A client sent me an email letting me know he was going to be taking over responsibility for a different team - entirely new team for him. He asked if I had any tips for the situation. It occurred to me that many managers face this same situation and it might be helpful to discuss.
The Framework for Leadership(TM) is a great tool for that first meeting of the team (as well as every one after that). That first meeting is a great opportunity to establish the context for how you want to work with them, not so much with your words, but with your specific actions and behaviors. Some of the clarity I would want to establish includes:
* I honor and respect them as individuals.
* I value their work.
* They know their jobs better than I do.
* Our success is dependent upon the whole team.
* The team will have the answers, the solutions, to any challenges they face.
* My job as manager/leader is more often about asking questions than providing answers.
* The best decisions are team decisions, so we would rather make them that way.
That first meeting is an opportunity to demonstrate these elements of effective leadership, which is far more important than talking about them.
Step 1 of the Framework is a great way to start the meeting: "What specifically are each of you working on, and what successes are you having?" This will give each team member an opportunity to express what they are doing, including their objective and their progress toward it. Take notes to keep track of all the information and to demonstrate your interest in what they are doing. Go around the room and have each person respond to this first level question. This approach gets everyone involved in the meeting in a relatively short period of time. Look for opportunities to use the "learning" step of the Framework, Step 2 - What, specifically, caused that success?
Once everyone has shared at whatever level they choose, you'll have some new perspectives of the situation, some sense of each of the people, as well as some questions. Now it is time to go deeper with each individual. Go back and ask additional Forward Focused(TM), open-ended questions - Effective Questions(TM) to pull out more information and support discussion by the team and greater alignment. Questions might include some like these:
* What else could you tell me about...?
* What is the approach you are taking?
* What is the benefit of that approach? Any limitations?
* If your part of the project were complete, how would you describe it? What else?
* What is your vision of the ideal solution for your part?
* What are the benefits to the whole project of your (or your team's) part? What would be the impact if you came up short, or late?
* What are your next steps or priorities?
* What support do you need to accomplish them?
* How can I help you?
Notice that these questions deal with other levels of the Framework, including objectives or vision, benefits of accomplishing them, and specific action steps and priorities.
If in this process, someone expresses a challenge that is bogging them down, write it on a whiteboard or easel chart (a "parking lot") so the team can come back later to focus on it, yet keep the energy flowing at this point. Be sure you do come back to it, even if it is in the form of scheduling a separate meeting. Dealing with a specific challenge or problem is a great opportunity to demonstrate that "we are in this together," and that the answers are within the team.
This Effective Question approach to your first team meeting will go a long way toward establishing credibility for your leadership ability and where you "come from," namely, that place of trust and respect for who they are and what they can do. In future group or one-on-one meetings, with the context of continuous improvement, continually look for what is working and what are they focusing on doing even better.
Tom, a BellSouth manager, did exactly this process with his new team. None of the team members knew Tom, and he reports there was a significant sense of apprehension as people walked into their first team meeting. This approach completely broke through that apprehension, generated a lot of enthusiasm and had everyone focusing energetically on their individual and team objectives. It was a huge success. Yours can be, too!
About the Author
Ed Oakley is the founder of Enlightened Leadership Solutions. Solve your greatest management challenges with his new book, Leadership Made Simple http://www.leadershipmadesimple.com