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Team Values Pt 3 - Developing Culture

Culture is defined by Gareth Morgan as being:  "The set of the set of beliefs, values, and norms, together with symbols like dramatized events and personalities, that represents the unique character of an organization, and provides the context for action in it and by it."

The best way to consider team culture is to view it as being the core beliefs and binding behaviors that a group of people choose to confirm, affirm and act out.  The worth of establishing team values is in the development of a team culture.

Here is what I am working on at the moment -

1. Creating a set of values.
2. Getting buy-in from the team.
3. Establishing a team culture.

Interestingly in my team we are attempting to complete this exercise after the team has already been in place for a few years.  So we already have a team culture in practice and now I would like to capture and define that culture on paper to enable the team to be clear on who, what and why we exist.  I considered in the past attempting such an exercise and getting the team to work on such a task but the timing and team understanding the purpose of such an exercise did not exist.

However with change occuring in the wider organisational culture, a new member added to the team, as well as the internal restructure of a department or two - the time now seeems appropriate.

So how is team culture established?

1. By what we do.
2. By what we say.
3. By how we do things.

Over time these three areas overlap and build on each other.  Then persons both within and without of the team begin to see the way a team works together - and that is culture.

(Image: http://www.flickr.com/photos/smb_flickr/2325663412/)

Human Capital Management

PeopleStreme.com have made this awesome video and posted it onto You Tube.  I have put it here and will add my contribution further down the page.

What value do you place on your work?  What value is placed on you?  Do you rate yourself or not?

Conversely - What value do you place on others work?  What value do you place on others?  How do you measure that value and is that measure relevant or accurate?

Here are a few facts of life as far as organisation's go -

• Size matters.  The bigger the organisation the less they know about you.  What happens is the more layers in an organisation the more removed you will be from the central services.
• Front Line Managers matter! The relationship between you and your direct manager is always the most important relationship you will have.  This is true if you are the cleaner all the way through to if you are a Director of the Board.  You must work with your boss!
• The HR Department matters!  Admitted in most organisations the only time you most people will interact with HR is when they are hired or if they are fired.  But it doesn't have to be that way!  Go out of yur way to meet the staff and make sure they remember who you are (for the right reasons of course).  It pays to make friends and keep them for as long as you can.
• The skills and abilities of your staff matter!  Update them!  Watch your staff.  Learn from them.  Be open to having your staff tell you where they think what sklls they need to work on and develop.  If you disagree you can help steer them in a better direction.  Create an audit or questionaire to work through at appraisal time to help lead and guide your discussions about where peoples skills are at.
• Coaching matters!  The best time to coach someone is when they are reflecting and considering their performance.  If your manager doesn'tdo this for you - tell them or look for another manager.

PunkRockHR posted a great piece on employee engagement a few days ago which ties in nicely with this post.  Head over there and check it out - WARNING: it will provoke a response.

People who are paid to do work will do a better job when they feel valued, understood and have the freedom to do what they have to in a way that makes sense to them (while adding value to the organisation).

List - Audits

Creating the list

...is not the same as obeying the list.

Do you make the list you check off, follow and work on every day? When does it get made? Who approves it? Do you identify tasks or perform them?

If you had a better list, would you do better work? If you made the list instead of just obeying it, would you be a more valuable member of the team?

Yes, asking questions is often more valued than answering them. (If they're the right questions.)

(Source: This series of audit questions comes to you from: Seth Godin)

These questions are very similar to the questions I posed yesterday. However Seth's view is more micro where as mine was macro.

It is important to remember to view the world from other's perspectives and not just your own.

"I've got a new invention. It's a revolving bowl for tired Goldfish." Lefty Gomez.

Communication Lessons

Here is a fantastic post by Seth Godin on communication -

"No More Big Events. Here are some things you can now avoid:

• The annual report
• The annual sales conference
• The big product launch
• The grand opening of a new branch
• Drop dead one-shot negotiation events

The reasons why?"

Head over to Seth's Blog to find out!

KPI's for improved performance

Setting Key Performance Indicators and Targets for those who report to you works. Through having a discussion with the person you can define goals and targets for them to reach over a certain period of time.

KPI's are generally used for two things - ironing out small areas of inefficiency or business growth.

I like to set no more than 4 targets for my reports. Any less that and they become too easy, any more than that and the chances of being able to achieve them reduce exponentially according to the increase in targets listed.

Another thing I like to do is set a mixture of soft and hard targets. That is some targets are based on physical actions and outcomes, whereas soft targets deal with relationships and things that can't be measured physically.

Ongoing feedback and communication is vital and important but doesn't provide the necessary formal layout that an appraisal and KPI does. By defining goals and targets (and reviewing them quarterly) you can empower your reports to achieve more.

Groups vs Teams

People who work near each other (in an office etc.) can be either - a team or a group.

Whats the difference?

Team - a set of people, completing the same or similar tasks, in a close proximity to each other. Have overlapping work requirements and similar task knowledge is shared by all the group.

Group - a set of people, completing different tasks, within a work environment. Specialised work knowledge is required and one person completes their own set tasks.

Both groups require strong leaders, however each group will need to be led differently.

Teams - can be led in a more relational manner. Decisions tend to be more democratic and everyone hears what is going on together at the same time. This occurs more in new and smaller size workplaces.

Team goals and outcomes are set by the team.

Groups - can be led more in a one-to-one way. Decisions are made by the leader and the individual and then the rest of the group are told.

Individuals are held to account for their personal goals and performance outcomes.

This is one area that I have struggled to understand. In my memory no-one has ever explained the difference or the need to lead in different ways. It was such a relief for me to figure this out! My management style and focus - just went to another level!

Check out - Leadership Development Coaching for this interesting article on leading teams and groups.

Organisational Structure

Economist magazine have an article looking at the pros and con's of decentralisation.

Organisational structures have two basic frameworks - centralise or decentralise.

Centralise means services, choices, decision and strategy is dominated by those at the centre and their commands are carried out by the sectors.

Decentralisation means a lot of the decisions and operational choices are relinquished by the central powers, and the sectors choose how they want to carry out their duties.

In my current workplace I have seen the shift from one to the other (centralised to decentralised) and somewhat back again.

Interestingly those located in the center found it hard to relinquish the ability to make operational choices and stick to strategy.

At the same time the sub-sectors found the new power to make their own decisions hard to understand.

It has taken at least two years for the central point to be reached whereby - central decide the strategy, the sectors make operational decisions and everyone works together (somewhat to achieve the goals of the organisation.

There is no perfect organisational structure and tensions will always exist between the role of central services and how much power they should exude compared to how many decisions should the sectors be able to make?

Which do I prefer? Both and neither.

"A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way". (John C Maxwell).

Leadership, vision and strategy need to come from the center that shows the way yet allows people the freedom to make decisions.

Professional Development

One of the interesting points that came out of one of the talks at the ATEM conference was around professional development (PD).

Should PD always be linked directly to achieving the workplaces business goals? That is where does training end and development begin?

A number of organisations blur the lines between the two. One great story was about a manager who encouraged their person to engage in raranga (weaving). Through this practise the person became more relaxed in the workplace and then their work rate and quality improved.

This semester I have decided to do a course in creative writing, particularly poetry in the second half. Will this directly change or improve my performance towards the business goals? Maybe - but indirectly.

As managers we need to be aware of people's needs at the time, and maybe not doing formal study, such as a diploma, is as valuable to a person. However through them doing study that engages them on different levels - that may be of more value and worth, primarily to them, and then on to us as an organisation.

Here is a poem I coined to begin the course with -

The Urge.

And so it begins, the urge to write,
But do we begin, no that can't be right,
And so the tutor says - don't start just wait,
And I sit here musing, restless, going stagnate

Bring on week two, with pencil and pen,
Maybe I'll start, maybe begin,
In the meantime, I'll muse and I'll dream
Of stories well written, and eclairs filled with cream.