Category Archives: Motivaton

Why is it so hard to get lasting results from team-building activities?

Often when we think a team isn’t as productive as it could be, our first reaction is to spend some money on team-building exercises, often off-site. In my experience, your typical team-buildling challenge or social activity is great for getting out of the office and having some fun together…

What they’re not great for is creating lasting change and this is why:

Team building has to happen every day – in the reality of your work environment.
Team ‘issues’ are rarely about the team. To resolve them, you have to consider the individuals.
Generic team activities are unlikely to address the specific needs of your team.
Creating behavioural change requires insight, understanding and time.

What will work?

If you’re looking for a way to get your team to work more productively together, look for solutions that:

Start with an analysis of your team members’ perceptions of the team;
Are based on the realities of your workplace; and
Provide suggestions you can implement now for immediate – and lasting – impact.

What do you think?

Do you have ideas for effective and lasting team-building? Please share your insights by adding a comment below.

When does a ‘group’ become a ‘team’?

This question came to mind last weekend, when I had the good fortune to attend ‘Wintersong 2010’ an annual choral workshop held in the Blue Mountains. The weekend revolved around learning and performing diverse works arranged for choir – with 90 other singers from all over the country.

Composer and musician, Paul Jarman led us in an amazing workshop. In around an hour, we composed and performed a choral work in 7 parts. My first response when this was suggested was ‘this will never work’. To my amazement, it worked brilliantly!

I think we were working as a team at that point. (And arguably for the rest of the weekend, in producing some incredible sounds.)

For this project we were a team and not just a group because we had:

1. A leader who was very skilled and experienced;

2. An intention to create something of quality;

3. Goodwill and a desire to cooperate;

4. Diverse ideas and abilities; and

5. A specific goal, with a defined timeframe.

What do you think?

Do these things make a team? Or am I getting carried away with the analogy?

Please post your comments below.

Have you booked in for our webinar ‘How to Make Your Good Team Great’ on 7 July at 12 noon AEST? Click to register.

Team lessons from the last week in politics

In Australia, we have had a recent change of Prime Minister. Since then, I’ve been reflecting on what we can learn from these events in terms of having effective teams.

1. People want to be included in decisions that will affect them. The mining industry is just one example. The new PM, Julia Gillard, has recognised this, saying “I seek to work inclusively. I seek to bounce ideas around. I seek to get peoples’ views.”

2. It’s important to have a strong leader but risky to invest too heavily in believing their success will be the same as the team’s success.

3. Individual communication skills, behavioural traits and personal style are always going to be important for the collective success of the team because they will influence outsiders’ perception of the team.

4. When it’s time to make a change, acting quickly and decisively will allow you to get on with the task at hand without the distraction of uncertainty and rumours.

Perhaps you have some examples of your own? Please share your insights by adding a comment below.

Case Study: Team Tuning

Many businesses are blessed with highly motivated and engaged staff who are industriously working toward their strategic goals. Working as a team comes naturally to these employees and they are keen to find ways to work better together. I was fortunate enough to work with one such team recently to fine-tune their team performance.

Process

All five members of the team completed the online assessment of their behavioural and work preferences. On the day before the team coaching session, they received their individual Harrison Assessments reports.

A team paradox report, displaying all team members’ scores for each trait on one graph formed the basis of our team meeting. Because we had only two hours for discussion, the agenda focused attention on four facets of the team report: Motivation, Communication, Innovation and Organisation.

For each of these areas, we analysed and discussed the relative strengths of the team members to determine what was important to the team, how the strengths have helped them to date and what difficulties were present now.

Brainstorming of actions that would help the team capitalise on individual strengths and achieve the organisation’s goals resulted in a list of individual SMART actions. (SMART = Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Time-framed.)

Results

Several factors that could be used to bring the team to peak performance were uncovered via assessment and the team discussion. Here are a few examples:

One team member is highly organised and this strength will be put to good use in developing systems and processes in the business.
There is a team member who is not always comfortable putting forward their opinions or giving feedback. Once the rest of the team were aware of this, they were able to explore ways to make it easier for that person to communicate with them in productive ways.
Some team members require more structure to their work, while others find structure frustrating. Awareness of individual needs made it easy for others to suggest ways to accommodate those needs.

Benefits

On completion of the team meeting, the team had:

A better understanding of each others’ strengths, values and needs,
New, more effective, ways to work together,
Individual and collective accountability, with each member of the team responsible for specific actions that would make the team more effective and
Renewed commitment to their common goals.

Could this work help your team? Call us on 1300 785 150.

Workplace Flexibility and the Recovery – Risks and Opportunities

By Kerry Fallon Horgan, Keeping Good Companies Journal, Chartered Secretaries Aust

The global financial crisis and the introduction of flexibility requirements in the Australian National Employment Standards have focused renewed attention on workplace flexibility.

Harry Stout, ING Australia CEO, says “As a result of the GFC we have had to find creative ways of best deploying our resources from declining business areas to those who have growing and requiring greater resources needs. INGA has prided itself on retaining employment wherever possible, while our competitors reduced headcount from 5-20%. To achieve this we worked with our employees in finding ways we could reduce our employment costs while maintaining headcount. Through further encouraging flexible work practices, we were able to ride through the markets turbulence and are now positioned to leverage new opportunities.”

A similar response happened at AMP Ltd. “The challenging environment of the financial crisis encouraged us to look at creative ways to retain our employees and increase engagement and productivity in challenging times. Creative workforce planning strategies that continually reinforce flexibility as a work option ensure AMP has the workforce it needs, without compromising our optimistic and positive brand and culture,” explains Katriina Tahka, AMP Head of Talent & Diversity.

Workplaces that have introduced or reinvigorated their flexible work practices over the past year have not only significantly reduced costs but are now in a position to comply with the flexible work provisions of the new National Employment Standards(NES), which came into effect on 1 January 2010. This particular NES will significantly increase employees’ requests for flexibility and yet the majority of organisations do not have the knowledge base to comply.

Organisations such as ING Australia, IBM, AMP, Stockland and Carnival Australia are using the introduction of this National Employment Standard to update existing flexible workplace policies and guidelines and/or provide training on the legislation and how to make flexible work practices work. The legislation is providing an opportunity to reinforce their commitment to flexibility through awareness and education programs.

The full article is available at http://www.flexibility.com.au

What do you want?

Last week, our single question survey asked readers “What is the one people management issue that is causing you the most pain right now?”

The response was fantastic! Thanks for all your contributions.

Didn’t see it? It’s not too late to give us your answer and have it added to our list of topics for future webinars and articles.

The first webinar is scheduled for 12 noon on Wednesday, 7 July 2010. Topic and registration details will be posted in the next couple of weeks.

Here is a summary of the suggestions so far:

Team

establishing teamwork – working together on to meet organisational goals
culture
understanding what each person does and how roles work together

Motivation

rewards – ideas on non-monetary rewards
getting staff to work in new ways in an industry that has been more reactive than proactive in the past

Delegation

effectively communicating what needs to be done
having tasks completed to your requirements
ensuring staff are productive when you’re not there

Training

developing teams to meet future needs
helping staff indentify skill gaps
making time for training

Recruitment

attracting the people with the right attitude
matching the right people to the role
having the right people in the right seats

Performance

meaningful annual reviews
addressing weaknesses without causing offence
managing underperformance

Why not take a minute to add your own or support one of these suggestions?

Click here to have your say or leave a comment below.

What I learnt about business in two days in Hong Kong

Last week I attended expert level training on Harrison Assessments, delivered by the founder, Dr Dan Harrison. It was wonderful to have the opportunity to learn from Dan himself, as well as the many experienced users from around Asia.

It was also my first visit to Hong Kong and led me to reflect on what we could learn from the locals about doing business better. Here’s my summary:

Welcome clients like old friends, with respect and hospitality.
Do your best to anticipate their needs so you make it as easy as possible for them to do business with you.
Have a clear structure and processes so they know what will happen next and why – and who is responsible.

If you did just these three things, why would your clients ever want to go anywhere else?

Excuse me, your bias is showing

Do you think you’re good at judging people? You are, but probably not in the way you think…

We all live complicated lives and nature has given us neurological shortcuts so we don’t have to relearn everything as we go. For example, when we encounter a closed door, we don’t need to consciously think: What is this? What is it for? Why is it here? or How does it work? Instead, we grab the handle and walk through (perhaps with a little push/pull confusion on the way!)

Similar shortcuts are in operations when we interact with other people. We are able to quickly assess a person based on our past experiences and conditioning. This usually goes on beyond our awareness. Efficient but not always accurate!

For more than a decade Project Implicit, based at Harvard University, has been tracking a whole range of our hidden prejudicial associations. Curious about my own, I decided to try one of their Implicit Association Tests (IATs). Being a feminist, mother of two girls, business woman and teacher, I thought I’d be pretty safe trying a test called ‘Gender-Career’. Imagine my surprise (horror!) when I found my results showed that I strongly associated men with careers and women with family life.

Implicit biases are shown in the majority of the population. At least I’m not alone. And most of us don’t even know we are biased against certain groups.

How is this significant in business?

Our hidden prejudices predict how we respond to others. They may impact on:

deciding on the best applicant for a role
evaluating others’ work performance
how friendly and inclusive we are towards team members

Tip: Job interviews are a notoriously inaccurate way to predict workplace behaviour, even when conducted by experts. Project Implicit shows that without using objective measures of job fit, we are often relying on judgements we aren’t aware of and can’t control.

Curious about your own biases? You can visit Project Implicit online and take a test of your choice.

"The last couple of years at batyr has seen incredible growth and the Balance at Work team has supported us along the way. They have helped us improve leadership skills across the team by helping us source and manage mentors, and even engaging as mentors themselves. As a young and fresh CEO Susan has also supported me personally with genuine feedback and fearless advice to achieve great things. "

By Sam Refshauge, CEO, batyr

"We used the Harrison Assessment tools followed by a debrief with Susan, for career development with staff, which then allowed us to work with Susan to create a customised 360 degree review process. Susan has a wealth of knowledge and is able to offer suggestions and solutions for our company. She is always ready to get involved and takes the time to show her clients the capability of Harrison Assessments. "

By Jessica Hill, Head of People and Culture, Choice

"Balance at Work are the ideal external partners for us as they completely get what we are trying achieve in the People and Culture space. Their flexibility and responsiveness to our needs has seen the entire 360 approach being a complete success. The online tool and the follow up coaching sessions have been game changers for our business. The buzz in the organisation is outstanding. Love it! Thanks again for being such a great support crew on this key project."

By Chris Bulmer, National GM Learning and Development, ISS Australia

"We use Harrison Assessments with our clients to support their recruitment processes. We especially value the comprehensive customisable features that allow us to ensure the best possible fit within a company, team and position. Balance at Work is always one phone call away. We appreciate their valuable input and their coaching solutions have also given great support to our clients."

By Benoit Ribe, HR Solutions Manager, Polyglot Group

"The leadership team at Insurance Advisernet engaged Susan from Balance at Work to run our leadership development survey and learning sessions. Susan was very professional in delivering the team and individual strengths and opportunities for growth. Susan's approach was very "non corporate" in style which was refreshing to see. I can't recommend Balance at Work more highly to lead employee and team development sessions."

By Shaun Stanfield, Managing Director, Insurance Advisernet