How does this behaviour impact performance?

I learnt this from one of my seminar participants Sally, who works as an HR Manager for a big insurance company.

Sometimes staff or colleagues behave in a manner that we don’t like very much, or we may even disapprove of. When this happens, then there is a good chance a feeling of dislike starts developing, and, if unchecked, can grow bigger over time.

Therefore I like this question – How does this behaviour impact performance?

If the behavior impacts performance, it is probably not in line with company values anyway and needs to be addressed.

If it doesn’t impact performance, it shouldn’t bother us too much. Check yourself. Maybe it is just a bit different to our own preferred behaviour. Shouldn’t ‘needle’ us or even impact the relationship with this particular colleague / staff. Let’s be cool about it.

Teamwork

There is an interesting development in the German Bundesliga, which is first soccer league in Germany.

This year new teams are in the lead. Many of the traditional top clubs are struggling, some even struggling to stay in the league.

A famous German weekly magazine ‘Spiegel’ tried to analyze the reasons. This is what they came up with, and I think the findings are quiet useful for the business environment as well.

Star cult is out. Buying some superstars with the highest skill level and adding them to the team did not proof to be successful.

Of course skills are important and you can’t do without, however in today’s winning teams the managers check out the character of new players.

- Do they fit into the team - Do they have the spirit and run their heart out in order to back up their team mates in case these make a mistake

- Do they have the mind set of being ‘one team’? All players are of equal importance, not one star to be served by the others.

Nice to see that the good old teamwork concept seems to yield better results than just buying star performers.

Such an Idiot!

Of course I used this harsh headline in order to attract your attention. Having said this I want to share an experience with you which goes into the direction of the headline.

It does happen; sometimes I meet people on my seminar who make an unfavourable first impression. It is also known that first impressions are very powerful and stick in our mind quite stubbornly.

On my seminar this is a bit different. As a seminar facilitator I am obviously very motivated to draw everybody in and make sure that all seminar participants thoroughly enjoy the learning experience. So, it is very unwise for me to hold on to my first impression. I need to go further. And here comes the surprise. I find very often that people who make a very bad first impression turn out to be wonderful personalities, smart people or both, once you make an effort to get to know them better.

Learning point for all of us. Some people may not come across a very likeable or impressive. Don’t rely of you first impression only. Go one step further engage them in a meaningful conversation. There is a good chance that the second impressions are much more respectable then the first and you will gain a nice colleague or friend

Team Work - THE ASH EFFECT

Psychologist Solomon Ash did the following test. Students were shown three lines of different lengths and were asked to judge which line was of the same length as a separate reference line. As the lengths of the lines were different enough, mistakes made were rare.

In a second experiment, all students, except one, were requested secretly to choose intentionally the wrong line. The student, who was not in the picture, was the true target of the experiment. In a series of 12 questions it was found that in 75% of the cases the student agreed one or more times with the majority’s wrong judgement. Only 25% remained independent with their, in this case correct, judgement.

In other studies Ash found that between 50-80% of people tested, did go along with the majority’s false opinion.

Conclusion: There is big chance that team members are influenced by the majority although they may have a very valid reason to speak up, be it for sharing ideas, influencing a decision, or making another meaningful contribution.

There is a bigger chance that the Ash Effect will take place if
- Some team members and/ or boss are too domineering
- Issues are complex and confusing
- People to be contradicted are friends or nice colleagues
- Objections must be brought up by raising hands (voting)
- If team member believe that fellow team members know more about the subject

How do we manage that?

Create AWARENESS about the Ash Effect by sharing this with your team members. Discuss what adverse effect this could have on team performance and agree that you don’t want the Ash Effect to come alive in your team. Encourage your team members to ‘speak up’. Ask them to share and explain their views with the team, also if those views are different or controversial. Needless to say, when people disagree with the team’s general opinion, encourage everybody to listen very, very carefully and make a real effort to understand before coming to a conclusion.

Ensure that all staff is well trained and competent in dispensing their job. Insist that all team members are well prepared for discussions and meetings. If that is the case your team members are less likely to be in a situation that they don’t understand the issue under discussion and agree, as this is more convenient.

Choose to address tricky issues in writing and anonymously. How do we do that? Pose a question to your team. Distribute ‘Post-it’ stickers. Ask them to write down as many as possible solutions, one solution on one sticker. Give ample time. After approx. 5-10 minutes collect all stickers from the team and stick them, visibly to all, to a white board. You have then a wide range of possible answers. Typically, you will find that many answers are similar and can be grouped together. This has a positive effect, as it will build team togetherness. That way, you will have collected everybody’s idea, avoiding that one idea or person dominates the discussions, and a good base to find the best solution.

Team Work - THE RINGELMANN EFFECT

Mr Ringelmann was a German psychologist and did the following test. He let one person pull a rope and measured the force. Let’s express the force exerted by one person as 100. Then he asked 3 people (all had about the same strength and weight) to pull together at the rope. As there were 3 people pulling, you would expect the force to be 3 x 100 = 300, however the force was only 250. Then he asked 8 people to pull together at the rope. You would expect the combined force exerted to be 8 x 100 = 800, however in reality it was 400, i.e. only 50% of the solo effort.

Conclusion: It is very likely that some individuals spend less effort when working in a team than when working individually.

How do we manage that? Don’t allow team members to ‘hide’ within the team. Define clearly the roles and functions of each individual and means for identifying and measuring their work performance. Everybody must play their part to fulfil their role as an individual AND teamwork.

If your organisation provides incentives for the achievement of targets, allocate the bonus by finding a balance between team and individual achievements. Many organizations would go for a 50/50 split (50% incentive based on individual performance / 50% on team performance) or 1/3 each based on personal, team, and company performance

How to say ‘NO’

Most people don’t feel very comfortable to disagree with somebody and to say ‘NO’. If your background is a traditional Asian environment, where typically group culture and respect towards authority are more prevalent, then saying ‘NO’ may feel even more awkward.

The fact remains, sometimes one needs to disagree, because you just cannot or want to comply with the other person’s request.

Here are some tips, which may be helpful:

Say ‘NO’ quickly
As soon as the objectionable request comes up immediately say, with a pleasant and firm voice, something like ‘‘Sorry, that won’t be possible’’. If you give an evasive answer like ‘‘Let me think about it’’ or ‘‘I am not sure if this will be possible. Let me check.’’ you are creating hope. The other party is likely to push you harder. You will feel uncomfortable under this pressure, and still, finally, have to say ‘NO’. Creating hope and disappointing later is much more unpleasant for all parties involved. The quick ‘NO’ is the better solution. Don’t ever think that after an evasive answer, the other person will forget about his/her request and it will settle itself. Most requests don’t do that.

Put issue aside and say ‘NO’ later
When you start a discussion / negotiation and you disagree with the first issue, it may be a good option to say something like ‘‘That point needs a bit more thinking from my side. Do you mind to discuss the other issues first and return to this one later?’’ The purpose of this technique is that you discuss first all other issues on which you can agree. Once you have agreed on many issues, you have established a common ground. The chance that the other side will call off the negotiation is less as they can also see the common ground. They want to see their negation efforts to pay off as well. Then you would say something like ‘‘Great, we have achieved agreement on moat point. Do we have a deal?'' If needed ''Now, coming back to the first issue, I am sorry that will not be possible. I suggest that we still go ahead because we have agreement on all the other issues.’’ The chance of agreement will be substantially increased.

Don’t disagree on a personal level; let the facts speak for you
Nobody likes to hear ‘‘I disagree with you’’ or worse ‘‘Not true’’. Never get personal with your disagreement. Rather bring up some facts and let them speak for you. Some examples ‘‘I need to say your statement is not in line with my experience.’’ ‘‘Our company policy would not allow for this.’’ ‘‘I talked to a few people about the same subject, they have a different opinion.’’

Find the balance
I notice that many ‘arguments’ start because people look at their ideas as competing with each other. Examples: polite vs. being blunt – teamwork vs. competition. My favourite comment is ‘‘Let’s not look at our ideas as being competing with each other. In life the right solution is often a balanced approach. Let’s look at the pro’s and con’s of both of our views. Then I am sure, we will find the right solution.’’

EQ / Teamwork – Why is it so important?

I attended recently the Singapore Human Capital Summit 2009 organized by the Ministry of Manpower.

After listening to the various presentations of renowned senior managers and consultants, one message remains ‘engraved’ in my mind.

Many presenters highlighted that, for future leaders, the ability to teamwork becomes even more important. It sounds like a ‘What is so new about that’ statement, however, think about it. Matrix organisations are very common i.e. a manager may have a staff who is also reporting to another manager. Organizations change faster. Project or regional teams come and go. Contract workers may join an organisation temporarily. In other words, the need to quickly achieve results by working together with different people increases, hence the increasing importance of team working skills.

Another ‘killer argument’. Mr. Claudio Fernandez-Araoz, Senior Advisor to Egon Zehnder presented an interesting research.

The research was done in 3 different continents. They analyzed managers who failed with managers who were successful, by comparing ‘Experience’, ‘IQ’, and ‘EQ’. The key finding was that, as far as Experience and IQ is concerned, there wasn’t too much difference between the managers who failed and those who were successful. The SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT differentiator was that successful managers had a much higher EQ compared to those who failed!

The details are published in a book named ‘Great People Decisions’, which I have yet to read.

Why do I mention EQ and Teamwork in the same context? Well, for me it is the same. To the best of my knowledge, the term EQ was ‘invented’ by Daniel Coleman. He researched why people with a high IQ = Intelligence Quotient do, in general, not turn out to be the most successful. According to his findings, the ability to work well with others is more important to achieve success than IQ. He named this ‘ability to work well with others’ EQ = Emotional Quotient. To me, the ability to work well with others is pretty much the same as team working skills; hence I use it in the same context.

Listening Skills

Today I drove into town. I was in the middle lane and a big limousine on my left was drifting into my lane. As the car was only slightly ahead of me, I hooted briefly otherwise the car would have hit my car. There was no reaction, so hooted again. The limousine went back into its lane briefly, then accelerated and moved over into my lane. As long as I am safe that is, of course, fine with me. But, you may have guessed it, the limousine made a point to stop next to me and the driver gave me a real evil eye. I wheeled down my window, so did he, and explained in a reasonable voice that I hooted to alert him of the danger of him risking knocking into my car. I have to admit, the gentleman didn't listen. He called me a **** (sorry the words cannot be repeated here) many times until the traffic light turned green. As he was speeding off, he purposely cut into my lane again. Since I am an executive coach by profession, I followed him and managed, at the next red traffic light, to stop next to him, wheeled down my window and, I promise, still in a reasonable voice tried to explain to him that my point of hooting was to alert him to the danger in order to avoid an accident. Sadly, he yelled that he is not interested to listen to me and again practiced his insulting skills on me. But I have to say that his vocabulary was very limited as he used the same **** words again. I did not try to catch up with him at the next traffic light. :)

Reflecting on this incident, these are my insights:

Could it happen to me that I am really mad about something and then just yell back? Could it happen to me that I think I am right, but actually I am not, because I don't have the complete information? Could it happen to you? Conclusion:

Even, if I am really upset I will still make an effort to listen to the other person. I may not have the complete picture. After having the full information, I may want to change my mind about the other person's behavior, and, maybe, strike a better relationship.

I will not try to clarify issues when the other person is still very emotional. Allow the other person to cool down first, whenever possible. Sometimes we have the urge to lecture others, because we 'mean well'. Let's wait for a suitable time.

Now I feeI really good. Of course, I was also upset about this incident. After writing down this episode and establishing my learning points, I have a smile on my face. Looks like writing things down and reflecting is a good tool to de-stress. Try it.