Leaders Build Teams Not Groups

Any collection of people can form a group – a group of tourists, a group of spectators, a management group. Management groups usually call themselves management teams. Often they are only groups. But it’s a basketball team that wins a medal; a surgical team that performs an operation. You don’t hear of basketball or soccer groups.

A group of unrelated (tourist), uncoordinated (spectators), or under a traditional hierarchical system (management). A team operates with skilled coordination. Its members share common goals and values. They are mutually supportive. They work together and communicate regularly. They actively participate. There is a strong sense of common purpose and consensus-seeking.

No leader has all the skills. The skills a team has complement those of the leader. Combining complementary skills capitalizes on the natural formation of groups, turning them into teams. A successful team is a portrait of diversity: diverse, professional backgrounds, experience, temperament, intelligence, behavior, extroversion, introversion, dominance, emotional stability. People with identical ideas and reactions, “yes-men,” or just clever people won’t make a good team.

By forming his or her team(s), a leader replace individualist, competitive management style with a more trusting and cooperative style. Selection is the most important. Without the right people nothing is possible.

The advantages of a team:

• Input of many people of diverse skills
• Getting the best out of each other
• Diverse experience, knowledge, and judgement
• Not dependent on any individual (succession planning)
• Self-regeneration by recruitment
• Passing experience to new members

A team is made from the right climate and characteristics:

Climate:

• Mutual trust and cooperation
• Openness and reciprocal support
• Disagreement without conflict
• Elimination of status differences
• Leveling of human differences

Characteristics:

• Mixed composition of 6 to 9 people
• Regular face-to-face meetings with frequent interaction
• No “us” and “them”
• Clear purpose, commitment, and identification with each other
• Structured and divergent, but disciplined
• Mutual care among team players, with a will to do the job well so others do theirs

It’s like the analogy of a conductor and his orchestra. To harmonize all instruments, the orchestra needs a conductor. Teams also need a conductor – a leader – to coordinate, resolve conflicts, and unite the team to a common purpose. It requires great interpersonal skill. Leading a team is a good experience, a stepping stone to higher leadership.

You can’t make a good soccer team out of the eleven best goalkeepers. You need good players of different skills.

In the next post I’ll discuss the composition and roles of a team and how to use them to be successful.

Lean Quote: Mothers are Wise and Always Right

On Fridays I will post a Lean related Quote. Throughout our lifetimes many people touch our lives and leave us with words of wisdom. These can both be a source of new learning and also a point to pause and reflect upon lessons we have learned. Within Lean active learning is an important aspect on this journey because without learning we can not improve.

"A mother is the truest friend we have, when trials, heavy and sudden, fall upon us; when adversity takes the place of prosperity; when friends who rejoice with us in our sunshine, desert us when troubles thicken around us, still will she cling to us, and endeavor by her kind precepts and counsels to dissipate the clouds of darkness, and cause peace to return to our hearts." — Washington Irving

Mothers are wise and always right. We all know this from our experience. For, we have all grown up on the wisdoms and advice of our moms. Some of these advices, rather lessons remain with us forever and keep guiding us.

Odds are, you have a few gems from your mother rolling around in your head. (“Chew with your mouth closed.” “Stand up straight!” “Would it kill you to brush your hair?”)

But how can you put into words how much the woman who wiped your dirty bum, tied your shoes, and made you countless PB&Js really means to you?  Here are just some of the pearls of wisdom passed down from generation to generation that you’ll never forget.

Just Be a Good Person

• If you help someone, don’t expect anything in return, and don’t even make a reference about it.
• There is always someone taller than you, smarter than you and faster than you. Be your best you.
• Tomorrow is another day. Everything looks so much better after a good night’s sleep.
• If you can’t say something nice, think harder.
• Do something good for someone else every single day, and don’t tell anyone you did it.
• Smile — no one likes a sourpuss.

Words of Wisdom

• Always ask yourself, who’s going to remember this 100 years from now?
• There’s always a difference between need and want.
• There’s just one word to remember: moderation.
• Be safe. Be savvy. Be smart. Be shrewd. Be sure.
• This, too, shall pass.
• Don’t live in the past; you can’t change it. Focus on the future, and live in the present.
• Be on your best behavior when you’re out in public because they (whoever observed bad behavior) may not know which “Devlin” you are, but they will know who your parents are.

Empowerment

• Tell the truth. It’s easier to remember than telling a lie.
• Everyone’s got something. Don’t prejudge. Everyone has vulnerability. Some just hide it under a lot more covers than others.
• You’re more powerful than you know.
• Pick your battles in life. Not everything is worth fighting for.
• You make your own luck.
• There is no influence so powerful as that of a mother.

Lean Tips Edition #124 (#1861-1875)

For my Facebook fans you already know about this great feature. But for those of you that are not connected to A Lean Journey on Facebook or Twitter I post daily a feature I call Lean Tips.  It is meant to be advice, things I learned from experience, and some knowledge tidbits about Lean to help you along your journey.  Another great reason to like A Lean Journey on Facebook.

Click this link for A Lean Journey's Facebook Page Notes Feed.

Here is the next addition of tips from the Facebook page:

Lean Tip #1861 - Remember That Feedback is a Gift.

Employees want feedback. They deserve information that can help them achieve their goals and the organization’s. Giving regular feedback will help create the team engagement you need to increase your organization’s performance. Let them know what they do well so they can keep doing those things with confidence. Suggest course corrections to help them use their time and effort most efficiently.

Lean Tip #1862 - Talk and Listen More.

Communication (especially in today’s email-driven workplace) is often one-way. Conversation, on the other hand, is about dialogue between two or more people. Conversation drives clarity. It is by far the most effective vehicle for providing performance feedback and increasing your team’s engagement levels. It is the only way to efficiently generate new ideas for increasing business results and personal job satisfaction. It helps prevent misunderstandings. It builds trust.

Lean Tip #1863 - Match Projects, Passion, and Proficiency.

Every person comes to work with a different combination of personal values, talents, and goals, which they are looking to satisfy on the job. They don’t necessarily want a lofty title, a higher salary, or your job. If you can help them connect what’s important to them with what’s important to the organization, you can increase their engagement levels and make a positive impact on their job satisfaction, commitment, and contribution.

Lean Tip #1864 - Provide Autonomy

Change affects people and teams differently, but in general, people want to have control over their work environment. Empower managers and employees to incorporate change in the way that makes the most sense for them/their team. Give them permission to find their own solutions to implement the change.

Lean Tip #1865 - Insist on Accountability

Establishing real goals that inspire ownership and commitment can be a strong motivational tactic. It can also help improve employee engagement by as much as 20%. In fact, performance management is the number two driver of employee engagement (after career opportunities), and studies show that people who set motivational goals are up to 75% more fulfilled in their jobs than those who set routine goals (as in, just working through your daily To-Do list). Working together with employees to set short, long-term, and stretch goals—realistic, yet aspirational targets that encourage employees to test their skills and leave their comfort zone without setting them up for failure—can provide outstanding motivation to keep them engaged over the long term.

Lean Tip #1866 - Encourage Transparency

Transparency starts at the top. Management can help improve information sharing in the workplace by encouraging transparency in their own ranks to help it trickle down to employees. Where employees may be reticent to share information in the workplace, once a manager breaks the ice by sharing their own company information, their subordinates are more likely to follow suit. Management should make meaningful steps to take the lead in sharing and disseminating company information.

Lean Tip #1867 - Explain the Why

Often leaders come up with a great idea, plan it, implement it, and may even communicate it, but they may not think to explain why a particular initiative makes sense for any given time.

This requires communicating from the 50,000 foot level and making sure employees understand why something is done and how it supports business goals and organizational strategy.

Lean Tip #1868 - Enable Company-wide Conversations

So many companies are built on top-down communication from management. Employees in this environment feel there is no purpose in taking a stand, since they have no direct channel and don't feel they'll have an impact. As a leader, you may have clear direction and more experience, but that doesn't invalidate feedback and ideas from people on the front lines. Give employees structured ways to make their thoughts, feelings and observations known easily and regularly. Help them understand that their input is valued even if you decide to go a different way. Make sure you acknowledge them for sharing and reward valuable input that helps the company.

Lean Tip #1869 - Put the Numbers Into Perspective – The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

Most leaders carry lots of information in their brains. Unfortunately, many employees don't get the benefit of all that information, yet they are expected to take action and make good decisions as if they understood every nuance. Great leaders figure out how to extract the important information from their minds and share it in a structured and consistent manner. An employee who clearly understands the core values, purpose and direction of the company can easily make consistent decisions and take appropriate action at any junction. It's on you as the leader to impart your vision. That's how you lead.

Lean Tip #1870 - Be Proactive and Seek Support

Once the results have been shared, request input for action steps to work on areas requiring improvement or outline steps or processes that will be implemented to address shortcomings. Encourage employees to share responsibility for coming up with ideas so they contribute the outcome. Determine what success or improvement looks like in specific and measurable terms.

Lean Tip #1871 - Encourage Safe Failure

Many employees, by their very nature, are risk-adverse.  That's why they are employees and not entrepreneurs. If they work in an environment where the boss is always correcting them before they have a chance to execute, they will constantly look for approval before taking action or, worse, simply avoid any new or dynamic action. Give employees the opportunity to try new things in a way that doesn't put the company in danger. Create milestone checkpoints or set up laboratory environments where people can test new ideas and learn from the failures as well as the successes. Then your employees will gain understanding and feel comfortable innovating.

Lean Tip #1872 - Support Employee Independence

A leader who is constantly looking over the shoulder of employees is little more than a babysitter. Give your employees reasons and opportunity to stretch out on their own and even lead others. They may stumble, but they'll learn a lot and build the respect of their colleagues while preparing to be great empowering leaders themselves someday.

Lean Tip #1873 - Appreciate Employee Efforts

Yes, it's true that people get paid for the job. But the best employees don't work at your company just for the money. Empowered people need a greater level of satisfaction than simply financial stability. They need to feel that leadership appreciates their contribution and values their participation. Don't be shy about finding ways to say "thank you" or celebrating the good things your employees do. If they have to ask how they are doing, you are doing your job poorly as a leader.

Lean Tip #1874 - Help Employees Develop Relationships.

The outcome of any collaborative effort is dependent upon well-developed personal relationships among participants. Not allowing time for this can be a costly mistake. For example, all too often, in the rush to get started on a project, team leaders put people together and tell them to "get to work." You'll get better results if your give your group time (upfront) to get to know one another, to discover each other's strengths and weaknesses, to build personal ties, and to develop a common understanding about the project.

Lean Tip #1875 - Focus on Building Trust.

Trust is the belief or confidence that one party has in the reliability, integrity and honesty of another party. It is the expectation that the faith one places in someone else will be honored. It is also the glue that holds together any group. Leaders demonstrate their trust in employees by the open, candid, and ongoing communication that is the foundation of informed collaboration.

7 Tips for Leading Successful Change

The success of an organization depends increasingly on its ability to adjust quickly to new situations. New trends, regulations, and fierce competition force companies to make major organizational changes in order to remain competitive. The cost in management time and money is significant. Often, an even higher price is paid in employee morale and failures. Thus companies have successful change leadership.

Too often, the company makes the change too late – after they start losing money, market, and cash flow, and funds for the necessary investment are no longer available. A good leader starts the change when it’s still sunny and the first clouds are far away. Good reasons and timing for change cannot guarantee immunity from pitfalls, such as employee resistance, confusion, and excessive cost.

There are seven aspects of leading change that should be considered if you want success:

Careful Planning
Careful planning saves time and money. Chances for success improve with a well-prepared disclosure and good communication; with careful weighing of potential resistance and its consequences; with a detailed timetable for execution.

Motivation
Employee resistance is often self-defense, and fear of losing security, power, or status. To offset such fears discuss potential new career paths, the necessity and advantages of different positions, the reason for the change; and show appreciation for loyalty. Some employee lack self-confidence and consider and change a threat. Teaching, training, and full support are good remedies.

Communication
Good communication is vital. Reasons for the change must be explained beforehand. Clear communication is the best investment, since resistance id often due to mis-interpretation, half-information, and rumors that precede the change. Easy-to-understand written and verbal communication should reach all levels of the organization.

Involvement
When employees get seriously involved, the situation becomes easier. It’s not “us” and “them” (management). The sooner people are involved in the plan, the more they become involved. Those on board early are supportive and spread the word. This prevents rumors and the build-up of resistance.

Trust
Credibility of management, based on past experience plays a key role. Where trust is lacking, problems multiply. The best remedy is honest information and better communication. These are stepping stones to future trust.

Contingencies
In spite of the best efforts, some resistance may remain. It's far better to anticipate objections than to spend your time putting out fires, and knowing how to overcome resistance to change is a vital part of any change management plan.

Execution
Once everything is prepared and in place, execution should be fast. A D-day must be set to introduce the new organization. Postponement is not recommended, even if there is a last-minute problem.

Over 100 years ago, Benjamin Disraeli, former British Prime Minister, said: “Change is inevitable. In a progressive country change is constant.” The same can be said for business.

Organizational change must be well thought out beforehand. Success depends on communication, motivation, education, and involvement.

Lean Quote: A Leader Can be a Boss But Not Every Boss Is a Leader

On Fridays I will post a Lean related Quote. Throughout our lifetimes many people touch our lives and leave us with words of wisdom. These can both be a source of new learning and also a point to pause and reflect upon lessons we have learned. Within Lean active learning is an important aspect on this journey because without learning we can not improve.

"When you’re a manager, you work for your company. When you’re a leader, your company works for you." — Stan Slap

While a leader can be a boss, not every boss is a leader. The distinction between being a boss and being a leader may seem small, but it means the world to the people who work for you.

Here are some differences that clearly defines what it means to be a leader versus a boss:

A leader coaches employees, depends on goodwill, generates enthusiasm, says “we”, fixes the breakdown, shows how it is done, develops people, gives credit, asks questions, and says “let’s go”.

A boss drives employees, depends on authority, inspires fear (the beatings will continue until morale improves…), says “I”, places blame for any breakdown, knows how it is done, uses people, takes credit, commands and says “go”.

The definition of leadership is “a process of social influence, which maximizes the efforts of others, towards the achievement of a goal.” That is why it is my belief that if you are a good leader for your organization, then you really don’t need to worry about being The Boss. You will gain more influence and have more positive impact on your organization if your team feels valued and respected and has an understanding of where you expect them to be headed.

During your life, you will face two kinds of managers: leaders and bosses. It does not matter how high the position of these individuals; bossy people are more likely to fail while those who lead will succeed.

The Leadership Code: Five Rules of Leadership

Leaders create a credible and hopeful image of a future for everyone who needs to invest. The also connect the future to the present by turning aspirations into action. Effective leaders gauge when their focus needs to be on architecting the organization and its capabilities, and when it needs to shift to individuals and their abilities.

If you want the basics on leadership, The Leadership Code: Five Rules To Lead By; By Dave Ulrich, Norm Smallwood, Kate Sweetman; is the book for you. Drawing on decades of research, Ulrich and his team set out to crack the code on leadership. They interviewed thought leaders in the field of leadership and discovered five essentials of leadership that were repeated again and again.

Here are their five rules of leadership:

1. Leaders Shape the Future
It is the leader’s job to be the strategist for their organization setting the direction for the future. A strategist answers the question, “Where are we going” providing both the compelling vision for that future but also the practical and pragmatic way to reach that desired future.

2. Leaders Make Things Happen

A leader must also be an executor answering the question, “How will we make sure we get to where we are going?” Executors translate strategy into action understanding how to make change happen, assign accountability, delegate, and make sure teams work together. They know how to put systems and disciplines in place to get things done.

3. Leaders Engage Today’s Talent
A leader is a “talent manager” identifying, building, and engaging talent to get results now. They draw talent to their organizations, develop people, engage them, and ensure that employees want to do their best. Great leaders inspire an intense loyalty from their team both personally and professionally. They support and inspire people to grow and develop for the good of the organization.

4. Leaders Build the Next Generation

Leaders are passionate and intentional people developers. They can answer this question, “Who stays and sustains the organization for the next generation?” Ulrich and team call this Human Capital Developers. Great leaders ensure that their organization will outlive any single individual, including themselves. They are intentionally looking at long term competencies required for future strategic success. They want future leaders to be successful.

5. Leaders Invest in Themselves

Personal proficiency is at the heart of the leadership code. Effective leaders inspire loyalty in others because they act with integrity and trust. They are aggressive learners seeking to excel in leadership and strengthen those areas where they may be weaker.

This book serves as a guidebook to help readers be better leaders themselves and simultaneously help them build better leadership in their organizations. This is one of the best leadership books I have read.  The book is well-written, engaging and pragmatic. If you love to study and learn and challenge yourself, this book is a must-read.

Lean Quote: A Bias For Action

On Fridays I will post a Lean related Quote. Throughout our lifetimes many people touch our lives and leave us with words of wisdom. These can both be a source of new learning and also a point to pause and reflect upon lessons we have learned. Within Lean active learning is an important aspect on this journey because without learning we can not improve.

"Have a bias toward action—let’s see something happen now. You can break that big plan into small steps and take the first step right away." — Indira Gandhi, Former Prime Minister of India

The phrase “bias for action” adapted from India’s former prime minister has become a mantra for many entrepreneurs and activists. It’s a reminder that it’s not the big idea, but the daily grind toward that idea that counts. Woody Allen said it this way, “Eighty percent of success is just showing up.” And Thomas Edison: “Genius is 99 percent perspiration, one percent inspiration.”

When you look at the life of anyone who’s accomplished anything important, that’s what you’ll find. Successful innovation is less about having ideas than about doing stuff, making it happen, showing up every day, plugging away.

That’s not the part you hear or read about or see in the biopic. But it’s what makes the biggest difference. What step will I check off by Friday? What will I have shipped (in Seth Godin’s words) by the 15th? If I’m not shipping something, I’m just thinking about it.

Says Scott Belsky in Making Ideas Happen:

A relentless bias for action pushes ideas forward. Most ideas come and go while the matter of follow-up is left to chance. Next steps are often lost amidst a mishmash of notes and sketches, and typical creative tools like plain blank notebooks only contribute to the problem. For each idea, you must capture and highlight your “Action Steps.”