Page 126 - Just Promoted A 12 Month Road Map for Success in Your New Leadership Role

Selecting, Building, and Developing Your Work Team 111

Strong organizations are characterized by leaders who develop strong man-
agers and professionals. Strong leaders invest time in their people—in their
training, their daily coaching, and their development. These are purposeful
activities designed to create a better organization. All management, which is
primarily the management of people, requires time—yours and theirs.

8. An outcome of team building should be realistic solutions and action plans
that are followed up, monitored, and rewarded. A poster on an office wall read,
“When all is said and done, there is usually much more said than done.” Team
building means commitment to keeping the best that we have and improving
areas that need to change. This requires responsibilities that are “owned” by
the team and supported by a commitment to review and reward progress. A
manufacturing leadership team created several effective ways to build on a
three-day, off-site, team-building retreat that was critical to turning that organ-
ization around. They agreed to the following:
Each participant included at least one team effectiveness objective as part
of his or her annual personal performance plans.
At least 15 minutes were spent during every staff meeting discussing recent
behaviors that built on the team effectiveness retreat.
The management team agreed to a follow-up meeting in six months. For
part of the meeting, the members would review group and individual team
progress related to teamwork objectives established at the original team-build-
ing meeting.
The director’s behaviors and practices were internalized by his staff. In
turn, each of the director’s immediate reports replicated a similar process
within their own work units. This leadership team went from having little or
no time to consider how to operate, to creating a period during which to
experiment with new team behaviors. Today this group has become a well-
functioning team that has helped the organization achieve its business goals.
The leader of this team kept a small frame on his desk with a favorite motto
of former president Ronald Reagan. It read: It can be done. This is, in fact, pre-
cisely the spirit by which he led his team from his first day.

9. When feasible, enlist the aid of a skilled group and organizational con-
sultant to facilitate the team-building process. Over the last several decades,
the field of organizational development has established itself as a valuable tool