Leadership Update 15 of 2017 - Superboss Series

shawnsher
Jun 12, 2017
6 min read

Superbosses Series (Part Six) – Reconnecting People within the Organisation

The sixth trait shared by superbosses is their acute awareness that human beings crave connections and without ‘genuine’ connections, people feel disconnected and will eventually leave the organisation.
Hence, superbosses aren’t afraid to institutionalise steps/measures challenging the status quo in encouraging the development of human connections within the business. Try a Technology Fast
With the fasting month approaching, this idea may carry particular resonance…
The obsessive, addictive nature of technology is a topic of much discussion in the world these days. This is plainly evident when seeing the need of people to be constantly checking their mobile device for news, text messages and other forms of social media communication.
A similar but related problem has plagued organisations for years. I am not here referring to employees who are obsessively connected to their handphones. Instead, I am referring to the prevalence of people being glued to their laptops or computer screens.
By looking at most workplaces today, you’d think that the majority of employees in the world were copy-editors for a newspaper. The average employee is almost constantly staring at his or her computer screen, most likely shifting back and forth from e-mail to the internet to a word processing or PowerPoint application.
Aside from the distraction of multi-tasking and obvious loss in productivity, this hurts organisations because it keeps our employees isolated.
Sometimes I long for the days when frequent power cuts (be it at home or in the office) forced us to light a candle and sit around talking or doing something interactive. My nostalgia is not for wanting something touchy feely.
Rather, it points to the distinct lack of interactive impromptu talks, problem solving and brainstorming that we see lacking in so many organisations (and for that matter families too).
At work, this is a problem because the best ideas don’t usually come about during a scheduled meeting, but rather from incidental contact between like-minded human beings who allow themselves the luxury of having an unstructured, work-related conversation.
Just like some families today mandate that there can be no phone usage during family lunches/dinnertime, perhaps it’s time for companies to start having regular technology fasts. I am referring to here to a short period in which employees would be prohibited from using their laptops – or smartphones for that matter – but still required to work.
Superbosses recognise the paradox that technology has come with. While helping us work smarter and more productively, too much reliance on it have the opposite effect of promoting distractedness, disconnectedness and even uncivility in the workplace. Think about the number of times you have been at the receiving end of trying to speak to someone only to have them respond while being glued to their laptop or handphone. Try This
Start a regiment where employees will be prohibited from accessing their handphones and laptops/computers for one full hour. You could suggest a timeframe like say between 11 am to 12 pm on a Thursday/Friday morning where typically employees would have already had the time to clear their e-mail and respond to important business issues.
With this new policy, encourage people to initiate conversations with one another. Some of the best companies today go even further in promoting conversations/connectedness by providing coffee/lunch coupons for employees to use with the caveat that the coupon can only be used to have a conversation with someone from another department or division.
Amazon uses this to great effect. They provide their employees with a free lunch or Starbucks coupon which can only be used by the technical/engineering level employees to reach out to the business side employees and vice versa to seek out casual discussions. Many a great ideas has sprung from these initiatives.
Try it. I am convinced that productivity, innovation and team cohesiveness would improve, not to mention job satisfaction.

This update is sent as part of our Leadership update series. We hope you enjoyed this update. If you are looking at a programme that encourages genuine team success, do consider the approach we are suggesting with the programme below.

Creating the Conditions for Your Team to Succeed

A 1 and ½ Day In House Training Programme

Overview

Traditional ‘team-building’ sessions where employees get together to perform activities like rope climbing and forming trust circles while useful do not achieve any lasting long-term impact. Studies show that the most benefit such traditional team-building activities have does not last longer than a 2-4 month period.

To have a lasting impact, your team sessions need to have more depth. ‘Overcoming the 5 Dysfunctions of a Team’ addresses the real deeper issues that are the underlying cause behind why teams do not succeed as well as they should. Based on the work of best-selling American author Patrick Lencioni in the book titled ‘The Advantage”, this programme will show you the precise steps you can take to immediately implement a ‘healthy’ team environment within your organisation/department.

What Are the 5 Dysfunctions?

The five dysfunctions that hold back a team from achieving its full potential are:

A Culture of Distrust - where people do not implicitly trust the people they work with
Conflict Avoidance – where people fear asking, clarifying or questioning others in wanting to avoid any confrontation or conflict resulting in the wrong decisions being made or no ‘buy-in’ from the team
No Clarity – where people are unclear on what the big picture is and what is truly important from the mundane
Failure to Understand One Another’s Strengths – where people become more focused on finding fault with each other’s weaknesses instead of leveraging on one another’s strengths
Failure to Assume Accountability – where people tend to become ‘problem focused’ instead of ‘solution focused’ leading to the team focused on assigning blame

What You Will Gain From This Session

You will gain from a step by step methodical approach on how to:

Cultivate an environment where team members implicitly trust one another to get the job done,
Create a team atmosphere where everyone feels comfortable addressing the difficult issues in ensuring that ‘buy-in’ and commitment is achieved
Ensure your team members are all united behind a common and singular goal
Understand each of your team members strengths and how to use this to the team’s maximum advantage
Develop a mind-set where your team automatically moves toward finding a solution instead of dwelling over a problem.

Agenda

Day One

9.00am – 10.30am

Introduction to the 5 Dysfunctions

Smart Organisation v Healthy Organisation – most organisations are ‘smart’ but are we ‘healthy’
Why a ‘healthy’ organisation always beats a ‘smart’ organisation
Exercise – test on ‘how ‘healthy’ is your team?’ The 5 Dysfunctions and How they Impede Organisational Health
Failure to build ‘genuine’ trust
Avoidance of Conflict & Discussion on Difficult Issues
Failure to communicate with clarity
Lack of appreciation and understanding of each other’s strengths
Failure to Generate Buy-In and Commitment

10.45am – 12.45pm

Building ‘Genuine’ Trust at Work

Start with values – be clear on ‘what you stand for’
Exercise on connecting your personal values with organisational values
Video Presentation – communicating your personal values with your team
How to initiate genuine two-way interactions with your team members

Lunch

2 pm to 3.30 pm

Getting Comfortable With Conflict

How to build an environment where people feel free to voice their uncertainties and disagreements
Exercise – Techniques and strategies on how to promote open sharing and discussions

Managing Meetings Successfully 3.30 pm to 5 pm Communicating with Clarity

Identify our thematic goal exercise – our rallying cry

‘If we accomplish only one thing during the next 3/6 months, what will it be?’ OR

‘What is the one critical activity we need to accomplish in the next 6 months where if we looked back six months from now and have failed to accomplish it would mean that we have failed?’

How to ensure your thematic goal is cascaded down to your subordinates with clarity
Group Presentation on Thematic Goals

Day Two

9.00am – 10.30am

Knowing Your Strengths Profile and That of Your Team

Analysis of your personality and strengths profile report
Group Discussion – read the report on two members of your group and prepare a report on how his or her strengths have helped the team
Analysing your team’s collective strengths and possible blind-spots
Using Your Awareness of Your Strengths to Overcome/Address Your Weaknesses at Work

10.45 am to 12.45 pm

Having Strength Based Conversations with Your Team

Moving from a ‘problem centred’ to solutions focused approach to dealing with work issues
Role play – How to have a ‘solutions’ based approach to discussions
Generating Buy-In and Commitment from Your Team members

Review and Closing