Team Design - 3 Obstacles to Building a Great Team

3 Obstacles to Building a Great Team
“This thing in front of you. This issue. This obstacle-this frustrating, unfortunate, problematic, unexpected problem preventing you from doing what you want to do. That thing you dread or secretly hope will never happen. What if it wasn’t so bad?” Holiday, Ryan. The Obstacle Is the Way
It all Starts with PEOPLE:
• Products are designed by People, created by People and Sold by People.
• Business decisions are made by People.
• All problems are caused by People and solved by People.
• Nothing happens in a business that isn’t affected positively or negatively by efforts of people.
First Who, Then What:
“If we get the right people on the bus, the right people in the right seats, and the wrong people off the bus, then we'll figure out how to take it someplace great.” Jim Collins - Good to Great
• If we don’t get the “who” right, we won’t get the “what” right.
Why don’t we get this right? 3 Obstacles
Obstacle #1 - Leaders Do as Little as Needed:
The Law of Least Resistance - Doing as little as necessary.
• Leaders don’t generally enjoy the process of recruiting.
• Most look at it as a necessary evil rather than an opportunity.
• They hire “just enough” to maintain staffing with minimal disruption.
• Recruiting doesn’t feel urgent, until it’s too late.
As a Result:
• We wait until there is a hole to fill…
• We can’t find time…
• We compromise and hire any “warm body”.
• Our fate is determined by those who apply.
• We become frozen, so we don’t hire anyone.
Obstacle #2 - Leaders Hold on to What is Familiar:
The Law of Familiarity - If it’s familiar at least you know what to expect. Fear of the unknown.
• Leaders are hesitant to lose ANY current employees (even underperformers).
• “Turnover is bad! I can’t afford to lose anyone.”
• “But they are my friend” (loyalty)
• “Who’s going to cover their shifts?”
• “I have invested too much time into them.”
As a Result:
• We hold out in hope that our Turkeys will become Eagles.
• Our Eagles get tired of the Turkeys and fly the coup.
• We avoid POSITIVE turnover, as a result, we experience NEGATIVE turnover.
• Some will overpay entitled Turkeys to avoid losing them. Backwards Leverage
Obstacle #3 - Leaders Lack Competence and Confidence:
They have not been Empowered to design their team:
• They are slow to recruit because they don’t know how (lack training).
• They don’t know what to do with unproductive team members.
• They don’t feel they have permission or authority to design a team.
• They don’t believe it should be their responsibility.
• They may be the wrong person for the job.
The Law of Learned Helplessness: Self-Defeating Thoughts.
• The Excuse-game:
“I don’t have time!”
“They are just going to quit, anyway.”
• The Blame-game:
“Lousy job market” or “The economy sucks!”
“People these days don’t want to work,”
• The Victim-game:
“There is nothing more I can do! my hands are tied”
“Why didn’t anyone prepare me for this?”
• The Entitlement-game:
“This isn’t in my job description.”
“I don’t get paid enough for this crap!”
As a Result:
• They passively hope for something to change.
• They continue looking for new ways to avoid blame.
• They pretend to have success to keep up appearances.
• They resentment being put in an impossible position.
• They become unsatisfied and move on.
The Leadership Gap - Root Deficiency of All 3 Obstacles:
The Law of the Lid - John Maxwell
• Leadership scale from 1 to 10 (highest)
• If you are a 5 on the leadership scale, you will have 4’s or lower working for you.
• The 6’s will move on to find a 7 or 8 to work for.
• If you wish to have 7’s working for you, you will need to develop into an 8.
Many leaders ARE productive team members, but NOT effective at Leadership
• They may be great at making the stuff, planning the stuff, ordering the stuff, selling the stuff…
• …but, when it comes to building a team, they lack leadership knowledge, skill or experience.
Many leaders have yet to embrace 100% Responsibility for their Results:
• Until the Leader rises above the Point of Power by taking full Responsibility, they will continue to measure themselves by their efforts rather than Results.
• They will always be understaffed, or worse, fully staffed with underperformers (Turkeys).
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