A Recipe for Teamwork or Just Alphabet Soup?

Are you a member of a team? Unless you’re a hermit living in a cave, you’re undoubtedly part of a number of different groups – work, social, religious, family. Does everyone always see eye-to-eye? Probably not. That’s because each of us views the world a little differently.

Using the research of Carl Jung, Katharine Cook Briggs and Isabel Briggs Myers, a mother-daughter combo, developed an instrument to measure16 personality preferences, which they designated with letters, such as ISTP, INFJ, ESFP, ENFJ, and so forth. The initial questionnaire, designed during World War II, grew into the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), first published in 1962.

The duo described two ways a person can react on a set of four dimensions.

• Extraversion vs. Introversion (E or I) — how you interact with the world; where you prefer to focus your attention
• Sensation vs. iNtuition (S or N) — how you gather information; what you pay attention to
• Thinking vs. Feeling (T or F) — how you prefer to make decisions and reach conclusions
• Judging vs. Perceiving (J or P) — how you structure your thoughts and attitudes

For example, suppose you are an ESFP. The “E” means you like to talk out loud in meetings to build on your ideas, while the “S” suggests you prefer evidence to be presented first, before discussing broad issues. The “F” part of your personality makes you want to be personable and in agreement with others and the “P” implies you’ll postpone decisions while searching for all available options. Your team mate who is an INTP will be entirely different in his/her thinking and potentially a thorn in your side. And visa versa.

Knowing the personality traits of fellow team members can be a real enabler of teamwork. I have experienced this firsthand. A client of mine regularly employed Myers-Briggs to help strengthen its group dynamics. Before its strategic planning sessions each year, anyone new to the team would fill out the MBTI and have his/her results posted in one of the 16 squares.

With this updated team profile, members were better able to interact with each other. And, the process allowed for a “team profile” to be created. In the case of my client’s team, we were collectively an ESTJ, meaning we liked to share ideas, preferred a continuation of “what is” with just some fine tuning, used logical analysis to reach conclusions and concentrated on task completion.

If you’re reading this post and were a member of the team I am describing, you know how accurate this assessment was! You also know how much we accomplished because understanding each other promoted and fostered acceptance, laughter and occasionally, good-natured teasing.

To learn more, Myers-Briggs (http://www.myersbriggs.org/) has a comprehensive site. If you’re interested in taking the assessment yourself, there are a number of options. FaceBook has an application. I’d also suggest checking out Team Technology, online publishers of quality resources and articles, whose aim is to improve business performance through better teamwork. A free test for individuals and excellent examples of how to work and play well together are at http://www.teamtechnology.co.uk/mmdi-re/mmdi-re.htm.

By way of full disclosure, I am a ENFJ…

www.thecapstonegrp.com

Are your employees engaged?

The May 20 issue of Credit Union Times contains a few selected results from a survey by Right Management. More than half of the senior leaders and human resource professionals surveyed cited employee engagement as the most significant practice in order to achieve business goals in tough economic times.

What exactly is an engaged employee? It’s someone who is sincerely and verbally proud of the organization he or she works for (think “brand advocate”) and does everything possible to contribute to its success. One would hope that a majority of employees would be engaged. 

Unfortunately this is simply not the case.  Repeated studies have shown that fewer than one-third of employees are actively engaged in their job at any one time.

Culture starts at the top. So, for me, these shocking statistics are not really about employees at all. They’re about the failure of leadership. To help assess the leadership culture at your company, here are a few questions to ask yourself:

1.  Are we regularly communicating to employees where the company is going and what’s happening inside our organization? The two most important communicators are the immediate supervisor and the “big boss.”

2.  Are we allowing every employee to contribute in a meaningful way? Does each understand exactly how his or her job affects the success of the company? Does each have the opportunity to help define the best way to accomplish tasks?

3.  Are we encouraging regular and frequent recognition? The same for feedback. Do we have a formal goal setting and annual (or semi-annul) performance review process in place?

4.  Do we regularly solicit the opinions of employees – not only about their level of engagement, but also about how we can improve our business overall?

5.  Do we actively seek employee development opportunities? Having contributors who are cross-trained not only helps the business, but it can be a powerful motivating factor.

6.  Is teamwork encouraged?  Are we fostering an environment that values collaboration and creates trust?

7.  Are we having fun? Sure times are tough. But this doesn’t mean we can’t have fun. A plate of cookies, a potluck lunch at the park, an employee talent show… little things mean a lot.

www.thecapstonegrp.com

A Class Act

Late last week, I received an email from a colleague, Patti Lewandowski telling me about a book she was reading, called Our Iceberg is Melting by John Kotter and Holger Rathgeber, that describes an 8-step process of successful change. 

If anyone knows about successful change, it’s Patti and the other employees of Supply Chain Management Services (SCMS) in Plymouth, MI. About 6 months ago, this Unisys business unit was told that the entire organization was to be disbanded by June of 2009. Employees would be asked to help find “homes” for some of the lines of business, ensure a smooth transition and clean out a large production floor and warehouse space in preparation for a new tenant.  

 And that’s exactly what happened. As Patti, Director of Operations, went on to say in her email, “Speaking of change, ours is almost complete. What once was a business full of excitement is winding down in its final days. The one thing that hasn’t changed is the dedication of the people. Even as we train others to take over our services the SCMS Team is going out with pride and professionalism. Employees continue to say good-bye, wishing their co-workers all the best, returning to bust their butts doing whatever needs to be done. Every nook and cranny will soon be empty and ready for the next new tenant. We thought the building would be empty for a while, but it looks like it will fill up quickly. Payment Systems [another Unisys organization] won a fulfillment engagement that will soon replace the emptiness. Great news for our friends in Payment!”

I could talk (and I will soon) about the importance of trust, strong leadership from the top and a culture of transparency in navigating through a sea of change, but it’s obvious that the tenacious, resourceful, and dedicated actions of the people of SCMS already speak volumes on the topic.

 www.thecapstonegrp.com