I sat down with each of the employees on the team I had been assigned to. One by one, they shared their tales of woe. “We can’t get any support from anyone!” She said, hysterical. “Why won’t these people listen to us?” He screamed, angrily. “I can’t get parts for my customer,” came another retort.
That was my introduction to management over twenty years ago. I was hired to supervise a call center and tech support operation. They were the most beat up group of people I had met in business. Three years later, that team won the highest award at Johnson Controls.
Every manager has had to face, at one time or another, a promotion into a broken team. Each of us as managers is sometimes faced with the challenge of mending a group of people who are exhausted, downtrodden and just plain dejected. Teams fall apart for many reasons: disparaging comments about their effectiveness, ineffective team members, excessive management turnover, unclear mission, and failure. The risky problem with these teams is they become self-fulfilling prophecies because poor team chemistry leads to poor team performance which leads to blaming which leads to a death spiral of ineffective performance and on and on.
When we are called into a conference room and told we’ll be moving into “X” team, we sometimes hold our breath, knowing the risks involved with managing a broken team. Things can go wrong. There is no question that rebuilding a reputation takes time and deliberate effort. This article offers several actions you can take to retool and rebuild. Teams don’t often fit a linear change path, but they do respond to deliberate, thoughtful and persistent leadership.
Lead with confidence, not with your ego
In the midst of crisis and ongoing poor performance, when the new leader comes in, everyone is skeptical. They’ve seen all the high priced help come and go, and they’re still here. But they still want to believe that someone can help them. Take courage. This is not going to be easy, but dig in and plan for their success, not yours. People are always curious about someone who really wants them to be successful, and is willing to sacrifice ego, position and status to ensure they’re successful. Humility is always a safer starting point, by the way, since you don’t have nearly so far to fall.
Build trust
You’ll feel weird the first few days on the team. You won’t have enough information to make a good decision. You won’t know all the nuances of the jobs people do. You’ll feel a bit shallow in your responses, but you can still win the day. Straight talk is the source of trust. People will want to know if their jobs are safe, and if they can trust your word. Those first few weeks are critical. If you don’t know an answer, say so. People know when you’re bluffing.
What are people really concerned about?
When you sit down to listen to individual members, common themes will emerge. I have found most often that people are looking for the very thing that they can’t get while they are underperforming: they want respect. When a team is in turmoil, they often produce less and complain more. The first thing you need to do is assure them that things can be changed, but it’s going to take work and probably some approaches they haven’t used before. An honest appraisal of the situation is critical before you make promises of what will change.
Your response to the team (after some serious listening). “To build a reputation (and ultimately to gain respect) our team needs to demonstrate results in a way that are clear to the organization.” Oftentimes people can only see their local situation, and the needs of an executive to clearly see resource loading is not their concern.
State the not-so-obvious
The most fundamental observation you may make is that they are a team. They may never have even thought that way before. Most people are in ‘departments’. They come to work in a department or a work group. Identifying them as a team, even if it is in name to start, puts a different viewpoint on the situation. People on a team are responsible for the success of the team, not just themselves.
Find the naysayers and bring them to your point of view or neutralize them
Every team has a ringleader that people look to when confirming or disconfirming a new boss. In one of my situations, I got on a plane and flew to meet the guy who had the most influence on the group. I wanted to hear him out. The very fact that I went to him spoke volumes. In another situation, I listened to a chronic complainer for about 30 minutes, then asked him what he would do to fix things.
The greatest sense of satisfaction ever had was with some naysayers who regularly told me how much stress they were under. At the same time, I contracted a serious illness that required I was taken out of the building in an ambulance. When I returned, I faxed the ambulance bill to the team and never heard about stress again. A little dramatic, I know, but it got the message across in a humorous way.
Set the context – where people fit into the company
Most people have no idea even why they come to work. They’re unclear about their place in the world. Bring some clarity and certainty to that angle of their thought process. Be deliberate about why they matter! What is the context of their life? Why does their work matter? You have to sort that out in a simple, yet clear way that resonates with people. They won’t buy a sales pitch, but they’ll believe someone who can make a strong case for why they exist: "Here’s where we fit into the broader scope of the organization, and here's how we can help".
Set the vision – where the team can go
Here’s where we can go. Here’s what we can do. When setting vision, people will seek something that is credible yet beyond what they have today. They’ll want to know some of the ‘how will we do that?’ answers. Let them know they will be involved in the solution.
Let ‘em know what you’ve done in the past (with a bit of humility!)
People need to know you’re the real thing. They need to see legitimacy. Selling them on a few things you’ve done is a good starting point. It develops what I call “listening confidence.” In other words, they’re confident enough in your abilities that they will at least listen.
Set an expectation for excellence
After about two – three weeks into the role, set the course and expectations. You’ve listened to them. You’re smart enough about the team now. When you hear. “You have no idea how hard this job is!” you’ll be able to say, “Well I think I do.” You can speak with authority about what you’ve learned.
I once had to explain how a team was perceived by the rest of the organization. It was tough news to bring, but it set the table for high expectations. They knew it was true, but someone had to bring it to the surface.
Help and solve chronic problems – people must see evidence of your leadership.
As you’ve listened to the team members, you’ve picked up on some chronic problems that have been around forever... If it’s a worthy issue, make it your business to fix one of those problems… For me it was two major things: ‘We can’t get parts’ and ‘We can’t work with Mexico’. The solutions were radically different: one required pure data, the other required finesse involving a different culture in the solution. We fixed them both, and the taem gained confidence.
Put them on the map
After the team scores a few real points, let the world know. Nothing pumps up a team that was downtrodden like recognition from others that things are moving and changing in a positive direction. One of the curses of the corporate world is a fear that recognition will lead to poor performance. The research (and my own experience) shows this is not true. People are proud to work in a group with achievements. Clearly the manager must be careful to only recognize ‘the real thing’ but if someone on the team has done well, speak loudly. If the whole team has done well, shout it from the rooftops. Organizations don’t know what they don’t know. As a leader, you’re the one who has to brag about your team.
There is a peripheral but powerful motivational benefit to this effort. No one wants to slip backwards. Once the team has shown what it can do, the bar is set and your expectations can be pushed even higher. People like being part of a winner, and they will hold their position at all costs.
Employee engagement has set the bar high
The challenge with managing teams in these days of employee engagement is simple: Employees know about the engagement surveys, and their expectations have gone through the roof. Any leader who has missed this boat is in trouble. If you don’t know what it is, you’ve been reading about it in this article. If you do, and you don’t act on it, you’re making the problem worse.
Recognition of hard work and legitimate validation
When people know they’re valued for their legitimate accomplishments, and they know the organization acknowledges what they’ve done, meaning has been added to their lives. Think about it: most people will spend their entire work lives wondering if they mattered. You can change that, if only for a moment.
