Make Teamwork Happen

Why are people so stingy with praise of their fellow teammates?

After all, we know that positive feedback inspires and motivates people.  So what lame excuses have you heard lately?

Too Busy.  You don’t have enough time to take a moment to smile and comment about a job well done.

Didn’t Notice.  You are so self-absorbed that you didn’t even notice your teammates’ hard work.  Ergo, you can’t comment on what you don’t see.

It’s Hard Work.  It takes a tremendous amount of work to invent new and creative ways to commend people on their efforts.  Why put forth the effort?

Ignorance is Bliss.  If you don’t know how to give praise, you look stupid bumbling your way through a few heartfelt thank-you’s.

Afraid To.  Whether you are afraid of being perceived as soft, weak or playing favorites, you would rather say nothing than anything at all.

Why Bother?  You rightfully expect your teammates to do their jobs correctly.  You should not have to provide any positive strokes to people simply doing their job.

Whatever your excuse, don’t be so stupid!

Stop what you are doing, notice the team’s work, and take the time and energy to simply comment on the great work your teammates do.  Don’t worry — as long as your feedback is genuine and sincere, you won’t look stupid.  You’ll look like a team player!

Question:  How have you praised your teammates lately?

When it comes to teamwork, most of us think we are pretty good team players.  We participate; we offer opinions; we help when we can; we ask for feedback so we can be a better teammate, etc.

Unfortunately, some people are not even mediocre team players.  They are simply toxic to the team.  You know who I am talking about.  Toxic people suck the life out of other people.  Every time they open their mouths, it’s about what’s wrong with the world, who did what to whom and why others make their world so difficult.  They are simply miserable and want to share their misery with anyone who will listen.

The sad thing is that you have to listen to that garbage!  Before you know it, you are infected with the toxic virus and start spewing the same garbage.

Surely, all of us can have a bad day, a bad week, a bad month, or even a bad year.  We’re not talking about those folks.  They need our help and support through a relatively brief period of time.  On the flip side, chronically toxic people need a quick, swift kick in the can.  (Okay, spare the physical violence, but these people have spent years perfecting the art of polluting every great idea or possibility.)

Toxic people need a significant emotional event to jar them from their toxic behavior.  You may ask, “What kind of significant emotional event?”  For example, the team leader calls them on the behavior — first in private, and if that doesn’t work, the team calls them on the behavior while all team members are present.  Give the toxic person direct, objective, specific feedback between the eyes.  Calmly describe the impact of the toxic behavior on the team’s performance and relationships.  Describe the consequences of the inability or unwillingness to change the behavior.

And, as a last resort, if they can’t get their act together, kick them off the team.  If you have done everything in your power to buff them up, upgrade their team skills and bring them up to an acceptable level of team behavior, then you are doing your team a disservice to keep them on the team.

No one likes to kick someone off the team, but it’s certainly the avenue of last resort that you should not be afraid to explore.

Question:  If you are toxic to your team, how can you change?

I am so excited. The Department of Homeland Security just announced the National Small Vessel Security Strategy. 57 pages later, it outlines a plan to manage and reduce the overall risk on US waterways - specifically for the small boating population.

You see, this strategy was not concocted in a vacuum. It started a year ago during the National Small Vessel Security Summit. I had the distinct honor to be the lead facilitator and moderator for the summit. We had 260 stakeholders - small boat owners, commercial fisherman, ferry operators, port operations, state and federal representatives - who came together for two days to begin a dialogue about security risks and their ideas to address these threats.

There were several more regional summits, discussions, drafts and hard work done primarily by the USCG and HSI - culminating in a final strategy, just released by DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff.

You can hear about the new plan from the USCG Commandant, Thad Allen during an interview by Amy Morris.

It’s exciting for me to see a tangible, collaborative final product. And I was there at the beginning.

Question: Does your team produce tangible, collaborative products that you are proud of?

As a high stakes meeting facilitator, I go to a lot of meetings. Really important meetings where you believe “leadership” is highly supportive of the team’s work. At least that’s what is said….but may not look like it to the participants.

At the very least, show up to start the day. I don’t care if your plane landed late last night, there is a crisis back in the office, or your belief that your involvement might hinder full team participation. If that’s the case, then LEAVE after your initial words of encouragement and support.

Your team needs to KNOW that you are not only behind the initiative but in front of it, leading and inspiring extraordinary things to occur.

Question: How do you show your support for your team’s work?

Here are some of my ideas to start the session with a strong opening:

- Give them your personal perspective as to why this time together is important as well as the organization’s perspective and how it fits in with the strategic direction of the organization

- Describe what is at stake and what can be gained when the team is successful

- Describe what success looks like (outcomes)

- Encourage a spirit of openness and that their comments are valued and (only if it’s true) will be held “confidential”

- Encourage creativity and why (again, only if you mean it)

- Express your commitment to follow through - on whatever the team decides (if this is a problem, then you need to participate in the discussion - so that your contributions will be part of building a consensus.)

Check out the debate between Obama and Hillary and the pronoun “I”.

My dear friend, , author of Branded Customer Service, has a unique insight: Janelle noticed that Barack rarely uses the word. “I”. She says, “Hillary uses it all the time. It’s subtle and impact that it has on the audience, namely me, is that I feel invited in by Barack. Even the thank yous from Hillary were about “me” helping her. From Barack, the thank yous were about “me” helping a much larger idea. Barack feels as if he is talking with you; Hillary feels as if she is talking at you.”

Question: What language do you use to include people?

Ben Synder gave me a big bear hug. It took me a second to figure out who he is…it’s been a year since I have seen him. Ben is the CEO of Systemation, a “performance improvement learning solutions company” and a member of ISA - the Association of Learning Providers. I was facilitating the C-Level Mastermind Session in Washington DC - and Ben was back with his colleagues to learn from each other.

He said, “I learned something from you during our last session that I do all the time. In our meetings, I simply go around the table and ask for everyone to participate. It’s great!”

Simple technique: When you pose a question for discussion, let the first person volunteer to speak, and then ask if they want to “go to your right or to your left.” They get to pick who talks next, and then just keep going around the table (clockwise or counterclockwise).

Simple technique with far-reaching abilities to make teamwork happen.

Question: What are you doing to get everyone participating?

I was talking with Jim Blasingame this morning during the Small Business Advocate Show about his “Strategic Look at Critical Components” within a small business. There are seven key areas to consider when making your plans for the new year: Financial, Human Resources, Management, Marketplace, Technology, Public Policy, and Personal.

Over the next few several weeks, he’ll be discussing each category in more detail in his newsletter. And, as he discusses, and you think through the possibilities (either alone or with your leadership team), you are going to come up with a veritable cornucopia of ideas!

But you can’t (nor should you) do all of them. So try using this little matrix to help you sort out the ideas:

Take each idea and determine the level of effort expended (low/medium/high) compared to the expected payoff (low/medium/high). Depending on where you place the idea, you will get a good idea if it’s a waste of time, a “quick win”, a business opportunity or a special effort.

Definitely cross off the time wasters! You may want to make the quick wins a tactical “to do” with a deadline. But the business opportunities and the special efforts…now those, by definition, will take more effort. Pick just a handful of these (I suggest no more than five), and make these your resolutions for the new year!

A few careers ago, I was on a panel to interview and select officers into the U.S. Coast Guard Direct Commission Program. A rather grueling process, we went through an applicant’s file and interviewed him (or her), trying to elicit stories of past behavior that would meet our specific criteria for selection…lifted directly from the CG Performance Appraisal Form.

After a few years of grading these candidates, I noticed an interesting pattern in the results: The Board scored Eagle Scouts exceptionally well - and those candidates who received their commission, did very well as a Reserve Officer.

Only 5 percent of Scouts achieve Eagle rank by age 18, when Scouting ends - and usually, it’s only one or two from a troop.

When I read the Washington Post today about ELEVEN members of Troop 681’s Viking Patrol achieving their Eagle Scout at the same time…that’s a testament to teamwork.

Question: What is every member on your team collectively striving to achieve?

Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Al Gore, has probably done more for this planet than he could have as President of the United States. As an advocate for environmental sustainability, he has raised public awareness about the impact of our actions on the environment.

Most of us are familiar with a basic recycling program (Prince Edward Island is the most sophisticated I’ve run into), but there are other, very simple ways your team can be “green”:

Check your Lights. Switch from using incandescent light bulbs to compact fluorescent bulbs (the swirly kind) – and don’t buy the cheap ones; they burn out just like regular light bulbs! Check out Jane Poynter’s Going Green for a great explanation.

Turn it Off. Don’t forget to turn off the lights and HVAC when your team is not in the room.
Disposables. Minimize your use of disposable products such as napkins and paper towels by using real plates, glasses and napkins. If you must, use biodegradable, paper-based products. Styrofoam takes forever to break down.
Drive Together. When going to a meeting together, carpool, use a shuttle service or public transportation.
Be Bulky. Use bulk dispensers when you can rather than individual servings. For example, use a water pitcher or a liter bottle rather than individual bottles of water or soda.
Be Water Efficient. Don’t let the tap run if you don’t need water immediately.
Minimize Printing. Do you really need to print out that email? If not, don’t. If yes, print out on recycled paper (or the unused side of your waste paper!)
Buy from Local Producers. Not only are you supporting the local economy, but you are reducing energy used to transport the item to your destination.

What is your team doing to minimize your footprint on the world? I’d love to hear your ideas.

*spoiler alert* Topically relevant analysis of the new season’s opening of House follows; however, if you haven’t seen it yet, be aware that the post contains episode revelations!

The quintessential lone wolf, Dr. House on Fox TV, launches the fourth season without a team to contribute to the perplexing medical cases that confound doctors and audiences alike. Although House is quite the contrarian, he needs the prompting of intellectually challenging specialists who inspire collaborative, creative hypothesis, where the answer becomes intuitively obvious within 60 minutes.

In the Season Three finale, the set-in-his-ways House was confronted with a series of major changes to his team. Neurologist DR. ERIC FOREMAN left Princeton Plainsboro because he didn’t want to turn into House; House randomly fired old-money intensivist DR. ROBERT CHASE, claiming he learned everything he’s going to learn in the past three years, or nothing at all; and immunologist DR. ALLISON CAMERON resigned, knowing House will be completely unaffected by her decision.

As new season opens, House doesn’t think he needs a team; he’d rather go it alone. However, as the show progresses, he supplants his old team with his friend, oncology specialist DR. JAMES WILSON and the Dean of Medicine and hospital administrator, DR. LISA CUDDY to help him think through the various hypotheses. When they refuse to “enable” him, House ends up in the walk-in clinic, just to bounce some ideas off of a ER doc or two.

At the end of the show, House finally understands that he needs the intellectual stimulation of others and is a better doctor with a team around him.

Question: Do you see yourself better as a lone wolf or someone who works better with a team?