Front Line, Self-Directed and Flatter Organizational

Teams Effective

Our practice is implementing change through people. We use teams to achieve faster, better, and cheaper results. We’ve worked with front line teams such as tellers, self-directed work groups such as electricians and administrative and production support groups. We’ve achieved some dramatic changes. These changes are not quick fixes and cannot develop without management, process and system support. It takes work to build and maintain a team. In our assignments, we normally deal with intact units. Part of our work requires putting aside old baggage and unsettled conflicts. A team does not materialize from a game or a single event. It not only requires skills to build, but it also requires dedication to maintain.

Fifteen years of Ford Motor Company Research demonstrates that training managers to productively involve people produces an average 56% return in unit productivity increase the first year. The bonus to this is that 20% annual improvements occur each year thereafter! This compares with an average one time 20% return on capital improvements.

If these kinds of assets already exist in organizations, why aren’t more organizations reaping the benefits? Management style enhances or limits productivity and morale. To effectively utilize teams, you have to change the way managers lead people. Moreover to address the fast moving needs of business today, we help managers to encourage reciprocal changes from employees. Through improved teamwork, commitment and problems solving abilities, we accelerate change in organizations. There’s nothing like success to ensure a new habit forms. Change does not happen overnight. It will not sustain if work processes and support systems don’t reinforce it.

Through changes in mindset, processes and support systems, we have helped build and sustain competitive advantages for numerous organizations.

Mindsets. The key mindsets that our teams face are narrow task and activity focuses. Purpose, goals and working out difficulties are roles "management performs;" consequently, no individual or team ownership exists to work through problems or effectively respond to changed conditions.

Because we are mostly dealing with intact units and groups, we have found that breaking these counter productive cycles requires improving worker’s self-confidence, and skills for dealing with frustration. Likewise managers need to learn new employee involvement skills. However, often the most difficult barrier for managers is recognizing how capable people can be. Beliefs coupled with poor leadership skills decrease productivity and morale. Self-discovery and feedback tools help managers become aware and improve their practices. For us, the most productive feedback tools offer models and frameworks for managers to apply new insights. For example, Teleometrics’ Productive Management Practices and Companion Feedback Survey are cost effective methods for improving manager’s competence and group productivity. Several similar tools exist on the market.

Building teams helps managers accelerate change. The team events are staged after a number of skill building exercises—including communication, perception and group effort to refine working efforts. However, goodwill quickly runs out of gas if processes and systems are not re-aligned and new rewards and reinforcements are not developed.

The summary that follows depicts the team development needs and tools we have found helpful in assisting units and organizations change.

Once better teamwork and understanding between managers and employees exists, our next step is to align individual with unit goals. We have developed a structured employee-manager dialogue. This dialogue improves managers’ and or leaders’ abilities to:

It also helps employees define and communicate personal needs and visions to management. Moreover, each employee must link how this plan improves the unit.

We use the above model to keep the processes on track and help employees and managers to understand what we are doing.

Our programs are customized to fit any improvement initiative. For example, we helped one strategic planner decrease his time spent on the engagement by 50% for the same fee! Faster, better and cheaper for everyone!

The following provides an assessment of how equipped you are to implement change through people.

A thirty-one person inbound customer service unit had not learned to cross-sell after two years of training. A concerted three month effort of positive involvement, commitment building and process and systems support resulted in $10 million in new deposits resulting after 90 days work. This change occurred in the fall of 1994. It has not only has increased sales but has also grown to outbound service and created a leadership group within the bank that has further developed its capacity.

A Specialty Contractor Increased Billing 60% within 8 months…

This client had a wonderful problem—more business than it could handle. It was stuck in firefighting and over-responding to client needs with unrealistic promises. These behaviors resulted in poor scheduling, re-work and lowered quality. By examining processes, putting the electricians in charge of schedules and training managers to involve, support and respect electricians’ intelligence and desire to do good work, this company has reaped the benefits of teamwork, productivity and high morale.

Well-conceived efforts pay for clients! If you would like more information on the following tools or any portion of this article, please contact us.

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