Posts Tagged team

Getting the right people on the bus.  This is a phrase we often hear from executives concerned about staffing strength.  Making sure that you have the right people in your organization is critical to efficiency and growth.

But getting the right people on the bus doesn’t solve your problems if they aren’t in the right seats.
The right person in the wrong place is just as unproductive as the wrong person in the right place.

Putting the right person properly placed requires a combination of knowledge and insight.  Knowledge means getting to know your staff.  Not just how well they do their jobs, but how well they communicate.  How effectively they work as part of a team.   How well they manage conflict.

Management Skills. Promoting an individual because of strong technical skills is a frequently used strategy.  But management requires a completely different set of skills—people skills necessary to effectively move others to higher levels of performance.

Hidden Gems. So be on the lookout for the hidden gems.  These are often the individuals who handle conflict effectively.  Those who can inspire others to do more.  Those who can reduce problems instead of creating them.  And those who can get more work done through other people instead of doing it themselves.

These are the people who will be most effective as they move up the management ladder, because they are the ones who will be most likely to shine.

The steamroller.  The one who never seems to consider what anyone else on the team wants or feels is right.  The one who is convinced of the rightness of his opinion or proposal and then rolls right over anyone who gets in the way.

When faced with a steamrolling employee, many co-workers simply lie down and let the steamrolling begin.  It is so much easier and less time-consuming, but it is also so much less risky than standing up to them.

The problem with this approach is two-fold.

1. The behavior continues unabated, leaving everyone feeling vulnerable.
2. Team morale steadily erodes to the point where the team can become non-functional.

Approaches. There are a couple of ways to deal with a steamrolling co-worker.

1. Label the behavior in a non-accusatory way.  For example: “John, when you disregard what the rest of us on the team have said, it really shuts me down.  And I know that isn’t what you want, is it?  What you are proposing has a lot of merit, but we really need to take into consideration what the rest of us believe.”
2. If the team has tried to address the steamrolling behavior without success, then it is time to move up the ladder and address it with a supervisor who has more authority.

Early and Often. The key is to not let the behavior continue to the point where it is seriously detracting from the team’s effectiveness.  Addressing it early and often will usually help bring it to an end.