Chris Barrow’s Blog

Dear coach:

Having been a business principal for 10 years now, I have “accumulated” a small team of people around me. As we expand, I notice that leading the team – and getting them to do things the way I would like them to be done – is becoming a real challenge.
Do you have any tips on how I should approach this developing responsibility?

Dear Client:

It’s an interesting observation that well over 50% of the calls and emails I receive from clients are on the subject of “team” or “personnel” issues:

1. How do I recruit the right people?
2. How do I train them?
3. How do I pay them?
4. How do I stop them fighting each other?
5. How do I stop them irritating the clients?

The list goes on but these are some of the more popular.

Over the years, I have recognised 9 key steps that seem to separate the winners and losers in the game of team building:

The 9 ‘ates

1. Eliminate, do not tolerate. Let’s start with the most controversial issue. I often listen to principals rolling out a list of “offences” committed by a belligerent or miserable member of staff. Interestingly, we need to make a distinction here between issues of performance (is the technical job done correctly?) and behaviour (does this person treat others in a courteous way?). I notice that, most often, the problem is behavioural, not performance related. Employment law gives you little protection in this case. So the medium term strategy is to first, make a genuine enquiry as to whether this behaviour is as a result of some problem at work or outside work – after all, if someone is going through an especially difficult patch personally, we have responsibility as employers to show some compassion. If not, then ask for an improvement in behaviour and, if none is forthcoming, simply work hard at your customer service systems and experience shows that the miserable employee will usually move away in time. Please note – in the world of employment law, you do NOTHING without checking the situation with lawyer first;
2. Fabricate – an organisational structure in the practice. Your business operates within 5 areas of responsibility – finance, sales, marketing, operational resources and personnel. If you are responsible for running all of these functions yourself, then you have a practice and not a business. The transition to becoming a business owner occurs when you have other people managing these functions and reporting back to you;
3. Orchestrate – a business functions effectively when its people are operating systems. Systems that are written down, so that new joiners and job-swappers can learn them quickly. Systems that leave little to chance. Not just operational systems but financial systems, sales systems, marketing systems and personnel systems – and perhaps most importantly, customer service systems;
4. Motivate – it is necessary for you to create an environment in which your team become self-motivated. They will do so if they understand your vision for where the practice is headed – can see “what’s in it for them” and are treated with respect and courtesy by you, their colleagues and the clients. They will become motivated if they follow the example of your own behaviour – if you smile, they smile, if you are miserable and stressed, so are they. They will become motivated if you let go of management and focus on leadership:
5. Indoctrinate – and this means that you have a vision, that the vision is communicated to the team and that they are informed of changes in the vision and posted on progress;
6. Delegate – delegation is an art. It involves trusting people to do the job properly, accepting that they will make mistakes as they learn your systems and understanding that patience is required to learn on your part. Good delegaters explain exactly what they expect, leave the team member to discover the solution and set a deadline by which they will report back – then they move away and stop interfering!
7. Congregate – good teams meet together frequently to discuss the past, present and future. Daily huddles to review the tasks for the day, weekly meetings to discuss overall performance, monthly sessions to look at the big picture and annual retreats to celebrate and plan;
8. Compensate – great teams are fabulously well paid and have an element of their pay that is linked to the performance of the business overall. Nobody ever scans “situations vacant” just to see if a few more pounds/dollars can be squeezed out of another employer. They are loyal because they feel truly appreciated;
9. Educate – good leaders ask their team what they want to learn more about – and facilitate in-house and external training to invest in the skill of their people. Of course, some will leave – that’s life – most will stay and your investment will be repaid over and over.

So if you can work on these “9 ‘ates” in your own practice – you will enjoy the pleasure of free time in the evenings, great weekends and family holidays – safe in the knowledge that you championship support team are safely in control.