SELF-DIRECTED TEAMS (Part 2)

Clearly State Goals and Positive Results

In the original scenario, the new manager told Julie that his research into the division’s problems had shown that there was a lack of communication between the various departments, and that his experience proved that the problems usually came from management. He told Julie that he intended to phase out all management except himself and human resources. This would effectively remove all roadblocks to communication within the company.

He went on to explain that if the customer service department could improve communications with the customers they could take more calls. This would lead to greater clarity among the customers, which would lead to more precise orders. Better precision in the orders received would allow the order-processing department to be more efficient, and would reduce the mistakes being made in production. He also had a plan for recombining the two separate divisions of the department, and wanted to create a steering committee to oversee this recombination process.

An employee listening to this plan would draw the conclusion that the staff needed to talk among themselves more often, thus improving communication in their department. This would have the effect of improving communication in the whole company, and would also lead to improved efficiency in the production department. Once this concept was given to the entire department, they proceeded to follow the general manager’s suggestion and chaos prevailed.

Clearly defined goals without supporting processes for reaching these goals are useless to those who have not had the opportunity to develop analytical skills. Nowhere in his conversation with Julie did the general manager define what he meant by communication. No training was incorporated in this change initiative for the steering committee, and the general manager never investigated their level of competency and skill before deciding to proceed.

Rather than make an ambiguous statement about the general goals of the initiative, the general manager should have explained his vision about reaching each one separately. He should also have detailed what he felt the benefits would be for reaching each goal, and how these benefits would increase as each goal was met. This would have clarified his process for Julie, and allowed for feedback that could be used to either confirm or modify it.

Once this process was understood by Julie, and any problems she anticipated were addressed, the initiative and its processes should have been presented to the entire staff. Full staff support will only come through a thorough explanation of the goals and positive results of obtaining them, and this should be done in an open meeting where everyone is allowed input.

Tie Compensation To Reaching Your Goals

One reason initiatives fail is because those who are going to carry it out do not fully comprehend it’s positive results. The general manager wanted to achieve better communication as a means to improving the quality of the output from the factory. He had the advantage that the customer service representatives understood what problems were being created, however, they did not see a correlation between what they did and the solution to the quality problems. They were not able to understand that their expertise in interpreting what the customer wanted was required to allow everyone else to accurately do their jobs.

The best way to achieve agreement with this initiative is to tie performance to compensation. Employees are happiest when they understand that they can have a direct affect on their paycheck by how well they perform. There are as many ways employees can be rewarded for reaching goals as there are goals to be reached. The important part is to remember that when you empower someone you relinquish control. This has a very positive affect on morale, and is a key component to the success of your initiative.

Now that you know why the initiative failed, you need to develop some tools to allow you to affectively facilitate a change from a managed, to a self-directed team.  Management’s job is to properly set the stage for the success of the change initiative. In this case the change was from a managed team to a self-directed team. The tools that will be used by management to facilitate this transition will be communication, hiring, training, coaching, and scaleable management.

Communication    

Communication is a powerful tool. Done properly, you empower your staff. Done improperly, you create anxiety that can undermine any attempt at creating change. As the manager, you must make clear the purpose of the change, that you wish to involve everyone in the process of planning and implementation, and that they will remain a part of the team as long as they are willing to contribute to the success of the change.

You will get resistance from some members of the department during these meetings, and you must address them on the spot. Be careful about how you respond, and do not publicly discount suggestions. Doing so will cause anxiety within the group and will cause the contributors to feel that they are not appreciated. Make it clear, however, that the change is going to take place and that many suggestions will be implemented as long as they are a means to achieve the goal of a self-directed team.

Hiring

Why such chaos? Why can’t these people who perform so well with a manager around just continue doing what they do best on their own? The answer is that they were not hired to work independently. If you are going to be successful, you must have people who are capable of working with little or no direction.

Review the résumés of your existing employees, and look for strengths that will allow them to contribute to the success of a self-directed team. Examples of strengths are; demonstrated creativity, leadership qualities that include no more than one year of supervision or management, experience working both alone and as part of a group where they were not the leader, and indications that they are able to find success in personal accomplishments. People who contribute their time to volunteer activities are self-motivated and will do well in a self-directed team.

To work without a manager the members of a self-directed team must be able to think for themselves, be self-assured, and have demonstrated that they work well in a team environment. The employees that you want to have on your self-directed team should demonstrate that they understand that no one person is as smart as they all are collectively.

Training

If you are going to implement a change initiative that includes self-directed teams, you cannot ignore the training process that will be required. Now that you have selected those who are able to be self-directed, you must tell them what is expected. You can’t just flip a switch and expect that these employees who have had someone telling them what to do will now be able to work independently. This requires training.

Training must include education on what the company considers the proper decision-making process. The decision-making process will differ from department to department, and from company to company.  The decision-making processes that they used in other companies may not apply to the department or company that they are now part of. It is management’s job to create clarity so that there is no misunderstanding about the expected results.

Your training must also include an explanation of the overall goals of the company, education on interpersonal relationship development, how to recognize and participate in a team, self-assessment of job performance, and problem solving processes.

Coaching

Remember that your goal is to create a successful team that can work autonomously. Your managers must be able to deliver guidance whenever it is requested. They must be able to allow the team to make some mistakes without interfering. This will allow the team to grow naturally.

So what is required of the coach in this process? The coach is there to ensure that the team stays on track during the developmental stage. Teams will naturally move towards a leader/follower state if left unattended, as we saw in the scenario. The coach is there to make comments that stimulate the thought process for each of the team members, causing them to continue to think on their own. This enhances the feeling of accomplishment that each member must feel to promote continued growth. This feeling of accomplishment by each team member will lead to greater achievement by the team as a whole.

Remind them often that no one person is as smart as they all are collectively, and encourage them to consult each other often about decisions they are about to make. This will create an atmosphere of unity that is required for the success of the team.

Scaleable Management

To properly set up a self-directed team you need to include scaleable management in your plans. This means that you need to have managers who are going to be able to step back from the daily activities of the team as they recognize the team's ability to handle the challenges that face them. Careful assessment of each manager’s capabilities and strengths is in order before you begin to implement the self-directed team process.

One serious mistake made by the manager in the scenario was to decide on a steering committee rather than scaleable management.  This was a mistake because the manager was replacing one kind of management structure with another. Neither structure allowed the team to progress to the point that they were truly self-directed.

The natural response to scalable management by the managers affected will be to fight the initiative. This is because they will feel that their positions will be eliminated once the team is functioning properly. If this is the intention of senior management, they are missing the greatest opportunity to grow their business that ever existed. Self-directed teams are not meant to be a replacement for management, but are meant to allow management the time to properly grow the business.

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