Executive and Management Teams

Transcription

1 Page 1 of phone fax anne@offner-associates.com Executive and Management Teams Anne has over ten years of experience facilitating executive and management teams. In some cases, the team simply requires a facilitator to help organize the meeting, keep the discussion on track and provide structure to the team s objectives for the meeting. These meetings typically involve developing a strategy, creating an action plan, sharing information and/or solving critical problems facing the team. In these situations, Anne works with a designated contact person(s) to create an appropriate agenda, gather necessary data and establish a plan of action for the meeting. In other cases, Anne works with teams in a more in-depth format. The following are examples of three types of approaches she takes with teams. 1. Team Building Levers Page 2 2. Talent Management Page 5 3. Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) Working Session Page 7

2 Page 2 of 7 Team Building Levers It can be challenging to create a high-performing management team. If it were easy, all teams would perform at a high level. In general, it takes effort and time for a team to move from being average or mediocre to consistently exceeding expectations. Most teams have three areas of opportunity that can be leveraged to improve team performance, cohesiveness and satisfaction. An effective team building process will take each of these three Team Building Levers into account: 1. Create a healthy team dynamic; 2. Set standards for how the team works together; and 3. Establish metrics for team success. Traditional training sessions are usually ineffective with intact teams. Instead we use a mix of methods to build the team. Rely on an impartial, experienced facilitator 1 with knowledge in team and group dynamics to create a process for developing the team and select appropriate methods that involve the entire team using the three Team Building Levers. Getting Started Once you have selected an impartial facilitator, it is usually best to have the facilitator begin by conducting interviews with the team leader and all team members. This will give you a baseline for the team s current state. In some cases, it may be helpful to include customers or other groups in the interview process. To further evaluate the team s capabilities, use team-based assessments to objectively identify the team s strengths and weaknesses. These assessments usually take between 10- and 45-minutes to complete. Look for assessments that reveal the various communication or personality styles of team members. Also, use assessments that focus on how the team works together to solve problems, make decisions, or manage conflict. Team Building Lever #1: Create a Healthy Team Dynamic In order to impact the team s dynamic; you must first get the team to understand the current state of how team members interact with one another. This means determining how the team members relate to one another, what their preferences are for interacting, and their goals and expectations for the team. Important steps for pulling this Team Building Lever include the following: Schedule several short sessions with the team. 1 For an excellent guide to group facilitation, see Roger Schwarz s book The Skilled Facilitator (2002), San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

3 Page 3 of 7 A good task for the first session is to debrief the interviews and any team-based assessment results. This creates a team dialogue that focuses on understanding the team s strengths and weaknesses. You can turn fun events into team-building exercises. A chili cook off or something food-related in which the team might bring in lunch or snacks and serve it to their business unit or department staff during a designated time period can enhance cohesiveness and allow members to find effective methods for interacting. Social activities are an important aspect of team building as well. Whether it is dinner after work, a special Holiday dinner at the end of the year, an ice cream social or pizza party as a break in the middle of the week or a special sports outing; informal opportunities for a team to get to know one another can be motivating and helpful to a team s development. In fact, some studies indicate it is beneficial to organizations to encourage solid friendships among co-workers. 2 Outdoor team building exercises and ropes courses that require a team to get out of the box can be an enlightening thing to do with a team. In general this is an excellent activity for a team that is just starting to work together or one that has become stuck and requires a fresh way of interacting. 3 You can also rely on an impartial facilitator to conduct a half- or full-day session in which team members give one another feedback. By the end of this session, each member will have received verbal, public feedback from every team member and must commit to making one change or addressing at least one issue based on the feedback. A 360-degree feedback process and/or some of the other assessments mentioned above can be used as part of this process. Team Building Lever #2: Set Standards for How the Team Works Together To pull this lever, it s important to focus on the team s approach to handling conflict, solving problems, and making decisions. Schedule several short sessions with the team to review any relevant interview or assessment data. This can be accomplished in combination with the initial session held for Lever #1. An experienced facilitator can assist a team to develop operating rules, such as using an agenda, creating a process for discussing difficult issues, or identifying a step-by-step problem solving model or system for making critical decisions. In effect, this becomes the team s guidelines or procedures for working together. Real-world work or activities are also fair game in terms of team building activities and can be reviewed as part of a standing meeting or other short session. Any assignment that requires the team to work together to achieve a common goal can be made into a team building assignment. For example, having 2 For example, see the Gallup Organization s 12 Q survey, 3 Research regarding outdoor programs show various results, for example, see either Evaluating the effectiveness of an experiential "hybrid" workshop strategy development and team building in a manufacturing organization, Mazany, P., Francis, S., Sumich, P. The Journal of Management Development. Bradford: 1995.Vol.14, Iss. 1; pg. 40; or Winner takes all: an evaluation of adventure-based experience training, Ibbetson, A., Newell, S. Management Learning, vol 27, 2, pg. 163.

4 Page 4 of 7 a team work together through a strategic planning process or to prepare for a group presentation can build camaraderie and give a team an opportunity to practice using effective methods to solve problems, handle conflict or make decisions. Additionally, you can use feedback or outdoor team building exercises as you would for Lever #1 to highlight current and developing more effective methods for handling conflict, problem solving or making decisions. Team Building Lever #3: Establish Metrics for Team Success Once the team understands their current state, they can then identify their future state along with objective measures that will tell them when they have reached their desired future state. For example, teams can use customer satisfaction ratings, productivity measures, employee feedback scores or profit metrics to track progress. To reinforce this lever, the team should set challenging goals and identify of how they will hold themselves accountable to those goals. An important role for the team leader will be to hold the team - as well as him/herself - accountable to the agreed-upon metrics. The team can incorporate a review of their metrics into regular team reports or meetings. In a meeting, it will require 2 or 3 minutes to review the metrics, identify progress, and assign any necessary action to be taken by the team.

5 Page 5 of 7 Talent Management Talent Management is the process of identifying key positions and upcoming business needs within an organization and preparing the best-fit and highest potential talent to take on those positions in the immediate or near future. Talent Management allows an organization to create a development process and pipeline that will better enable company executives to promote or latterly assign individuals into key positions or assign them to projects that support upcoming business initiatives. Succession Planning is a critical element in the Talent Management process because it is the tactical procedure an organization uses to objectively select talent for appropriate positions. To be effective Succession Planning must have a well-defined and articulated process, including guidelines and criteria for the executives who will use the process, a leadership competency model and objective measures for selecting high potential talent, and a time line for talent review. To create a Talent Management process that will benefit the organization, we take a collaborative approach with Organization Development Department and their key stakeholders. We facilitate the following steps with our clients: Step 1: Identify a Talent Management Strategy which will: Identify executive sponsors; Define the organization s purpose and objectives for talent management; Articulate the organization s leadership competencies, traits and behaviors; Engage an Advisory Group to help drive the Talent Management process; Clarify the level(s) of those who will be included as candidates; and Define and gain approval for a Development Approach to use with the identified talent in Step 4. Step 2: Design a Succession Planning Process that includes a: Partnership with the Advisory Group; Competency model aligned with the leadership and business needs of the organization; Criteria for talent assessments and inclusion in the succession planning process; Forum and agenda executives can use to discuss talent; Appropriate and streamlined project plan and administration; and Time line for talent review that repeats regularly (e.g., annually). Step 3: Implement the Succession Planning process such that: A talent pool is identified for future key positions and other future business needs, such as task forces or special projects; and Key positions and business priorities have appropriate potential pipelines.

6 Page 6 of 7 Step 4: Implement the Development Approach from Step One typical components: Leadership development assessments and feedback; Six months of coaching related to development objectives, skills and competencies; Mentoring, rotation or on-boarding process for key candidates; and Classroom and experiential training for candidates - including leadership skills, business and industry knowledge and the opportunity to learn about themselves as leaders. Typical Outcomes: 1. Define, clarify, and articulate the organization s talent management strategy. 2. Produce a pragmatic strategy and plan with buy-in from others. 3. Identify a pool of high potential candidates. 4. Engage executives in the succession planning and development process. 5. Create on-going development plans and activities for high potential candidates. 6. Align development activities with talent management strategy. 7. Prepare leaders for organizational roles now and in the future. 8. Evolve a pipeline of prepared leaders. 9. Understand individual career aspirations and act upon best-fit career plan. 10. Enhance retention by offering leadership and career development opportunities to high potential candidates.

7 Page 7 of 7 Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) Working Session Overview: The MBTI session accomplishes the following: Allows participants to become more aware of their own personality style and to become more aware of their co-workers styles. Instills a common language to use when communicating and working together. Allows an opportunity for participants to learn and apply the MBTI to workrelated situations. Structure of the Meeting: Working session - participants learn about the MBTI and then apply this learning to work-related situations via discussion and action planning. Working Session Outcomes: 1. Have a foundation in the MBTI type language and theory 2. Practice applying the MBTI in generic exercises that instill a common language (e.g., identifying the difference between extravert and introvert ) 3. At least one in-depth, work-relevant discussion and action planning session of how the MBTI can improve communication and/or work relations. Options for the Working Session: 1. Include Understanding Type in Organizations handbook for each participant 2. Use the more in-depth MBTI assessment the MBTI Step II to allow participants to understand personality and communication styles at a deeper level. 3. Combine MBTI with one or more leadership assessments to give participants a broader understanding of their leadership style. Follow Up Options: Offering the MBTI in one session instills knowledge of personality type and offers some personal insight. Following are recommended follow up steps reinforce use of the information learned: 1. Consciously incorporate the MBTI language into staff meetings, work group meetings or other events. 2. Hold a follow up session in 6-8 weeks in which participants report out on learnings, practice skills and further discuss applications to the work place. 3. Incorporate the MBTI into other cultural and employee development efforts. This may take the form of incorporating it into other supervisory training, written job aids, orientation or management development efforts.