The truth about teams

Words: 447
Reading Time: 1 min. 29 sec.s

There is a lot of confused thinking about getting the best from teams. A good case in point is Duncan Brodie (http://goalsandachievements.com) who says:

“To get the best from a team you clearly have to bring out the best in each individual and get them all playing to their strengths.”

Only to say, just a few lines further on:

“The truth is that team success is largely down to a group of people who are committed to a common purpose and are willing to work collectively and support each other to get the result they desire.”

Setting aside whether you agree with either of these points, both cannot be true at the same time.

Bringing out the best in each individual is just a likely to give you a group of individuals, each pulling in a different direction, rather than a team.

Having a group of people committed to a common purpose and willing to work collectively to get the result they desire will give you a team, but will not necessarily bring out the best in each individual; that may need to be sacrificed to the common good.

Superior teams are most likely when the members share a common aspiration for the team rather than themselves and the team makes use of each individual’s strengths. That does not mean having the best individuals, since they may not place the team above themselves. It does involve each team member identifying moment to moment how the team as a whole can best deliver.

Sport is often chosen as an analogy for business, but business is rarely like that. Business is not about delivering at your peak for 48 minutes, 90 minutes, 20 overs or 5 days. It is about effective, appropriate effort delivered under all circumstances for months and years.

Business suggestions:
1) Be clear about the outcomes;
2) Be clear about how you will know if and when you have them;
3) Get buy-in from all members of the team;
4) No stigma should attach to not buying-in and being properly excluded;
5) No-one fails in a team, everyone takes responsibility;
6) Teams do not work automatically, they need work themselves;
7) Changing team members changes the whole team, earlier phases will need revisiting;
8) Ball-carriers and supporters change over time; make sure everyone knows who is who;
9) You need both ball-carriers and supports to succeed;
10) You cannot lead a team; either you are part of it, or you are not. Who leads at any one time will change with where the team has got to;
11) When the job is done celebrate the success and disband the team;
12) Different jobs need different teams.

Ability before age

Words: 418
Reading Time: 1 min. 24 sec.s

The whole idea of retirement is a recent by-product of the factory-led economy.

In societies before the industrial age there was no set age at which folk ceased to seen as productive. Only illness and infirmity might mean someone was supported by the community. Even then, their experience and wisdom was valued, so most individuals continued to contribute to the community in some way.

With the dawn of the factory age came the debilitating demand that everyone work at the same relentless pace. It was man as part of the machine. Anybody not able to match that pace was inevitably seen in the same way as a component that could no longer meet the burden place on it. At that point the component person was scrapped.

The idea of retirement has been largely sold and accepted as the just reward for years of toil at a thankless task. Of course, it is no such thing. To industry retirement is simply preventive maintenance – get rid of the component as it approaches its MTBF (Mean Time Before Failure).

The fact that ageism persists in the workplace, even when the task is not physically demanding and would benefit from long experience, just shows how deeply engrained this paradigm has become. Few even think about it anymore; it's received wisdom.

65 years old? Finished - get an apprentice in for a fraction of the cost.

Fortunately, for those of us running our own businesses, there is no fixed point at which we absolutely must stop enjoying ourselves and go sit in an armchair. This is one of the many points where small business will always triumph over big business. We can favour ourselves and our customers, rather than favouring the insentient corporation.

If business in general could learn to recognize ability instead of age, ability instead of favouritism, ability instead of appearance, ability combined with attitude, it would gain immeasurably. And that applies at both ends of a working life; but I’m not holding my breath.

For those who are listening, there are a number of things you could do.

Business suggestions:
1) Scrap any fixed age for retirement;
2) Reward contribution rather than length of service;
3) Recognize the value experience has;
4) Make sure experience does not hinder innovation;
5) Reconnect with the talent you’ve scrapped;
6) Check that people enjoy, rather than endure, what you ask them to do;
7) A business is only as good as the people who are part of it;8) There is no functioning business without people.

Close encounters of the third kind

Words: 311
Reading Time: 1 minute 2 seconds

What is it that brings out the volunteer in us?

There are 10 million openings for volunteers in what is known as the third sector. And the number of voluntary organizations in the UK is staggering. Such organizations are found across the spectrum from healthcare to book clubs, sports to crisis support.

Whatever help you need there is almost certainly a voluntary group out there somewhere that can help you. I even came across one that helped third sector organization tender for funding.

There are even clubs for particular makes of car peopled by enthusiasts, like the MG Owners Club.

Specific software – such as accounting packages – will often have users groups, some supported by the vendor, to provide mutual assistance and lobby for changes and improvements.

How cool is that; people getting together in organized groups to help you do a better job of marketing your product. It has to be a gathering of Raving Fans, or they would have already voted with their wallets and gone elsewhere.

When people get together in support of a cause they are expressing passion. They can also leave themselves open to accusations of merely serving their own ends, special pleading, nimbyism and being obsessed.

Well, sometimes that’s what it takes to change things and change starts with just one person being ready to step forward and be counted. That’s an energy and commitment that can be used in all aspects of life and business.

Business suggestions:
1) Encourage complaints – it shows people care;
2) Publish both good and back feedback on your website – it shows openness;
3) Form and support a user group – and then listen;
4) Don’t survey customers, it’s cold and impersonal – talk to them;
5) If there are voluntary groups around your industry, then join them and contribute to the energy;
6) If there are no voluntary groups, then start one.

Elephants traps ahead

Words: 362
Reading Time: 1 minute 12 seconds

What do a British oil company, an American bank and a Japanese car maker all have in common? Rob Cox on Reuters’ Breakingviews.com believes there is no link. I disagree.

BP, Goldman Sachs and Toyota are linked by a common failure of corporate governance. They did the saving-cost-at-all-costs thing instead of doing-the-right-thing-no-matter-what-the-cost thing.

Johnson & Johnson’s handling of the Tylenol recall in 1982 is a good case study for how to minimize damage to brand and reputation.

The painkiller was recalled when seven people died in Chicago after taking capsules of Tylenol laced with cyanide. At the time it was thought the brand would not recover from the sabotage. However, an extensive product recall followed by a media campaign and the introduction of tamper-proof packaging saw Tylenol return to the market within two months.

Johnson & Johnson handled it so well they were able to enhance their reputation.

BP, Goldman Sachs and Toyota have all made themselves look even more guilty by blaming others, denying any culpability and doing too little, too late.

Any company facing irate members of the public, customers or the press has got to speak openly, candidly and forthrightly to its customers and the wider public about what has happened and what they intend to do to put it right. And a genuine apology is the first place to start.

People recognize that mistakes are made and that CEOs cannot be everywhere all the time. They appreciate being kept in the loop about what’s happening and when things will return to normal. This isn’t the time for corporate deception; it’s the time for common decency.

It is also time to wonder how we have produced a generation of so-called business leaders who seem to have no moral standards and a generation of workers who go along with things they know to be wrong.

The fact that business schools see fit to include modules on ethics as part of MBA courses is probably symptomatic. Some MBA students are even being asked to take “ethics oaths”. But if anybody can reach 21+ years of age and still not know right from wrong, then a classroom course is unlikely to help.

The power of other people

Words: 399
Reading Time: 1 minute 20 seconds

Out of the blue I was recommended and signed up 25% of the people present as a result.

I was one of a small group of people – all looking to sell their services, all looking to make connections with other businesses. The organizer commended my 60 seconds of introduction and suggested that, if others had problems with speaking, then I was the person to talk to. I was part of the international speaking group, Toastmasters, and I could certainly help.

When the meeting broke up I was handed business cards by people requesting details of when and where the next meeting of Toastmasters would be and enquiring about how it all worked.

I mention this as a concrete example of the selling power of 3rd party testimonials. This one was unsolicited, but solicited or unsolicited they are astonishing in their persuasive powers. And when the 3rd party knows and trusts the person offering the endorsement, it is even more effective in promoting patronage.

So often it is not just who you know, but who is known by the people you know.

Earlier in the week I had the pleasure of talking to an Event Organizer. She had noticed that the money she spent on press advertising and direct mail was returning very little. She said her main route to market was recommendations from satisfied clients.

I asked how she went about encouraging such recommendations. She looked puzzled.

Well, did she provide commission payments where appropriate; did she buy them a case of wine, a bottle of decent champagne, or a large bouquet; did she at least send a thank you note?

Er…no.

I left her with the thought that some of that unproductive advertising spend could usefully be diverted towards a form of marketing that was actually working for her.

Will she make the change? I don’t know, but the seed has been planted.

Business suggestions:
1) When marketing, discover which channels work;
2) Divert money from non-productive to productive channels;
3) Explore other, new and different channels with the rest of the money;
4) Recognize and reward – where appropriate – recommendations that generate business;
5) Your best customers are your best (payment-by-results) sales force;
6) Ask for testimonials at every opportunity; they are rarely refused;
7) Make sure that the testimonials are heard and seen by as many other people as possible;
8) Endorsements are good for the ego.

Inconvenient dialogues

Words: 421
Reading Time: 1 minute 24 seconds

An appointment is an arrangement to meet at a specific time and place.

Now, to my way of thinking, that involves two or more people agreeing to a date, a time and a rendezvous. However, certain parts of our wonderful NHS continue to send out letters claiming that an appointment has been made without first talking with the person involved.

They then post large and irritating notices in their clinics and waiting rooms that announce how many appointments patients have failed to keep in the last month, or the last year.

There is no breakdown detailing how many such broken “appointments” were unilaterally decreed by the NHS.

If I was running a restaurant and sent you an “appointment” for coffee and croissants at 8.30 a.m. on the 25th without your agreement I could hardly blame you if you decided not to come.

Why does the NHS think it is so different?

Perhaps the NHS believes our health would naturally be our primary concern. Indeed, in a recent poll it was placed first, ahead of wealth and happiness. However, on a day-to-day basis it often ranks lower than that.

If someone close to us is unwell we may postpone seeking treatment for a minor ailment of our own. Some people put off seeing the doctor, fearing the possible diagnosis. Others struggle into work despite being ill. So, clearly, health does not rank No.1 in all circumstances.

Those “broken” appointments may have been sent to someone who is out of the country, unable to read, otherwise incapacitated, or dead. How would the NHS know without trying to speak with the person in order to agree – rather than decree – an appointment?

Having a dialogue before setting a date and time would probably cost less in time and money than the all the subsequent rescheduling and the unused resources resulting from non-attendance.

Of course, the NHS is not alone in taking a cavalier and high-handed attitude. Too often businesses blame unreasonable and uncooperative prospects and clients instead of looking for the root cause of discrimination and displeasure. Too often the approach is ‘don’t bother me with the facts, I prefer my prejudices.’

Everybody loses, but it doesn’t have to be that way.

Business suggestions
1) Talk to your prospects and your clients;
2) Don’t blame the customer when things go wrong;
3) Uncover the facts instead of making assumptions;
4) Seek feedback from those who are not your customers as well as folks who are;
5) Ask ‘how do I?’ rather than ‘why?’ – it’s forward looking and much more productive.

The future is not the past

Words: 314
Reading Time: 1 minute 3 seconds

The Japanese have just returned a deep space probe to Earth carrying asteroid dust. They hope it will indicate something more about the origins of the universe.

It’s fascinating stuff. As humans we seem to have an abiding interest in origins. Most young children eventually ask, “Where did I come from?” In biological terms that can be difficult enough for a parent to answer; in philosophical terms it’s extremely profound.

However, too often origins are felt to be deterministic – not only by us, but also by others. If we were born among plumbers and electricians, then we think we cannot be an academic. If a person was born in a deprived area, or of rich parents, then they are characterized in a certain way.

In business this type of think is widespread, but extremely restrictive.

Those that start out as employees rarely see themselves as entrepreneurs – until redundancy forces them into a rethink.

Businesses that start out as caterers can find it difficult to branch out into computer software. Their competence is doubted since this is not seen as their “core” business.

Why is it, that what we start with is always considered “core” rather than convenient, or circumstantial?

Even in ecological and environmental terms we know that the future of planet Earth is not the past endlessly replayed. We are no different except that, as self-determined individuals, we can decide in which direction we wish to change and do it much faster.

But we need to get out of our own way.

Business suggestions:
1) Re-examine what you do – is that what really interests you?
2) Re-examine the way that you do it – is that the best you have to offer?
3) Re-examine those you work with – what else are they capable of?
4) Re-examine those you do not work with – what are you missing?

As Richard Bandler once said: “Why be yourself when you can be someone so much better?”