Power Steps to Sharpen Your Edge

"I will NOT release that $50,000 order! The paperwork isn't right. I know it's internal paperwork - that's not the point." Employee bickering, departmental disconnects, the blame game, ugly competition. Should an executive spend 25% of her time acting as a referee, mediator or frustrated parent? Stella is the General Manager of the Atlanta branch of The Perfect Office, a national office equipment company. In November of 2005, Stella reached the end of her rope. She was leaving the office every night with clinched fists and shoulders set like granite. Most of her days were spent deconstructing and resolving internal disputes, while the real work sat untouched.  In a single day, she faced four “personnel issues”: Stella’s usually productive team was paralyzed by conflict and unexpected obstacles. No two accounts of the issue at hand matched – every department was gunning for another group. How could Stella get this group to work together?	How much productivity does fostering competition inside the company cost? When Stella realized that the root of the team's angst was each team member's passion to meet their individual goals, she knew what had to be done.. Decisive action turned the team around quickly. The return on investment was 215% Run the numbers
PowerStep  Small steps for today that power big change Consider collaborating instead of competing. Competition is encouraged in the workplace, especially among peers, but these practices can quickly become counter-productive when they pit team members against each other. Lester and Sal are peers in a manufacturing company.  Lester is the sales manager, while Sal oversees production.  They emerged from a staff meeting with their boss (the President) with very different feelings.  Lester had a bounce in his step because the big deal he had closed got high praise from the boss.  Sal was offering his best impression of a statue, because the boss had come down hard him because of overtime costs. As Lester remembered his shining moment with his boss, he realized that this big deal was going to require overtime, but that wasn’t his problem….or was it? Lester’s ascent as sales star in the company came from his determination to take care of his customers. He could be counted on to consider his customer’s perspective, but he’d never really thought about a peer’s perspective, until he witnessed Sal’s dressing-down in the staff meeting. Lester went to Sal. They talked about the production schedule and about the high cost of overtime.  By moving the delivery deadline out by just two days, no overtime would be required.  The two teams would be working toward the same goal, the profit would be higher, and the boss would really be happy. This week, look at the bigger picture, and see if collaboration won’t be more effective than competition. Think about how one action you take affects the welfare of the entire team. There could be a better way to accomplish the goal – a way that lets others win while you win too. When you take the time to make a personal connection, it could open new dimensions in your success.
Teamwork Starts with TRUST For at least a decade, organizations large and small have embraced the team concept. Cross-functional teams of specialists keep pace with expanding technology, changing markets and steep competition. To many, the word “team” has become synonymous with “time wasted.” Without trust, teams work at the lowest level, rather than stretching to be the best. Members are reluctant to share ideas and challenge assumptions; they hesitate to support each other’s efforts. Is it possible that establishing individual goals for team members can do more harm than good?