DROP THE PRETENSE! (AND ACHIEVE THE OBJECTIVE)

"In dwelling, live close to the ground. In thinking, keep to the simple. In conflict, be fair and generous. In governing, don't try to control. In work, do what you enjoy..." ~Lao Tzu 


 "Authority is always built on service and sacrifice." ~James C. Hunter, The Servant  






"This project would move along much more quickly if everyone assigned to the project actually wanted to be on the team," remarked a client at the outset of our recent meeting. I prodded her for additional detail.


"For instance," she continued, "while most of us arrive for the project meetings on time and prepared to focus upon the agenda, we have a few members who straggle in, phones still attached to their ears, wearing undisguised disdain for being burdened with having to attend the meeting. We are all managers and supervisors in our various areas, but for some reason it appears that these few believe that their position should exempt them from having to work on the project. When drawn into the discussion by the Project Leader, these few individuals deflect commitments or delay sharing needed data from their areas of responsibility. Worse, they sometimes become downright abrasive when pressed by others who are relying upon those commitments or data."


As my colleague Robert Whipple discusses in "Wag More, Bark Less", a barking dog is simply warning possible encroachers to steer clear of his territory. But almost nothing could be less desirable in the workplace than an environment of feared territorial encroachment. In the ever-increasing competitiveness for consumers in our industry, as Leaders and Team Members we must become more effective collaborators at cross-training, supporting one another's efforts and ultimately delivering the best products and services to fulfill our members'/customers' needs.


As a contracted Project Team Facilitator, I cannot afford myself the luxury of brandishing my title and authority or shirking my responsibilities to the Project Team or to the Organization. An effective Project Team requires that ALL members of the team--regardless of organizational title or number of employees reporting to them--must come to the Project Team as equals in responsibility. The Organization forms a Project Team for a sole purpose: To Achieve the Objective.


Perhaps your Organization is merging with another Organization; launching a new technology platform; rolling out a new loan product. At the end of the Project, regardless of the detail of the metrics, success will ultimately be measured by: Did We Achieve the Objective?


How do you ensure that individual pretense, self-importance, and other personal blindspots do not reduce your Project Team's effectiveness?

1. Early in the project (best: at the kick-off meeting), communicate the shared expectation to all assigned Team Members that you are coming together as a Team of equals, chosen for the respective strengths and expertise that each individual brings to the Project Team.
2. If during the project life cycle certain individuals fail to fully engage or actively disassociate themselves from the shared responsibility to the Project Team, then politely but directly remind those individuals of the path between their participation/contribution and the successful achievement of the Project Objective.
3. Follow up as necessary with offline one-on-one dialogue to uncover any additional reasons that the recalcitrant individual may have for failing to support his own shared responsbility to the Project Team.
4. When personal responsibility and inherent professionalism fail to spur that individual to shoulder his responsibility to effectively achieve the Project Objective, you may then use additional Organizational leverage to the extent needed.

My final point is rooted in the concept well espoused by Jack Welch that some managers in the workplace may not be of the caliber that your Organization would seek to retain to reach its long-term Objectives. That being said, sometimes the high level of collaboration required for a Project Team to successfully achieve its Objective is underdeveloped in (or rejected by) a percentage of managers in your Organization. Upon having the deficiency brought to their attention, many individuals will accept the feedback, seek self-improvement, and grow as Leaders from the experience. But those individuals who choose to remain islands unchanged will find themselves islands outside of the Organization. Bon voyage!