Editor’s note:
This post is inspired by a discussion that happened on the Leader’s Cafe Foundation Forum in LinkedIn. The forum can be found here: Link To LinkedIn Forum. And the specific discussion can be found here: Specific Discussion.
Dear Managers and Leaders!
In my two previous posts, I listed 6 symptoms that leaders should take really seriously and analyzed the first symptom: A team member does not produce what the leader was expecting. Today, we will continue our analysis and tackle the second symptom: Team members are not coming up with new ideas.
For a leader, getting a lot of fresh ideas from his team members is crucial. Without a good flow of new ideas coming from team members about the team’s portfolio, about the positioning of the team in the larger organization, about processes, or about the way the team is run, the leader is left alone with all the creativity. In this situation, the leader himself will have to diagnose the problems and find the solution. This is a big task for a single person. It is also likely to fail because the leader cannot know his team enough to understand every aspect of it as well as his team members do.
I believe it is natural for people to diagnose problems that are happening to them and find their own solutions to these problems. It is also natural for human beings to find ways to improve their situation. It is probably a trademark of the human race to always want to do better and always want to feel better. What that means is that the ideas are probably there in your team members’ mind even if they are not bringing them up to you.
Culture
So, how do you go about finding what is causing the problem? The first thing that I would question is the culture of the company. In some cultures, the leader has absolute power and it is not well seen for an employee to speak up, or help. If you have been leading your team for some time and your team members never came up with a complaint or an idea, then it is possible that you are in this situation. Are you bringing up issues and ideas to your boss yourself? If you do not feel comfortable to do so, it can tell you that the company culture does not allow for that at the moment.
Changing a culture is not easy, but at least this is something you can talk about openly with your team members. You can mention to them what you have observed and tell them that you would like things to change. Note that you are part of the culture and you will have to be ready to change and value the ideas that people will start to bring forth. Your reaction to the first comment that people will make will be extremely important. You will have to be open and treat this first idea with a lot of respect. You should probably publicly recognize the person who brought up this first idea to reinforce the importance of the action. Also, be patient. Cultures take a long time to change.
Bad Past Experience
The second thing that I would investigate is history. Is it possible that people brought a number of issues and ideas in the past and you did not take them seriously, ignore them, or did not take action? Is it possible that your vision is so strong that you are not open to suggestions that question its validity? You need to create an atmosphere where bringing ideas or issues is valued and show that you care and will take action when people bring up ideas.
To turn this situation around, I think you should talk to your team openly. Tell them that you recognize what happened in the past and mention that you will make sure that every idea will be treated with lots of respect from now on. Create a framework where ideas are recognized and welcome. For instance, you can keep an open list of ideas on your team’s web page with a list of actions, decision, and ROI for each of them. You can then have a contest where you recognize the best idea every quarter.
Lack of Responsibility
The third thing that I would measure is whether my team members feel responsible for the success of the team. Sometimes, team members do their job OK but don’t really value the success of their team. It is also possible that you, the leader, do not involve your team members in the team’s decision making and solution finding, not allowing your team members to take ownership of the team's success.
It is your role to make your team members feel responsible for the success of their own team. You need to give them a vision that they buy into for the future of the team and start involving them in the solution finding and decision making for the team. You need to create a sense of urgency around the success of the team and ensure that people feel their team is important and real. Challenge them to improve products or the team itself and then put the people in a context where they have to find problems and solutions. Open the door to getting help from people and you will see your team members unite to help you.
What about you dear leader, do you see other reasons why people would not bring up issues or propose ideas? Do you have other suggestions to stimulate team members to bring more ideas to the table?
Until next time,
Remi Cote
PS: InnovaChron offers a series of workshops and programs that create a great framework to involve your employees and get their ideas. To find out more, please visit InnovaChron's web site or contact me directly at remi@innovachron.com.
Time to get them off campus and out of uniform.
ReplyDeleteGet on a bus or a train together as equals, go to a hockey game or something where there are no titles among you and nothing work-related is likely to be discussed. Don't "manage" the adventure, facilitate it. Get the testosterone and progesterone going and flowing. Better yet, take them sky-diving where they'll share every ounce of the experience together! Take them to a local rock concert at an outdoor facility. Take them deep sea fishing. Go to a gun range (wait, no guns... you may not be popular... too much of a risk). Take them to a soup kitchen to volunteer for a day. Go whitewater rafting. Go snowmobile riding. Take them paintballing. Volunteer their day at Habitat for Humanity.
Invigorate them! Open the windows and let out the stale air! Give them a new perspective for each other. Excite them! get them out of their well-worn comfort zones. Get them somewhere where they interact with each other in different terms, on different planes. Get them somewhere where they interact with others and / or experience other circumstances together. Give them something to come home with and talk about together.
Dovetailing their experiences, their new relationships and their shared energies can revitalize the dynamics and the creative processes! When you get back to work and back in the saddle, YOU need to stop playing the role of Manager and revert back to that of the facilitator!
You'll learn to enjoy each other, reinvigorate your energies and your perspectives, and you will lead passively by your deliberate facilitation... leading from the side, the rear, and all sorts of untried and unexpected locations! Put a few other people at the head of the parade, they may enjoy it and surprise you!
Look within yourself and see if you are presenting obstacles by your behavior. Then look at the culture and see if something has changed. Review the strategic plan and see if this is a time to take action on one existing idea rather than bring more to the table. Share the results of past ideas to demonstrate the value.
ReplyDelete1-7-09
ReplyDeleteDear Mr Remi,
Many Thanks for initiating an Interesting Discussion. I agree with comments offered by you and reactions from Mr Brian and wish to add as follows:
Needless to say Ideas from the Team bring in factors like Team Spirit, Synergy, Vitalisation, Involvement and so on. As said by an expert "Wars are won by idess from Soldiers who take the Bullets on their chest and not by Generals who sit back and build strategies". Rather the said strategies are built around the ideas from the soldiers, if the wars are to be won. Thus it is certainly important to Motivate the team to contribute as far as they can.
Tools which can be used to do so may me.
Involve the team into the whole process of Planning, Target Setting, Retunrs Expected not only for the team but also for each team member.
Encourage Involvement through constructive Analysis, appreciation and support.
Let the Team build confidence and enjoy the fruits of Success. Celeberate the Success.
As rightly put by Mr Brian Be a Facilitator of right resources, Mentor, Provide a positive evironment for growth & Block / remove any Negetive energies affecting the project.
I am sure there are many more things which can be added to the above but let me leave it to this for now.
Please feel free to cotact me if I can contribute for a good cause in any manner.
Warm Regards
Ranjeev Manrao
CEO
RM123 Management, Business & Strategy Consultants
Vashi, New Mumbai, India.
Ranjeevm1234@hotmail.com / Skype - ranjeevm123
http://linkedin.com/in/ranjeevmanrao
You said; "I believe it is natural for people to diagnose problems that are happening to them and find their own solutions to these problems. It is also natural for human beings to find ways to improve their situation."
ReplyDeleteIn my experience there are many people who are followers and not team leaders because they can not find solutions and want to be led, directed, encouraged or even just told what to do. As consultants and coaches we would be out of a job if your belief were true.
Knowing your team and their individual preferences can assist you in using your team for their unique qualities. Each has something to contribute or they need to find another team. Not everyone is a goalie or a skydiver.
I have worked with people who complain bitterly about having to be included in the male team building concept of getting physical action involved when their strength is in mental or even emotional areas of the tasks.
I have listened to the grumblings of people who have participated in activities for which they didn't have the desire to participate, the physical stamina, or the interest to acquire the new skill and felt it was just another opportunity for the leader to show off. It built greater resentment and even in some instances contributed to a backlash of feelings when an opposing group formed to block such efforts. These teams spent more time in internal conflict than productive and creative work.
I suggest getting to know your team members by asking open ended questions so you know if their goals are compatible with where you as the team leader are heading. If you are not going to the same place don't get on the same bus.
This addresses the issue of choosing your team or modifying the team to meet the tasks. Don't expect people who feel misunderstood to be creative.
Creative solutions require a level of trust and acceptance of failure. If every idea must be a winner right out of the gate people will stay silent.
Disappointment comes when expectations are not met. Perhaps you need to re-examine your expectations.
Marilyn Barnicke Belleghem M.Ed.,
When people are stressed, their focus narrows. That's the way the brain works - when people feel threatened, they focus on the threat. That is very helpful for getting things done, but not very helpful for imagining new options.
ReplyDeleteWhen people are happy, their focus broadens. That is not great for getting things done, but is much better for creativity and imagination. Again, that's the way the human brain functions.
Leaders can use this by creating offsites and such to get people relaxed and happy. A highly stressful offsite, for example, rafting on Class 5 rapids probably would not be good for getting new ideas. If people are really into their sports teams and the team loses, it is similarly unlikely to produce the mental and emotional states for creativity and imagination.
By managing context, a leader can get people in the right emotional and mental state for the job at hand.
If there is a perpetual lack of good ideas, look at the perpetual work environment. If people are perpetually stressed, they might have a harder time getting into a new mode. At that point, workload and other operational reviews may be in order.
There are a great many things that can go wrong before performance is a people problem.
It is so good to see this discussion because there are so many people in decision-making positions who do not understand what an important indicator this is of the health of the team.
ReplyDeleteI like to start with a measurement of the current environment to determine the factors that are causing symptoms such as not providing good ideas. As Deming said "If you cannot measure it, you cannot manage it." and "If you are not measuring it, you are not managing it." Once one diagnoses the cause, the symptoms are a piece of cake. If you would like to see what we developed for measuring, please see the SlideShare presentation at http://tinyurl.com/o45o4j.
Out door team exercise get together with brain storming exercises with delphi is one form of getting new ideas
ReplyDeleteIf you cannot get any new ideas, you come out with wild ideas and ask the team to brain storm and come out with the recommendations on your ideas or any new ones. Suggest some unpopular ideas too to generate discussions
I like what Leanne has posted. Stale leadership/constrictive management is the most common problem.
ReplyDeleteAnother common problem is that the outside world has changed while you have focused on day to day issues. Your firm's vision is no longer in sync with where the world has gone. I've seen that many times, as the firm continued to focus on producing products that were becoming out of fashion or technologically obsolete. In such cases, breakthrough thinking is necessary and you, the leader, need to paint a vision of how much the world has changed and then issue a strong call to creative action.
Could it be that some of your most creative thinkers think in different ways from you and the many in the group and are shy about contributing?
ReplyDeletePut all ways of thinking on the same level by having everyone read "Six Thinking Hats" by Edward De Bono. Using his method allows for the neutral and objective, emotional, careful and cautious, sunny and positive, fertile growth, and organizing contributers to take an equal role by having the whole group put on different thinking hats at the same time. It also allows people who always think one way to explore other ways of thinking.
Using this method in a group takes a bit of extra time at first, but it saves time in the long run and allows all kinds of thinkers to contribute on an equal level.
DrJane