If you’re a team leader, you need to understand the dynamics at play in teams. Or more accurately, the interplay between the different individuals in a group. Unless and until the group has progressed through the initial stages, it actually isn’t functioning as a team at all, even if it’s called one.

Right from the start, the purpose of the team needs to be articulated, and people will need reminding of it from time to time. In most workplaces, it’s good practice to link the team’s goals to those of the broader organisation. When everyone knows why they are there and how their team contributes to the bigger picture, the team is starting to progress.

Well, it depends. If your team is healthy, there will be different approaches, diverse ideas and challenges to the status quo. Managing these differences is what makes for a strong team. Whereas weak teams lack diversity: it’s all vanilla. See my previous post on ground-rules for teams. However, some conflict is not so healthy:

• There is bullying, and it goes unchecked.
• People don’t speak up, for fear of censure and/or exclusion.
• There are in-groups and out-groups, or cliques and outcasts.
• Competition is focused inwards, against fellow team members, to the detriment of the team.

So what can you do?

So your team has now got clear goals and clear roles (see previous post on sports teams). So now what? It’s time to get the ground rules out in the open. These are the often hidden traps that bedevil new joiners and the organizationally unwary - it’s all about “how we do things round here”.

Create some team ground rules and, whatever you do, make this a team effort. Imposed ground rules smack of confining institutions, not collaborative organizations. Gather the team and ask everyone to contribute. Tip: get everyone on their feet and equipped with pens to write on walls, boards, flip charts. The minute one person stands at the front playing scribe, or worse, editor, you're doomed. Generate group thoughts about the team's values and from there you can work through to behaviours that align with these. Beware waffle and keep it real.

There's a lot written, and a great deal said, about what organizational teams can learn from sports teams. Much of it is inspirational, some of it is useful, and some just doesn't travel into your average workplace at all. That's because there are some fundamental, but often overlooked, differences - beyond the obvious dress code issues.

Clarity of goals and timing

So you’ve written your goals. Well done.  Already you have an advantage over all the people who don’t write their goals down and so don’t get them fully loaded into our wonderful brains’ wiring. Your amazing brain will now be primed to spot opportunities for you to move towards your goals, using the same circuitry that explains why we suddenly notice the model of car we’ve just decided to buy, or pregnant women suddenly see pregnant women everywhere.  There’s just one small detail to be taken care of…

…when are you going to do them?

Seriously, when will you be 'doing' your goal-getting things?  Will they just happen every day as habitually and naturally as you get out of bed, make coffee and travel to work?  Unlikely.  The most common disconnect we make with our goals is to assume that because we’ve written them, they’ll just happen.  I call it parallel universe syndrome, because it’s as though the person’s goal is out there in some other universe, being achieved, but it sure ain’t happening in this one!  OK, writing goals down definitely helps stack the odds for success in our favour but we also need to get practical.

Name it to claim it.  Having first identified where you want to be, next identify exactly where you are now on the journey to your goal(s).  Give this point a name.  Now give the half-way point on the journey a name that describes the state of progress.  Now mark some more milestones on your journey and give them names.

Focus on the very next step you have identified on your journey and set a date for getting there.  Now break down the mini-goal into everyday actions you can take and allocate time for when you will do them.  Put the time in your diary or calendar - with reminders.  Now you’ve brought reaching your goals into this universe, not a parallel one.

According to a Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) survey of 2,000 UK employees, job satisfaction has increased.  Yep, the statistics say that the difference between the number of respondents saying they are satisfied at work and those who report being dissatisfied is up from +35 to +42.  We could simply smile and quote Disraeli’s "lies, damn lies and statistics".  But it seems the CIPD thinks there’s more to the data, that they’re calling the ‘fixed grin’ phenomenon.

Basically, when times are as tough as they have been for the past year or two, and look as though they’ll be for a while yet, the whole concept of ‘the grass is greener’ disappears over the horizon.  People claim they are just fine and happy where they are, thank you very much.  Employees are thrilled to bits with their job.  So they say.

However, two-thirds of the same respondents believe that it would be difficult for them to find another job if they lost the one they currently have.  So employers shouldn’t get too complacent.  The reported satisfaction with jobs is more a sign of the very tough times than a resounding cheer for bosses.  Relief not to be one of the unemployed, reluctance to rock the boat, reticence about how they’re being managed and treated at work are probably the reality for the vast majority of employees.  Which means that, unless there’s recognition that this is the case, resignations will soon follow when the economy - and job market - improves.

If you’re managing a team of people who are giving you fixed grins, beware.

Four in ten respondents in a CIPD survey plan to work beyond the age of 65.  65 is currently the default retirement age (DRA), due to be abolished in October next year.  However, the responses of the age-diverse sample of 2000 people bear further scrutiny.  

Of respondents aged 55+, the number saying they plan to work beyond 65 rises to six in ten, whereas for the 18-24 age group the figure is 29%.  Whilst the figures may not surprise some, I found 29% to be higher than I’d have expected, and wonder if younger workers who plan on working past 65 find the whole concept of a set age to retire (or indeed a fixed age to do anything) a bit strange, even pointless.

On the other hand I’m not surprised at the 55+ age group: the older workers get, the more concerned they are about whether their pension pot is up to the task.  The reasons given for planning to work beyond 65 are primarily financial (72%, with more women than men checking this reason).  Yet other factors were also cited:  47% want to ‘continue using my skills and experience’, 42% want ‘social interaction’ and 35% want to work beyond 65 for reasons of self-esteem.  Another option, that of working beyond 65 to minimise time spent with my partner/children, was only checked by 2% of respondents, which might confound some stereotypical views in some quarters, but appears to be good news for close relationships.

Given the impending phasing out of the DRA, respondents were asked on what basis decisions about continued employment of older workers should be made.  Health was cited by 64%, which isn’t surprising.  Personal performance was a close second at 62%.  So if older workers aren’t up to the job, for health or performance reasons, their continued employment will need to be considered, and decisions reached.

What will this mean in practice?  The demand for flexible working practices will extend, and employers who get this will be able to have the pick of talent.  I can also see ‘managing poor performance in older workers’ figuring in performance management training workshops.  In some sectors, it’s already happening, particularly where there’s a very age-positive hiring policy.  Try this exercise: visualise yourself giving performance feedback to someone 10, 20, 30 or so years older than you.  What will you say?  How will they respond?   Now reverse it: imagine as vividly as you can being given performance feedback by someone much younger than you.  How do you feel?  What are you thinking?  How will you respond?  Welcome to the 2012 and beyond workplace.

Can you see yourself working at 65, 70, 80?  What will you be doing?  What will your workplace be like?  Do you want to retire, and if so at what age?

For more on the CIPD’s research and viewpoint, click here.

Gasp!  Surely this is heresy!  Aren’t coaches and trainers always telling managers to praise people more?  And yes, when we do, we are often met with responses along the lines of, ‘listen, this is a business, not a game show you know’.  Or just ‘ew....’  And then we come back with how when kids are small they get praised frequently, and for the smallest thing -‘you did it in your potty!  Clever girl!’ As they grow up the praise gets less and less frequent – ‘must try harder’, ‘could do better’.  By the time they’re at work it’s flipped right round – ‘well frankly they should be grateful they’ve got a job in this economy’.  All of this is sadly true.  So we encourage managers to praise.  Yet we have to very careful about how this is done.  Research suggests several ways in which praise can de-motivate, some of which are blindingly obvious; some are not:

• We can spot a phoney! Really?  Well, I’ll be...
• Being praised in a happy-clappy, high-five, kinda way can be cringe-worthy;
• If A is always being praised and C isn’t, the sense of unfairness can be very de-motivating;
• If the praise is dished out in a ‘do-this-and-you’ll-get-that’ carrot + stick way so as to achieve control, it can de-motivate, as people have a strong drive for autonomy;
• If the praise is the bread in a, ahem, ‘feedback sandwich’, it may well be ignored as the recipient waits for the negative comments to land.

So what to do?  Suggestions:

• If you can’t say it sincerely don’t say it at all;
• Praise the behaviour, stating what you actually observed;
• Identify what the person actually did and said – we’re after verbs here, not adjectives (instead of ‘you were very empathetic with Clive when he had a problem’, try ‘I observed you really listening to what Clive had to say, and gently encouraging him to explain his problem’);
• End by saying why the behaviour is praise-worthy – the effect/impact/results it has had (instead of ‘well done, keep it up!’ try ‘I’ve noticed Clive is making more effort now’).
• And that’s it!  Step away from the praise podium right now before you go all gooey or get tempted to serve up a sandwich.

‘Leadership skills’ is a pretty broad term: from business and commercial acumen, through change management and a whole host of people management skills. Where’s the biggest gap in the skills repertoire? According to the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development’s 2010 Learning & Development Survey, it’s in performance management, coming top of the gaps for 71% of respondents. If you want some quick tips on performance management, download this MP3 here. To find out more about the CIPD’s survey, follow this link.

When the conversation turns to giving feedback, I often get asked for my views on the old ‘sandwich’ approach.  You know, some good stuff either side (the bread) and some not-so-good stuff (the filling) in the middle.  The idea with these ‘feedback’ sandwiches (this is the blogosphere, so I’m using the polite term) is that people will be more receptive to the filling part if there’s plenty of bread.  I’m not so sure... 

Human nature being what it is, people are more attuned to one aspect of the sandwich than the other.  The other part then becomes ignored and totally devalued.  Pity.  There’s much that’s useful in both, and sometimes in more formal conversations such as appraisals and regular 1:1s, we need to cover both sides.  But if we’re simply remarking on a performance gap, ditch the sandwiches.  Give it to people straight.  Cut the drivel and get to the, er, filling.  The right to do this has to be earned though – by serving up some bread separately.  In other words, catch people doing it right and tell them.  So they know what it is they’re doing right, and they know you’ve noticed.