Management Summary
Potential falls by the wayside in many management teams. Potential that can only be realised if you as the managing director succeed in combining the strengths of the individuals to form an effective whole. I recommend the following approach:
- Clarifying the why of the team
- Understanding the why of team members and your own why
- Open up areas of cooperation to combine strengths in a targeted manner
- Tailor the team roles to the individual why
- Strengthening bilateral trust
If you succeed in realising the potential of your management team, everyone benefits:
- The company,
- The members of the management team,
- You as managing director.
What does it take for everyone to be effective on their own?
We humans are creative beings. We are at our most effective when we can live our why.
Let's imagine the following example:
Case study: Developing the potential of a management team
The team
Our team has seven members, one of whom has a management role.
The team members are committed and carry out their tasks very well. The team atmosphere is okay, communication is more task-related. Team meetings take place, but provide little new impetus for individuals. Communication with internal stakeholders is becoming more difficult as the demands on the team have increased enormously in recent years. This puts a strain on the mood and also the health of individuals. The number of unfinished tasks is increasing, employee absenteeism is rising across the board and the enjoyment of the job is diminishing. Employees and managers are overworked.
The situation
The manager wants to improve this situation. They want to increase the team's effectiveness and thus help to improve motivation and the team climate.
She introduces the question into her coaching.
The first step is to recognise the team's why and thus create the basis for personal and then overall effectiveness.
The first coaching
The first coaching session is based on three key questions. All of them serve to determine the intrinsic motivation of the individual team members. The coach therefore asks the manager the following questions:
- What is the why of your team? How do you make a difference in the company?
- What is the why of each individual team member? What do they enjoy?
- How can we ensure that everyone can contribute their why to our daily work?
The manager answers:
What is the why of my team?
We want to bring HR work in our company up to date and thus enable our company to attract and retain the specialists and managers we need for our entrepreneurial why.
What is the why of my team members?
I can't say for sure. We've never talked about that. But when I think about it now ...
- Katja, for example, is passionate about the further development of teams. She loves facilitating workshops and training sessions. She also keeps the team together. She has an informal role as a mother.
- Mark is an analyst. He is very structured. His world is numbers. He gets to the bottom of things. However, he is still reluctant to derive ideas from his analyses and actively contribute them to the team. He tends to work for himself.
- Denize is the opposite of him. She has lots of ideas and expresses them. However, she offends other team members with her direct manner.
- Jochen is an absolute team player. He is quick on the uptake and asks the right questions. He has a good relationship with everyone in the team and is valued as a contact person. He hasn't been with us that long, but has integrated quickly.
- Marcell is still quite young and inexperienced. This new role in our team was a big step in his development. However, he doesn't dare admit that he lacks experience in some areas. He compensates for this lack of knowledge with harshness and a lack of authenticity. This gets him into trouble with experienced colleagues.
- Nicole takes care of our projects, but my gut feeling tells me that she doesn't really feel comfortable with the task. She's looking for her place in our team.
In preparation for the next coaching session, the coach asks the manager to ask each member about their why.
The second coaching session
The manager brings the answers to the next coaching session.
What is the personal why of the individual team members?
- Katja would like to lead.
- Mark loves to work in detail.
- Denize wants to lead and shape. However, she is interested in finding pragmatic solutions. She resists long speeches and philosophising.
- Jochen wants to connect people and make a difference together with them.
- Marcell doesn't know what he really wants. That's why he clings to titles and positions.
- Nicole is not a leader. She prefers to stand in the second row and work. She is a relationship person.
"And what is your why?" the coach asks the manager?
I haven't thought about that yet. But I'll be happy to catch up before the next coaching session.
How can individual effectiveness be increased?
The guiding question for the second part of this coaching session is:
How should you interact with each other as a team in order to achieve the "team why" with more ease and maximise the integration of everyone with their own why?
To this end, the manager develops the following ideas:
Possible interactions of the individual team members
- Nicole and Denize would make a good team. Denize provides the ideas and Nicole thinks them through until a viable solution is found. If necessary, Mark could provide support if concrete figures are needed.
- Jochen could be the first point of contact when we need other departments to implement projects. He could set up the project, explain exactly what it is about and define the responsibilities in the project. He would also be our "joker" if things got difficult or conflicts arose.
- I'll have to talk to Marcell again. I'm not sure whether HR is really the area where he'll be happy.
"And Katja?" asks the coach?
- Katja. Katja is already my right-hand woman. If I'm honest, you could lead the team much better than me. But I don't know if she would give up her workshops for that. Neither would be possible due to time constraints.
"But if Katja were to take over your role, what would you do?"
- I would make a very good team with Mark. I'm also someone who prefers to work in detail and who finds it difficult to keep an eye on the big picture, let alone think strategically. And I'm a harmony person. That's why I find it difficult to enter into conflicts, make unpopular decisions or proactively address conflicts. This hinders me in my leadership role.
In preparation for the next coaching session, the coach asks the manager to think about the realignment of their role and the associated change in the team. Once she has clarity herself, she can have the conversation with Katja.
How can managers successfully influence the development of potential?
The manager gave it some thought and decided to offer Katja her own management role. This offer came as a surprise to Katja. But after a short period of reflection, she agreed to the new role.
The third coaching session
The coach and manager therefore use the third coaching session to further develop the team roles and define a new organisation.
Further development of team roles
- Katja becomes the new manager.
- Katja and Denize are both responsible for the strategic development of the HR department.
- Nicole is leaving the existing management team and taking on an employee role. She will work closely with Denize in future.
- Jochen manages cross-team projects.
- Mark and the manager provide meaningful figures.
- Marcell could switch to sales.
After the coaching session, the manager talks to each team member and reorganises the team. She also reflects on the last impulse question together with Katja.
How does the team potential become greater than the sum of the individual potentials?
The key to ensuring that team potential exceeds the sum of individual potential is trust. The stronger the trust among each other and the more intensive the trust in each other and the effectiveness of the team, the more the interaction will be characterised by issues that lie outside the familiar, i.e. also outside the comfort zone of the individual. The focus of teamwork is on future-orientated design.
What are the business benefits of developing potential?
For the employees
- Every team member lives their why and is therefore intrinsically motivated.
- Each team member does what they enjoy, which improves quality.
- The self-efficacy of each team member increases.
- Everyone continues to develop.
- Everyone is happier.
For the team
- The team climate improves.
- Communication is increasing as many work in tandem.
- Absenteeism is reduced.
- The standing of the team within the company is positively influenced.
- The team's entrepreneurial contribution increases.
For the company
- Knowledge is transferred within the team. No training is necessary.
- All employees are more committed to the company because they can live their why.
- Medical costs are falling.
- The opportunity to develop customers into fans and retain them in the long term increases.
- The opportunity for additional sales and an increase in earnings is increasing.
Developing the potential of employees and teams pays off. It is important that you understand the why of your employees before they start the development process.
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