Free Seminar "Managing Recruitment Agencies"
With HR professionals facing greater workloads in managing staff retention and development programs, outsourcing recruitment to agencies is an option often adopted with mixed success.
This seminar will cover how to achieve successful outcomes when managing outsourced recruitment relationships. It will suit anyone involved in using recruiting agencies; from HR professionals, to the CEO.
Thursday 22nd November, 6:00 pm (for 6.15pm start) - 7:30 pm (drinks & nibbles during seminar)
Register via our website
Getting Our Teams in Gear
One of the ways to understand how teams operate is to imagine gears meshing. In gear theory, we have drivers, followers and idlers. We “gear up” and “gear down.” Following this theory, we know that when gears are not properly meshed, friction results. Work teams operate the same way. Team players are like the followers; they do the useful work. Team leaders are like the driver, the gear with applied force. And, just as the meshing of followers and drivers can speed up the gear train and increase torque, team players that mesh well can accomplish great things.
But what happens when a driver or a follower needs to be replaced and the new player just doesn’t match? It’s like pushing a screwdriver between the gears. The jolt can throw everything out of whack, and we learn just how fragile a team can be.
The growing emphasis on formalising work teams to cope with changing workplaces is healthy, but keeping together a successful team requires an understanding of the importance of team mix. The most important ingredients of a team are its people, and each time we add a new or different person, we run the risk of creating friction and derailing an operation unless we ensure that each new member is a team player, gets along well with others, and understands the culture and style of the team.
Although the structure, purpose and makeup may vary, each well-built team needs these important features:
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Players who mesh. Although determining whether a person has the skills to play on a team is not so difficult, the team dynamics – how thinking and working styles match -- are not as easy to discern. Team members do not all have to think alike or move in lockstep, but thinking-working styles need to blend so that team members can work reasonably easily with each other. A team’s leader needs to be able to assess a team’s strengths and weaknesses and add the pieces that fit, with one person’s strengths making up for another’s shortcomings, and vice versa.
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A vision. The simplest way to see the vision is to ask the question, “Why does this team exist?” If you cannot clearly articulate the reason for the team to be, it will founder. Gatherings of team members will be pointless unless the leader knows what he or she wants and spells it out.
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Examples to follow. In a culture that reveres individuality, work leaders must set the tone for the kind of work environment they expect. Are your executives team players, or do they think and act alone? Employees throughout the company will quickly take note of what’s expected at work by watching those at the top.
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Agreement on how to attain the goal. If individuals disagree on how to get to their destination (think tug-of-war), the journey will be long and hard and the result will be iffy. Consensus building is a necessary team skill. Make sure your team includes people who can help individual members with strong ideas reach consensus.
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Support from the organisation. Workers must see that their employers value teamwork as much as individual achievement, and the best way employers can show that is with rewards. These can be anything of value: public praise, days off, bonuses, dinners for the team, or tickets to a sporting event. Think of how coaches of sports teams celebrate their successes, and take your cue from them. Successful coaches are excellent at team building and recognition.
If your workforce consists of individual players performing their own tasks well but big problems grow, it’s a sign that your team needs help. Examine your own actions and those of your top managers first, as highly effective teams depend on good coaching and full participation. If you cannot find the problem, seek feedback from others on your top team. Also, studying the assessments of individuals can help predict team dynamics. A good assessment will show who will be likely to lead and who is most inclined to follow. A sound team needs both.
Once your workforce is playing for a team that accomplishes its goals, everyone will quickly feel the torque that smoothly meshing gears provide.
Jim Sirbasku, CEO
Profiles International
PROFILES TIP OF THE MONTH:
Your Team May Be Ineffective if…
1. Members cannot articulate group goals
2. Participants are repeatedly late or absent to meetings
3. Squabbling among members results in tension and prevents frank
discussion
4. Meetings are repeatedly cancelled or postponed, and no one asks why
5. The team leader does all the talking
6. Members make no effort to get to know each other
7. The team misses two deadlines in a row
8. Team members criticize ideas offered by others
9. No one gives the team recognition for a job well done
10. Leaders do nothing with data the team presents.
PRODUCT FOCUS:
Producing Art with Profiles Team Analysis™
A team that works well together can produce a work of art. Think of the Vienna Boys Choir, a group of individuals with perfectly tuned, trained voices. Or envision a team of Clydesdale horses harnessed together, each raising the correct hoof at precisely the right time, as if following the lead of an imaginary conductor. Marching bands and football players, surgeons and teachers – all are capable of good things individually and potentially great accomplishments when working together.
No matter how easy they make teamwork appear, great teams do not just happen. Mayhem could result if the team’s goals are not clear. What if the Boys Choir decided to play baseball instead of sing, or the giant Clydesdales ran amok during a parade? Individual team members must be carefully chosen and coached. Each person’s performance needs analysis. Effective teams need players who want to participate and who bring different strengths to the group. The team leader must be able to elicit and orchestrate individual strengths to help the team reach its goals.
Profiles Team Analysis™ not only helps to analyse the teams that your organisation relies on, but it also helps your leaders determine how to coach their teams to obtain the best performance from each participant.
The PTA™ analyses each team member in 12 key areas. These include control and composure, emotions and ambitions, as well as social and analytical aspects. It examines patience, whether or not the team member is results-oriented, his or her precision, and whether he or she is a team player. Finally, the PTA looks at the team member’s positive expectancy and quality orientation.
A PTA report card shows how the team is performing in these key areas:
- Team Balance Table. This chart shows how each team member scored on each of the 12 factors.
- Overall Team Balance. Are key characteristics missing from your team? This report will show you what’s present and what’s absent.
- Behavioural Factors. This reveals how each team member scored on each factor.
- Team Leader Action. If you are leading your team, you need to know how to supervise your members. This report guides you.
An underperforming team might miss important goals while individual members squabble over real or imagined conflicts. Individual members may not be motivated to perform, and perhaps no one is anticipating problems. Teams that excel can determine how to get a project done at the best price, increase productivity, make sure quality standards remain high and solve annoying problems.
“Many hands make light work,” wrote British dramatist John Heywood. That’s especially true if all of the hands are working with the same goal in mind.
Profiles’ assessments will help get your team members on the same page. Call us at (03) 9673 9888
