Model the way

Have you ever watched wild birds model the way? I have observed many nest of robins...as the babies grow they practice flapping their wings in the nest to build up for the moment in time they will fly from the nest. When they do fly from the nest the dad robin takes over and trains the fledglings to become independent. They teach flying, eating, and all other skills needed to survive on their own.

When the little baby birds fly out of the nest I have observed that the dad was close by and the chirping told the baby robin what to do. At one point the dad flew over to the baby and instructed and showed the baby that she needed to fly over to the bushes. Amazing to observe robins using mentoring/coaching/leading to help with survival skills...not so in most organizations that exist in America.

In life, leaders are given a group of people and asked to lead a "team". They are often asked to develop employees and meet bottom line financial goals. The problem often arises because the group of people often remain a group of people and never become a team. Employees never get developed, because the manager doesn't know how to do it, they have never been taught or shown by their leaders. Most organizations don't have an OD department to help with development. Hence, leaders don't understand what their role is developing the group of people to become a team. The leader gets frustrated and thinks it's the group of people they have been assigned....and never realize that most times it is their lack of understanding and knowledge of how to lead a team that is the biggest challenge. Unlike the daddy robin...they don't know how to lead and model the way.

Teamwork remains the one sustainable competitive advantage that has been largely untapped by leaders. There are books and articles written on this subject...and yet... teams are still rare in today's organizations. That is the reality. Most of the organizations where we live and work are marked by under performing, often dysfunctional teams. Unlike the robins who coach and train their young to survive... organizations do not provide the same coaching, mentoring, and leadership to their employees.

Teamwork is a term often over used. Most leaders don't understand that a team works together toward a common goal. Most team members have different goals on their yearly performance management....and this includes the Senior Management Team. As I told one CEO...if each of your senior team members have 1 mismatched organizational goal out of 5, that means at least 20% of what you want to accomplish won't be met. Which means that you could do just as much business in 4 days as you do in 5 days! Luckily the CEO agreed to give me a chance to show him what might be happening and to correct the problem. We called an off-site executive strategic meeting...and he was shocked to see what each of his leaders thought the 5 top organizational goals really were. We worked together for 3 days to come together and get all 5 goals aligned and to become a high level team. It's a strategic choice to want to get teams working together... most organizations don't want to spend the time or money to do it right.

As an executive of OD who has worked in organizations for 20 yrs...teamwork is simple--in theory anyway. Most of us already know what it requires. But in practice, teamwork is difficult. When you put enough people in one room and ask them to work together, problems arise. Teams need skills to overcome those problems, teams must be willing to invest significant time, energy, and discipline. For those teams willing to do what it requires, the rewards are great.

A functional team make higher-quality decisions and accomplish more in less time,with less distraction and frustration. They avoid wasting time, talking about the wrong issues and revisiting the same topics over and over again because of lack of buy-in.

How's your team doing these days? Are you functional? Is everyone working together or in different directions? And, most importantly, as the leader what are you going to do to correct the situation? Buy another book? Read another article? or Perhaps look for an experienced coach/mentor/leader to help facilitate your own growth and skills? I can help you gain the insights necessary to contribute to becoming a leader of a more cohesive, function team.

Model the way... it starts with you! :)