Tag Archives: Expectations

How Do You Manage a Remote Team? Three Suggestions

Situation: A company just acquired a remote office, including a team that has worked together for years. The manager has 20 years of experience. During the early weeks working with this office, some challenges have developed, specifically resistance to the new reporting relationship. Meeting schedules have been adjusted to accommodate the manager. The principal concern is buy-in from manager’s reports. How do you manage a remote team?

Advice from the CEOs:

  • From the discussion, the remote manager has been getting disparate and sometimes conflicting direction from several different people at the home office.
    • Meet with home office team. Develop a consistent set of expectations and priorities so that the Manager is not struggling with different directions from different people.
    • Consider that in the coming months there will be two business phases:
      • Phase A: Business and client transition to the new ownership.
      • Phase B: Client maintenance and business expansion.
    • Different strategies and objectives will be needed to address each stage.
    • Ask for input from the home team on how best to achieve these strategies and objectives.
  • Have a discussion with the remote office manager.
    • Explain Phases A and B and the focus of each phase.
    • Expectations will be flexible during Phase A as business is transitioned.
    • In Phase B the focus will be on Team procedures and development.
    • Listen to the remote office manager for her thoughts and suggestions on the strategy for each stage and how her team will best meet expectations.
  • Similar advice applies to working with remote managers and employees, a situation that has become more common following the COVID Pandemic. Listen to their input and ask for suggestions as how to best achieve their objectives.

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How Do You Work with Challenging People? Two Cases

Situation: A CEO has two challenging employees. One is talented and learns quickly. However, he is an individual performer who only works well on his own. He feels that he should be paid more than the maximum available at his grade. The second individual will do anything, but generates a lot of overtime. He is  meticulous but has a high rework rate. How do you work with challenging people?

Advice from the CEOs:

  • Offer a trial opportunity to the first individual, as follows.
    • Say a particular job is estimated to require 3 hours of labor. If he can finish it in 2, he will be paid the full 3 hours of labor. However, if rework is required, then the hours for that rework will get dinged against future work that is completed under-time.
    • This provides an opportunity to make more on each job – and the company the ability to bid and complete more jobs – but also means that if sloppy work is used to finish early, he will pay for this later.
    • Because this individual is a quick learner and is diligent, he is a good candidate for this program on a trial period basis. If it works, others may want to try the same deal, potentially cutting overtime and labor cost per job. This may also prompt them to assure that they have everything that they need before they start a job, cutting unproductive time and overtime.
  • The second individual could be a cut-him-loose situation.
    • Take the individual aside and clearly express the expectations. If he indicates that he understands and will complete his work to expectations, tell him that you will work with him.
    • To assure that he clearly understands the instructions and expectations, ask him to repeat these back to you.
    • Emphasize the importance of making sure that he has the materials needed before going to a job, and the job is done correctly the first time.
    • If his response is “No, I can’t do that,” tell him that the company will help him to find another job, within reasonable bounds of time and effort.

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How Do You Define Roles and Responsibilities? Three Options

Situation: A small company is understaffed and finds it difficult to hire in the current environment. Employees struggle to meet both past and new responsibilities. There simply aren’t enough hours in the day to meet objectives. How do you clarify objectives so that the team can meet them? How do you define roles and responsibilities?

Advice from the CEOs:

  • Start by working with employees to create a list of current responsibilities for each employee, along with the estimated time required to fulfill each responsibility.
    • Within this list, classify each responsibility as “Must Do,” “Second Priority,” or “When we have time.”
    • Look at the hours in the day or week. Assess what is possible to do in the hours available, and what is not.
    • Discuss this with the team and ask whether they agree with both the assessment and priority list.
    • Discuss trade-offs and the availability of any resources with the company that may be currently underutilized.
  • Reassess the expectations of clients to determine whether everything that is being done must be done in the timeframe currently promised. This helps to define what is truly urgent and what is not.
  • Another way of stating the process is to:
    • Prioritize and delegate what can be done, or reallocate what can’t be done with current resources.
    • Look for ways to work smarter to get more done in the time and with available resources.
    • If lower priority items still can’t get completed in the available time either drop them or discuss options for accessing additional resources to complete them.

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What are the Consequences of Not Meeting Goals? Four Points

Situation: A company recently established a weekly objectives program. Weekly objectives are set on Monday, with reminders to complete objectives for the week sent by email on Thursday. However, some team members are failing to meet goals for the previous week and want to roll over previous week’s unmet objectives to the new week. Should there be consequences for failing to meet stated objectives? If so, what is the best method to phase these in? What are the consequences of not meeting goals?

Advice from the CEOs:

  • Track which objectives are being met and which are not. Measure the impact of not meeting objectives on original timelines. Assess the depth of the problem.
  • Watch the process for four weeks. At the weekly meeting following the end of the four weeks, discuss the process as a team.
    • What’s working and what is not?
    • Are realistic objectives being set?
    • If objectives are not being met, is there something that regularly interferes with objective completion?
    • Are monthly or quarterly objectives at risk as a result?
    • Reset and reestablish expectations for the following four weeks as a team. Raise the bar for compliance, as a team, as you mature the process.
  • If any team member shows signs of chronic difficulty meeting weekly objectives, meet 1-on-1 to assess the situation and reset expectations.
  • Discussion builds team support of the process and adds a layer of peer-pressure to prompt individuals to improve their consistency in meeting weekly objectives.

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How Do You Build a Strong Team? Six Solutions

Situation: A CEO wants advice on how to strengthen her team. She is confident in her employees’ capabilities, but wants to see more teamwork and collaboration to add to the company’s culture. What have others done to encourage team building, and how has it worked out? How do you build a strong team?

Advice from the CEOs:

  • There are many options for team building activities. Look at the Discovery Channel for some ideas: Monster Garage, American Chopper, and programs like these. They feature some highly effective methods of building team camaraderie.
  • One CEO regularly conducts team building activities:
    • Taking the crew to the new Star Wars or blockbuster movie opening.
    • Go-Cart racing.
    • This is done during working hours, and the employees appreciate both the effort of the company, and the fact that they are not asked to do this after hours.
  • A caution – this type of activity may help morale, but it may not contribute to retention.
  • While team building functions are an essential part of building and maintaining company culture they are only part of the task of building a strong team. The group considered conditions at previous companies that prompted employee departures:
    • Lack of advancement or any clear path to advancement,
    • Ambiguity in roles and expectations,
    • Salary and advancement caps,
    • Poor managers,
    • Lack of consistent or clear feedback on performance.
  • Looking at this list, the converse represent the things that a CEO should do to build a strong retention culture and strong teams:
    • Clear expectations of employees in terms of performance,
    • Clear and public tracks for advancement in job and salary increases,
    • Frequent and consistent feedback on performance – both positive and as necessary corrective feedback – but always with considerate and constructive delivery,
    • Well-trained managers.
  • These factors parallel the findings of the Gallup Organization in their investigation of factors contributing to high levels of employee engagement and profitable growth.

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How Do You Shift a Key Employee to Manager? – Pt 2 Three Points

Situation: A CEO wants to promote a key employee from rainmaker to manager. This will not involve a change in expectations or metrics for either the new manager or the employees who will report to her. However, there needs to be more forcefulness and clarity on what needs to be accomplished, both for the new manager and her team. How do you shift a key employee from rainmaker to manager?

Advice from the CEOs:

  • Don’t just measure calls. Measure the outcome from calls. Develop an objective and a metric or set of metrics that they can run to. Link their activity to business results. They will respond because they will be able to impact the firm as well as their careers.
    • Tie individuals’ metrics to the business culture that the management team is creating and create win-win links.
  • What is involved in changing the business focus to new markets?
    • Build a replicable system for servicing a particular channel. Use the lessons from this exercise to build systems for new channels. As the team moves into new channels, tweak the replicable system so that it responds to the specific demands of that channel.
    • For new channels, identify the most important needs of the new customer – from their perspective – and develop a client service model to meet this need. For example, if the goal is to develop an investment service for foundations and endowments, the key variables may be acceptable return with a high degree of safety. Tailor an investment portfolio, as well as a client service strategy to meet the most important needs of this sector.
  • What is involved in creating a smooth hand-off within client relationships?
    • Start bringing in others to whom will be handed off the relationship as early in the client relationship development process as possible. Allow rapport and trust to develop, and prep the client for the expectation that a smooth hand-off is part of the ongoing client relationship.

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How Do You Shift a Key Employee to Manager? – Pt 1 Four Points

Situation: A CEO wants to promote a key employee from rainmaker to manager. This will not involve a change in expectations or metrics for either the new manager or the employees who will report to her. However, there needs to be more forcefulness and clarity on what needs to be accomplished, both for the new manager and her team. How do you shift a key employee from rainmaker to manager?

Advice from the CEOs:

  • Renegotiate expectations of the two employees who will now report to the new manager. This doesn’t change the team goal, but will give all members of the new team measurable objectives that will enable them to contribute. An example of a measurable and achievable objective may be leads generated for them to close.
  • Don’t just measure activity – measure the outcomes that the team’s activities produce. For the new manager, create a 90-day plan with specific, SMART objectives, as well as a training schedule that will bring her up to speed with the full organization so that she sees how the pieces fit together and has the opportunity to contribute as she sees opportunity.
  • Think about the full process through which the vision will be translated to reality:
    • Vision →
    • Plan →
    • Standards of Performance →
    • Objectives →
    • Evaluate and Monitor
    • With multiple feedback loops between these components
  • The key to business development or sales is relationships. Much of the technical aspect of any sale amount to learning the lingo that is involved with the sale.
    • Look at what members of the team can do to build relationships with potential clients.
    • Support them with technical support and teach them about the technical aspects of the business along the way – for example through lunch seminars.
    • The new manager will act as the closer for relationships that the team nurtures and brings to the firm.

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What Can be Learned from Employee Departures? Five Observations

Situation: A company has recently seen the departure of several younger employees. Reasons given were better offers at other companies. These employees have been replaced by what appears to be better talent. The CEO took these departures personally and is concerned about the impact on the departments of those who departed. What can be learned from employee departures?

Advice from the CEOs:

  • In working with Millennial employees, it may be necessary to lower your expectations in terms of employee loyalty, work ethic and longevity. Millennials have a different perspective. Recognize this and build expectations around it.
  • Be frank with new employees up front. Plan their career progression out 36 to 48 months and let them know that this time will give them great training. If they are interested in the company and career progression beyond this, then the company be open to discussing options with them.
  • Use outside resources to do a 2–3-month post-op on those who left, as well as to help monitor employee attitudes on an ongoing basis.
    • The outside resource can conduct interviews by telephone, on a confidential basis. The objective will be to assess the reasons why the employees left once the emotions of the action have died down. Summary results of the interviews will not identify the past employee. This will prompt them to be frank with their feedback.
    • Similarly, use an outside resource to conduct confidential telephone interviews with random current employees on a periodic basis. Let the employees know that they will be contacted by an outside agency on a random basis, and that their responses will be confidential. The purpose is to gain information on how the company can better address employee needs in the work environment. Only aggregated and summary results will be presented to the company.
    • These actions will help to assess whether the departures were an extraordinary event or an early warning of more systemic challenges within the workforce.
  • The increased salary needs of those who left may be symptomatic of the current economic conditions.
    • Currently, the need of companies to attract talent has increased pressure to raise wages. Along with this and there is increased turnover among employees who believe that they can make more elsewhere. There is little that can be done to run a sensible business while trying to keep up with current salary demands.
    • Most companies who survive successive boom and bust cycles do not respond to wage pressure, knowing that each boom will be followed by a bust.
    • Once the next bust sets in, wage demands will go down until the next boom cycle starts.
  • Should anything to mitigate the impact of employee departure on their departments?
    • Keep ears open for any sign of an ongoing impact.
    • As above, consider an outside resource to check the temperature of the employees.
    • The best mitigation may be a strong integration of the new, energetic R&D employees into the team.

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How Do You Motivate the Team to Act Proactively? Four Thoughts

Situation: A company has developed a good team to support its projects. They work together well and demonstrate good work habits. However, the CEO wants to improve communications between team members, and also between herself and team members. When challenges arise, she wants to hear about them proactively, on a timely basis and with recommended solutions. How do you motivate the team to act proactively?

Advice from the CEOs:

  • Is this just a question of communication within the team, or is there also concern with communication beyond the team?
    • There are two long-term employees who consistently demonstrate a poor work ethic; however, due their seniority and relationships with the Foreman, this is tolerated.
  • What steps should be taken to deal with this situation?
    • The Foreman reports directly to the CEO. The proper way to deal with this is to develop a solution that serves the interests of the company.
    • The company lives and breathes on customer satisfaction. If any worker shows a pattern of substandard work, this negatively impacts both the image and the value of the company.
  • Clear and fair standards and expectations are critical:
    • Establish a policy that workers are responsible for assuring that work meets standards before completing a job.
    • Establish a list of specific standards for work, and job checklists to assure that work is complete and meets standards. Spot check to assure that the work and checklists meet standards.
    • If a supervisor finds work performed below standard this will result in a warning to the worker. If the worker continues to perform substandard work, this becomes grounds for termination.
    • If a worker misrepresents the quality of work performed on a final project checklist, this is grounds for immediate termination.
    • Ask key managers and supervisors for input on the policy. This is not a democratic process, but others should be given an opportunity for input.
    • Post the policy and provide all employees with a copy. Communicate the policy openly both verbally and in writing.
  • Meet informally and frequently with the team to deepen relationships with them and between each other.

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How Do You Restore a Strong Team? Five Points

Situation: A CEO is looking at his company following the pandemic slowdown. Employees have returned but much of the energy that was there before the pandemic has dissipated. Employees seem to be looking for guidance and inspiration. How do you restore a strong team?

Advice from the CEOs:

  • There are many options for team building activities. There have been some excellent TV shows like Monster Garage and American Chopper that address these. Though these series are no longer aired, episodes can be downloaded. These feature some very effective methods of building team camaraderie and energy.
  • One company regularly conducts team building activities:
    • Taking the crew to the new movie openings of epic movies that are best seen on the big screen.
    • Go-Cart racing.
    • This is done during working hours, and the employees appreciate both the effort of the company, and the fact that they are not asked to do this after hours.
  • While team building functions are an essential part of building and maintaining company culture, they are only part of the task of building a strong team. The group considered conditions that they had previously experienced that harmed morale and even prompted some employees to leave:
    • Lack of advancement or any clear path to advancement,
    • Ambiguity in roles and expectations,
    • Salary and advancement caps,
    • Poor managers, and
    • Lack of consistent or clear feedback on performance.
  • Looking at this list, the converse represent the things that are needed to build a strong retention culture and strong teams:
    • Clear expectations of employees in terms of performance,
    • Clear and public tracks for advancement in job and salary increases,
    • Frequent and consistent feedback on performance – both positive and as necessary corrective feedback – but always with considerate and constructive delivery,
    • Well-trained managers.
  • These factors parallel the findings of the Gallup Organization in their investigation of factors contributing to high levels of employee engagement and profitable growth.

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