One bad apple doesn’t have to spoil the whole bunch yet one person can make the whole team fail. And under pressure a whole group can become dysfunctional.
In good faith, many of us here in Melbourne are doing the right thing when it comes to COVID regulations.
Pity there are some whose self-centredness drag us all down. Now we have a state of Emergency as a result. Additionally, millions of dollars, lost work and mental health are on shaky ground due to those breaching the COVID rules.
This reminds me of a residential program I ran in a rural setting for a client wanting his leadership team to fully collaborate and build trust.
Rising To The Challenge Or Giving Up?
The challenge to the group of 10 was to accurately count the number of animals in the 50-acre paddock. Due to the large number of animals, they decided to split into two groups of 5.
“We will split the herd into 2 and take one group each”
One group treated the challenge with vigour, passion and attending to detail (the cost of each animal was $150. Consequently, a lack of attention to detail could mean a big loss to the farmer). At the same time, the other group hit a couple of obstacles and quickly threw in the towel.
The initial group, with their diligent planning and execution, came back with an accurate number. However due to the poor attitude and count of the second group, the whole team failed.
The debrief provided a powerful, practical learning to move from Team of Champions to a Champion Team. It provided an outstanding platform in
breaking down silos between departments.
One bad apple caused an embarrassing finish in front of their real customer, the farm owner.
We’ve just seen a similar costly outcome in real life: Even if 99% of people stick to COVID regulations, it only takes that 1% of “bad apples” to bring down a community, its economy and well-being.
How often do we see this in day-to-day business?
Unless 100% of the team is fully engaged there is a high probability that we will not reach our goals and objectives. It takes just one person, particularly one in a leadership capacity, to undermine a team and business objective.
How To Maximise Engagement, Buy-in And Commitment
There are 5 important steps towards full commitment and participation:
- First, create a Safe Environment based on trust. Begin with the Leadership team. How we see each other. Do we trust each other?
- Get clear about why you are in business and the values that drive it
- Then, ensure all people have input to expected behaviours and definitions of these values – above the line and below the line behaviours
- Using these behaviours and definition (“Spirit of *your organisation*”) to deal with decision-making and managing conflict when it arises
- Finally, build in regular, strong feedback loop reviewing Steps 1-4 above
Supporting Your Team’s Journey To Star Performer Status
For the past 10 years, Bridgeworks has applied the above steps into a Council Works team. This team has been identified at that council as the standout team working collaboratively together and driving innovation into their operations. They are star performers. Hear what they said about the process.
Their “Above and Below the Line behaviour” document is the foundation to their day to day operations, on-boarding new staff and managing conflict. As such, it takes away the risk of any bad apple spoiling performance.
Every 2 years, the team of 35+ people review this document to ensure its continued relevance, reinforcement and engagement of staff.
Earlier in this post, we have referred to our popular pre-covid residential leadership and teams program. Now we apply the same principles and create powerful experiential workshops online. Whether it is a refresher program or an initiation and establishment suite of workshops, Bridgeworks has solutions that support leaders and teams.
Is your business or team aligned, fully engaged? If not, don’t let one bad apple spoil the team’s efforts.
Let’s have a chat
Wayne Dyson, Bridgeworks – 0402 300 999
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