Looking for a High Performance Team? February 13, 2006
Coach Daley
As a business coach I watch business organizations as a student. I'm always looking for the unique characteristics of successful (or unsuccessful) organizations and as you know it usually boils down to leadership. Nothing new… right? Look at sports; you can have great players and a manager that struggle to win. What about the gold medal winning US Hockey team with an outstanding coach but no superstars? One manager can be the biggest hindrance to success and that would be the "tribal manager". (The Strategic Partnering Handbook)
Remember, "Leaders" create a vision and are enthusiastically followed:
"Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it." Dwight D. Eisenhower
"Leaders create an environment where teams thrive and produce beyond even their expectations, managers without leadership skills stress teams out and so production is work, people do only do the minimum not to get fired and struggle to do that much." Coach Daley
"The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality. The last is to say thank you. In between, the leader is a servant." Max De Pree
"Managers" struggle with a sincere "thank you", because it could go to their subordinates head, make them think they are more important than they are to the manager, after all the subordinate is just completing tasks...their job... right? "Managers" dictate, intimidate and do things themselves. Why would they do things themselves? First to show the team they are not needed just tolerated. And secondly to show their superiors they can do the job themselves, matter a fact, they believe the team is taking the credit they should have. If they feel the superior is questioning who is the hero the manager will show them by doing the task themselves or moving some else to do it. It's just a task. This makes perfect sense if you consider they see their job as their career development, as the organization and implementation of tasks not leadership and development of people. They are the "alpha male" or female, they are always jockeying for political position and competing with their own team to show they are the superior and the manager. The scary thing with these managers is that they don't see this behavior. They tend to be very insecure and hence "Alpha males" are dangerous to any up and comers they see as a threat, how many future leaders can your organization afford to lose? My dad used to say watch what people do, not what they say. He must have had these managers in mind. Bottom line, first on their priority list is their status, second is positioning for their career growth, and last is tasks. People are necessary evils they have to put up with. These managers look at their subordinates from their (the manager) perspective. These managers love the line "Salary Continuation Plan!" "You should be glad to have your job." "Stay below the radar screen and complete your tasks as I laid them out!" "I can replace you tomorrow!"
If companies are successful due to people and they spend big bucks and time to hire the right people for the right jobs, create an environment for success (for each particular person) and reward them for successful performance (in a manner they see as a reward) than the above managers are not indicative of a successful company are they?
Consider a couple of facts:
· Most people leave do to their managers!
· Bad employees don't quit, where would they go?
· Leadership starts at the top and the corporate culture helps sustain Leadership (the opposite is also true)
Do you have a leadership problem?
Is it costing you a high performance team?
In our workshops we teach to constantly observe, not to judge to quickly. Things are never black and white. Having said that ask yourselves the following questions and see if you have a trend that is costing your organization maximum performance and limiting your bottom line.
- Usually about 20% of your team will be self starters that should excel with minimal leadership so these are the people to watch. If they are stressed then you might have a leadership problem.
- If you call a meeting of one of your leaders teams and they can not or will not speak openly you may have a leadership problem?
- Manager could be jockeying for political position and does not want that impacted by his or her necessary evils!
- Do you as a manager enjoy reaching visions through people or do you wish you could just do it yourself?
- You could be a driver?
- You could be an entrepreneur that just needs to grow to leadership or find a leader.
- Ask your manager what motivates their team, what are their individual goals? If you have a leadership problem these managers will tell you what "should" motivate their team, not what does! Ask for specifics of each teammate.
- Has the manager found a way to align the teammate’s goals with the organizational goals?
- How are the teammates coming with their goal attainment?
- Would a 360 survey be helpful? Click here
- Do you want to be a leader but feel you are just a manager? Would you like to start on the journey to be a leader? It takes knowledge, experience and then skill: Click here
- Are your managers coachable? Or do they tell you that you just don't understand?
- Can they be developed into leaders of teams?
Do you possible have a leadership problem? Is it costing you at the bottom line? Would you like to learn more? www.daleygroup.org
