the job. Some tools should be standard to every team’s early development. Understanding where complexity is likely to be an issue, particularly with external stakeholders, will encourage every member to start looking beyond their own specific area of expertise and see the challenge as a whole (Tool 1). Assessing the project environment (Tool 2) is an explicit mechanism that ensures the team know from the start what they are likely to be up against.
There are some standard norms that need to be discussed and established early on. Meetings should have clear rules around timekeeping, use of mobile phones during meetings and the recording of agreed actions. Whilst these rules should ultimately be non-negotiable you will find that compliance is much stronger if the team feels they have created the rules rather than having them imposed (Tool 13). The tools that shape communication such as the use of collaborative language (Tool 22) and allowing everyone to have a voice (Tool 24) are good examples of the direct use of mechanisms to establish positive behaviours that may be specific to your team. These tools are explicit and the outcome of any discussion should be recorded in writing and the team held to account if they do not comply.
There are other rules that establish less comfortable norms depending upon the team’s mission. If excellence/best in class is going to be required to achieve a tough goal, how are you going to go about it? For example, do you need the team to be challenging each other, pushing the best ideas to the top (Tool 34)? This can be quite disruptive to group process, but if you aspire to excellence then this is what will be needed. Similarly, if the team is working through a complex series of tasks, its effectiveness will significantly improve if it willingly seeks feedback both from within the team and from its stakeholders. The team therefore need to be open to criticism and to use feedback to learn and then adapt (Tools 14 and 42).
Other norms are shaped more subtly. Tools for establishing a compulsive vision (Tool 10 – ‘The Big “Why”’) and ‘Building a future story’ (Tool 15) do not place any rules on the team, but instead nudge the team to focus on what they have in common, irrespective of their different personal and professional backgrounds. The development of trust has repeatedly been shown to be fundamental to the development of a cohesive unit. The more time team members take to understand each other, the stronger the bonds that will hold them together. So whilst mutual understanding is a powerful norm, you cannot create a rule or process that will force it to happen. Instead you must rely on the tools that will help build mutual comprehension. There is great value to be had from encouraging a team to reveal their fears and vulnerabilities. Studies consistently show that once team members start to empathize with each other at a deeper level, they bond more closely and really start to become mutually accountable. Exercises such as ‘How to motivate or annoy me’ (Tool 16) are a great start, but any of the tools that encourage the team to explain both what they think and what they feel will help strengthen the team.
The book also includes some remedial tools to help the team regain its balance. These are particularly useful on long projects where fatigue can set in and inter-personal conflict starts to affect the team dynamic. Tools such as ‘Press reset’ (Tool 32) and ‘Establishing a “no blame” culture’ (Tool 19) help the team look at itself as an entity and try to regain some perspective. Maintaining the resilience of a team has generally been neglected in both the academic literature and in management best practice. Stoicism and mental toughness are admirable qualities but, as a number of recent studies have shown, every individual has a breaking point. Strong teams sustain their members through difficult times and so the resilience tools provide a useful set of exercises to roll out when everyone is starting to feel the pressure.
You now have in your hands some of the key tools with which to shape and build the dynamics of your team. To become a master craftsman, however, takes time and practice. Influencing behavioural norms requires a different approach to leadership, based around a coaching philosophy. This is covered in the next chapter.
Конец ознакомительного фрагмента.
Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес».
Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию на ЛитРес.
Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом.
