In November of last year (2017), I wrote an article about my team that articulated the trouble we were in. Poor performance all around. I also determined the course of action was to simplify the tasks and build a solid foundation. We had quite a bit of turnover which caused chaos within the team. Now, a few months later I want to revisit my team.
The decision to simplify was the right one. I called a meeting with the team and wanted to discuss how we could simplify the tasks and still meet the operational mandates of the organization. But before I could call the meeting, one of my most honest (and forthcoming) supervisors came by to talk. He was frustrated; with me, with the job, with almost everything. The bottom line was he was losing faith in me. Admittedly, I was initially upset and frustrated that he couldn’t see my vision and was losing trust, but after some self-reflection, there was no way he could see things from my perspective, with all the turmoil going on in our division. He was doing me a great favor by talking to me. He was warning me about the storm that was coming. A storm I could feel but wanted to believe I could prevent with my sheer willpower and leadership skills. What I realize now is that the storm is essential.
With this new information, I still called the meeting, but instead of my original plan, I decided to have a very candid discussion about their frustrations and wanted to make sure they had a chance to vent. Listening to them complain about the things I was and was not doing is difficult! But I know myself and understand my strengths are not in sitting back and letting the team complain without interjection. I challenged their thoughts and beliefs. I wanted them to know I heard them, but most of their frustration was due to miscommunication and misunderstandings, which we addressed and agreed to work on.
Now we are moving forward. I scheduled and held the meeting two weeks later to address simplifying the work and getting more organized. And my team feels better because they have a voice and it has been heard. At the meeting, we discussed, among other topics, daily tasks that are not accomplished and I reinforced our commitment to accountability. The simplified tasks and functions have worked like a charm. The mistakes are down, and morale is higher than it has been over the past year. This is all due to higher quality work and clear expectations of performance.
Since we have reestablished our foundation and are performing well, we have begun to get back to more advanced training. We have developed several new items to train on to push the employees beyond their comfort zone. The entire division is doing phenomenal and consistently improving. They complain a bit, but without pressure, there is no growth.
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