Introduction
“That’s not my job!” How is your management affected when you hear those words from an employee? Maybe they don’t say it to your face. But they complain to a colleague or a friend. For whatever reason an employee feels aggrieved that they have to do something that they believe another employee should be doing. If the issue isn’t resolved it can cause major disruption. It can become a serious management headache.
Blame It On History
We’ve always been told that the individual is the core human unit in our business. So we’ve concentrated on developing individuals and measuring individual performance. It’s not good enough any longer.
A New Perspective
The team is the basic human unit in the workplace. A business is comprised of individuals. The individuals are organized into teams. That’s what managers have to work with. That’s what employee management is really about.
A New Reality
In any workplace comprising two or more people each individual relies on the support of others to help achieve business results. Without the support of others, employees will be less successful. But there’s another reason why team focus is essential.
Team Failure Versus Individual Success
An individual employee may achieve excellent results. But that’s not good enough if that employee’s team isn’t successful. A common example is in sales. When one or two members achieve over their individual budgets but total sales fail to meet budget, the individual achievements are simply inadequate. You won’t generate the required sales revenue unless all salespeople reach budget.
Set Team Objectives First
This is necessary for whether sales, admin, warehouse, trade or any kind of workplace team. First, specify what the group exists to achieve. After this is done, set individual roles and goals. That’s the beginning of team development.
Ensure Individuals Understand
Some employees may regard their individual performance as more important than the performance of their work group. This attitude damages your business. Each individual needs to understand that overall accomplishment is paramount. Teams should develop simple systems so that individual members can support each other and continue to attain overall goals even when a member is absent.
Team Development Activities
The team exists. Develop it. Here are some managment suggestions.
- Arrange cross training within the group so that every role has at least two people who can satisfy the needs of each role.
- Always acknowledge publicly the contribution of “support” and “backroom” employees. These people make superior performance possible for “frontline” staff.
- Encourage work on projects involving all members so that they must work together for successful accomplishment.
- Give members freedom to initiate system changes to improve the quality of teamwork and team effectiveness..
- Set up assignments involving two or more teams so that employees learn that co-operation between groups is as important as co-operation within them.
- Implement reward and incentive schemes that recognize and reward team, not just individual, success.
- If you haven’t already done so, clarify team goals and membership in your business: remember, it’s not unusual for employees to be members of more than one group.
- Good management stresses the value to the business of effective team performance over effective individual performance.
- Never mention “team building”. Talk about “team development“.
Conclusion
Recognize and focus on team development over individual development in your management. When you do you’ll eliminate any possibility of any employee saying “It’s not my job!” They’ll all accept broader responsibilities.
What To Do Now
Ask yourself these questions. Are the words “That’s not my job” heard frequently in your business? Do individuals or teams often blame others when things “go wrong” ? What do you do regularly to emphasize the importance of team development? Do you regard it as key management work? There’s lots to think about in this post. Please leave your thoughts and comments too.
