it is a "no" and an explanation why.

Make a Difference,

Ref: Brian McDermott

Boost Morale in Minutes Without Going Broke

Would you like to boost morale without spending a buck? I've interviewed thousands of child care professionals and have learned what motivates them to stay in the profession, what motivates them to excel in the profession, and on the other hand, why they leave their places of employment and sometimes, the profession.Today I'm sharing with you eleven strategies that you can implement immediately to help you boost staff morale (without spending a buck!).

1) Unite your team through establishing a common goal that can be worked on and obtained in the next several months. Set a time frame for this goal and get everyone excited about accomplishing it. Break the goal down into small achievable steps and celebrate when small accomplishments are made.

2) Close all communication gaps. Make sure staff are aware of the things they need to know in order to perform their jobs successfully - such as a co-worker or child calling in sick or a change in procedures.

3) Break down communication barriers (break the gossip chain -- morale will never be high if gossip and other destructive communication patterns persist!).

4) Follow through on your commitments and promises.

5) Be consistent in modeling and enforcing policies and procedures.

6) Visit classrooms and make note of the wonderful things team members are implementing. Save criticisms for one-on-one meetings.

7) Greet staff in the morning.

8) Integrate new staff members effectively. Never let people wonder: who is "this new person?"

9) Appreciate and acknowledge team members when they exhibit the behaviors you would like them to display more often.

10) Train your team on how to resolve conflicts and communicate constructively. Role-play or analyze case scenarios as a team.

11) Facilitate team-building activities at your staff meetings. (And have staff meetings on a consistent basis.)

Ref: Julie Bartkus

Essential skills for a people manager

The role of a manager is to ensure that the team is cohesive and each member feels proud to belong to the team. The manager is the team's link to the larger organisation. He has to set the right target, create enthusiasm among people, develop a positive attitude and motivate them to do their best. He should look further ahead so that the goals are selected wisely. A good people manager ensures that the problems are tackled well in time. He possesses the ability to effectively negotiate and use persuasion when necessary to ensure the success of the team and project. Through effective communication the manager supports individual and team achievements by creating guidelines for accomplishing tasks and for the career advancement of team members. He also has an excellent ability to delegate tasks and keep his cool under pressure.

Effective managers are great motivators. Each employee requires a different kind of motivation. Non-monetary rewards form an important part of a comprehensive employee recognition program. Non-monetary means can be used for either individual or team rewards. One could seek out and share stories of exceptionally motivated explorers, athletes, musicians, artists, volunteers, inventors and entrepreneurs. Find out what activities and pursuits have created maximum motivation in the past for employees. Listen to your team members carefully. Watch your words during team discussions. This will make a lot of difference. Share all the details you have related to the projects with the team members. This will result in deeper involvement of the team. Give them timely, accurate and regular feedback. Encourage the team to face risks. Be prepared with the mitigation strategies upfront. Setting deadlines and goals helps keep employees focused, busy and motivates them to concentrate on their work. Talk to each employee about the company's goals, and work with them to set individual goals directly linked to your business's mission. Make sure employees understand their professional growth path in the company.

Communicate! Open communication is the number one priority for most employees. If you want your employees to work hard and be committed to your business, you have to keep them in the loop. Open communication helps foster loyalty and gives employees a sense of pride. It helps them understand how their work contributes to the company's success. Trust is an essential element in the relationship of a manager and his team. You demonstrate your trust in others through your actions - how much you check and control their work, how much you delegate and how much you allow people to participate.

To be an effective manager you must know yourself, your strengths and weaknesses, and those of the people around you. You must know your objectives and have a plan of how to achieve them. You must build a team of people that share your commitment to achieve those objectives, and you must help each team member to achieve his best in order to attain a common goal. Rewards and recognition should be based on meritocracy. Feedback from the other team members should be acceptable but the judgment should be made with an independent mind. An effective manager is often described as having a vision of where to go and the ability to articulate it. He is the one who provides equal opportunity to everyone and ensures that people feel connected.

Ref:Times Ascent