Giving New Teams A Fast Start!

You're a manager. You have a new team, a new company, possibly a new project. Your job is to get your team up and running at peak efficiency as fast as possible. You have got to take a unique group of individuals who have never worked together, who don't know each other, who come from different backgrounds, who have different ideas about leadership, management, work ethic, and life balance, and make this team successful.

Each of the people on your team had a unique family system that they grew up in that will effect how they work. In some of the families conflict was open, people fought and argued, they debated. In other families there was no conflict, everything was swept under the rug. Emotions were muted or denied, arguments were avoided at all cost, and everyone wore a smile. Some of the people in your new team hunger for authority. They love taking control, they love being the person in charge. Other members of your team hate the idea of managing people or projects. They would rather just be an individual contributor - a cog in the machine rather than the person with all the responsibility. How can you - one person, one manager - take this group of wildly different, completely unique individuals and quickly turn them into a high-performing team that produces a product or a service that's usable, that's worthwhile, that your company or the general public will value?

For many years this was an easy dilemma to solve. Cash was a big incentive. People on a team would work hard and produce goods, and in exchange for that work the company would pay them. If the employee did a good job the wage would increase. This solution is not as effective as it used to be. People can easily find money. Money is a baseline satisfier, it gets your workers up to average performance if you are lucky. But you're not interested in average performance. You're interested in having a team that functions at a very high level consistently. You're interested in big producers, in high productivity, in leaving a mark, in producing something special.

How can you accomplish this? How can you weave skills, strengths, and various personalities on your team into a cohesive whole? There are a couple of core areas that you're going to have to address, some key questions you will have to answer.

1. Why Are We Here?  Where Are We Going?

First you're going to have to answer the question "why are we here?" in great depth. What is this group supposed to do? What are they going to accomplish? What's their reason for forming and performing. This is a question you have to answer originally on your own. You will need some kind of outline, some kind of structure, some kind of idea of what you want to do. Next you're going to involve the group in flushing out the outline, filling in the structure and developing a shared future vision of what the group is supposed to do. This future vision should be compelling. It should grab people on an emotional level. This is not just an intellectual exercise, although intellectually it should be stimulating and they should put thought into the process.

In five years, if this group is wildly successful, what will it look like? How will people feel? Learn to paint a picture with words. Describe a day in the life of this team. What will they be doing in a regular basis? What tasks will they be engaged in? What clients will they be working with? How will they feel? What accomplishments will they be proud of? The process of creating a future vision grabs a small piece of each team member's heart. Discover a compelling picture of the future in discussion with your team.

2. How Will We Get There?

Based on this future vision, create some long-range objectives. These are stepping stones that the group will walk down to create the future vision. Try to keep these simple. Create only three to five long range objectives so they can be easily remembered.

To reach your long range objectives you must accomplish short range goals. As you develop your short range goals make them SMART goals. SMART goals are Specific, Measurable, Acceptable, Realistic, and have a Time frame.

Specific- They provide enough detail so that there is no indecision as to what exactly you should be doing when the time comes to do it. A goal of: "Make more money," is poor. Should you be selling t-shirts or washing windows? A much better goal would be: "Sell 1,000 phones."

Measurable - Your goals should be such that when you are through you have some tangible evidence of completion. It feels good to see something there in front of you indicating a job well done. Equally important, you will be able to prove to yourself that you were successful and your time wasn't wasted. The end result of a goal such as "Create the best looking car on the market." cannot be reliably assessed. How do you know if it’s the best looking car? A much better goal would be: "We will survey our customers.  We will show them pictures of various cars and ask them what car they would buy if they had unlimited funds. Our goal is to create a car that 3 out of 5 people we survey would choose to purchase.” Producing measurable tangible evidence requires ACTIVE work on your part.

Acceptable – As you develop these goals make sure you are in alignment with your long range objectives and with company policy. You will crush morale if you develop goals, achieve the goals, and then find out from upper management that the results are not effective or needed.

Realistic - If short range goals are impossible to reach your team will give up before they start. There will be no anticipation of success, no enthusiasm. There ought to be a perception that there is a 50% chance of reaching a given goal. Short range goals should be set by the front line workers rather than by group leaders or upper managers. Front-line workers know best their strengths and weaknesses, hidden pitfalls and problems, and possible solutions. These front-line workers can use this information to maximize the chances of success. Setting goals in which every minute in the day is accounted for is unrealistic; unplanned events will crop up and wreak havoc with your schedule. Give yourself some flexibility.

Time Frame –Set target completion dates for the short range goals. I have worked with companies that are hesitant to set dates for completion. They are afraid of missing the target date and feeling the cold bite of failure. Do not operate in a state of fear. Set bold target dates, if at some point you realize that you are not going to meet the target date then move it out.

3. Who Do We Have?

You need to assess the skills and growth areas of each of the individuals on your team. You're going to have to get to know them. Rreach out to them, talk with them. Find out where each individual in your group excels. What are his or her skill sets? What strengths do they have? Are they technically savvy? Do they understand computers? Are they street smart, intellectually smart, emotionally smart, good at negotiating? Can they settle disputes between people? Can they solve problems?

Provide opportunities for the team members to get to know each other outside of the meeting rooms. Do some physical team building activities, go out on the town, have some dinners together with friends and family, play some games at a park, go white water rafting, do anything that is energizing and encourages interaction.

4. What Gives Them Juice?

What are the members of your team passionate about? What are the tasks that they really enjoy doing? The quickest way to get this information is to ask. Ask them these two questions, "If you could design your ideal job here what would it be? What tasks would you do?" This conversation not only gives you an inside look at what their skill sets and passions are, it also lets you develop a personal connection with them which is vitally important in getting them jump-started. Team members that feel a personal connection with the group leader are much more willing to go the extra mile for the team, to put in the extra effort, to do the job right.

Create a file for each person on your team.  Take notes on the following areas and put the notes in your file. Clarify in your mind three strengths of each individual. What two or three areas of development or improvement would benefit that person. Take notes on each team member’s “favorites” - their favorite food, movie, activity, etc. You'll be able to give them appropriate presents, bonuses, and perks later if you have this information.

5. What Crushes Them?

The last thing you want to make sure you understand are what burnout skills a team member may have. Burnout skills are skills that an individual does well, but detests doing. It's often the case that we discover a hidden skill in an employee and give that person an incredible amount of work in that area because they are good at it. If that employee doesn't enjoy the work, he or she will become tense, stressed, and may even leave your group.

6. Who Will Do What?

The next step is defining roles and responsibilities. Who is responsible for doing what tasks? Specifically, who is responsible for sales, for marketing, for research and development, for administration, and for operations. In each one of these subject areas, you want to have one person who is the ultimate authority. This is the person who holds the responsibility for that specific area. The responsible party can enlist other folks, they can draft them, they can use whatever means they choose to accomplish the task. But in the end, they're the one who is responsible for that area of the business. It's often very difficult to get roles and responsibilities down on paper. Typically, a company or an organization is between three and five years old before roles and responsibilities are clearly defined and written down. Don't make this mistake. Get your roles and responsibilities down on paper as soon as possible. But realize that the description is a working document, that it will change, that roles and responsibilities are not stagnant.

Sit down with each member of your team and create an individual growth plan.  The plan should identify 3-5 areas for growth. More then five is too hard to focus on. Describe the success criteria for the employee’s development as observable SMART goals. For example, “Jeff will become more effective at setting budgets,” is not observable and measurable.  “Jeff will create budgets that are within $10,000 of actual spending each quarter,” is a measurable, observable goal.

7. How Much Can They Handle?

You will never know how much your team can handle if you don’t give them the room and autonomy to do their work. Micromanaging is a term used to refer to managers who constantly want progress updates, who tell their team members EXACTLY how to do things, and who give their team no room to problem solve. The hidden message you send when you micro manage is, “I don’t trust you.” The problem with sending this message to your staff members constantly is that they will eventually behave in ways that are untrustworthy.

Give your team room to succeed or fail. If they fail then help them identify what they did poorly and give them a new direction. Often the speed that a team can attain is not restricted by resources or talent but by the hesitancy of the team leader to give up the reigns.

When you start working with your new team, be diligent about covering the areas discussed above. If these concerns are not resolved they will become problems that will keep your team from operating at it’s best. Give your team clear direction and structure while the members are learning their roles. Know that some conflict will happen naturally while your group is forming. The group has to work out power dynamics, roles, and responsibilities. Act as a facilitator through this forming process. As the group matures get out of the way, give them the tools and room they need and watch (with a big grin on your face) as they become high performers.