Many of us work in a hurried, reactive environment. We tactically respond to what's coming at us each week, each day, even by the hour, like the game of Whack-a-Mole. The pace is not sustainable. This approach is causing exhaustion for managers and even for our most engaged team members. 

I hear from managers about the disorder that happens in the workplaces. They are tired, bewildered, and don’t know how to fix the system that they created or in some cases inherited. While doing the great work of delivering client projects, helping earn new business we sometimes forget the critical work of developing a team and sustainable systems to make the work and workplace thrive. So, we live in this place of antiquated systems, tools, processes and wonder how to unravel this ball of yarn, but then another client deliverable is due and the job of working on the team is set aside.

I know the place that you’re in, and the feeling of overwhelm. 

You might be managing from a reactive stance if some of these situations sound familiar;

• News among the team, and the company, often travels through the grapevine and rarely comes from management.

• Some people are in the know about important company info, while others, who are equally qualified, remain unaware. This causes discontent but let me point out that it also causes equity and proximity issues. 

• The team is not aligned on priorities.

• Team members may struggle with loneliness or lack of connection individually or with each other.

• The work feels transactional, and employees feel like a cog in the wheel of a big production with little personal benefit.

In an impulsive environment, we can fail to communicate important details with our team. This leaves employees, managers, directors, and even senior leaders occasionally in a confused dark space and often leads to frustration at its best, and active employee disengagement at its worst. If you’re familiar with the eNPS score, actively disengaged team members are considered “detractors”. They are actively not promoting your workplace. In fact, usually, they are actively complaining about it to their friends, neighbors, in line at the coffee shop, and those complaints are like poison to coworkers. Very few companies can withstand a trend of actively disengaged employees.

Here’s the bad news: the outside world might not get any less chaotic any time soon.

But the good news is that you can create a calm, stable work environment anyway by proactively leading your team. Sounds great ... but who has the time for that?

I get it, making this kind of change to move away from chaos can feel like one more overwhelming thing in a long list of overwhelming things. And I’m not going to lie, this kind of change does take a lot of effort upfront. But it pays off in stability, consistency, innovation, and performance.

(And just in case that’s not convincing enough for you, if you don’t make these changes, you’re creating an unsustainable future for your team and risk employee dissatisfaction, productivity, and regrettable turnover.)

The key to success? Consistency.

I’ve noticed in two decades as an HR professional that the teams and leaders who harness a methodical, intentional approach to communicating and leading a team have stability in their workforce. Consistency is the key. Identify how you want to lead and manage your team and stick with it.

And if you do nothing else, host a regular team meeting.

It’s not that this will magically solve your problems overnight, but you have to start somewhere, and I recommend implementing an effective team meeting. If you're not already hosting a team meeting, start with a consistent and dependable one. Or, if you have one but it feels stale or fruitless, reinvent it.

The benefits of a healthy, transparent, and dependable team meeting are palpable, here are a few from my experience working with mid-sized businesses:

• Connections thrive among the whole team  

• Team members develop a strong level of trust in their manager that they are knowledgeable about the happenings in the business

• Together, teams can solve problems, it’s not just for the manager and the individual who has the problem

• Brainstorming power multiplies in team meetings   

• Employees report feeling a sense of belonging

• Crosstraining and employee development thrive  

Above all: do not cancel your team meeting! 

The meeting can only work if you actually have the meeting!

Even if your agenda feels light, and you simply come together to bond, and follow through on your promise of hosting a team meeting, that’s a win. Don’t be the manager who cancels the meeting at the last very last second, or shows up and says, “Well, we don’t really have anything on the agenda this week, so...” Set a proactive agenda to effectively communicate important information with your team. It’s a simple, wide-reaching, and effective way to infuse stability and tip your culture in a positive direction.

Not sure whether your team meetings are worth the time? (Or maybe you’re pretty sure they are not?)

I’m here to help.

Check out my on-demand course, Building Blocks to an Effective Team Meeting. It’ll set you up for success with a downloadable course agenda and the exact components to include in your regular team meeting agenda.

Running the Manager Training Series is one of my very favorite things to do ... but I’m not going to lie, this cohort last year had me at the brink.

We were talking about department meetings in general, and they had sooooo many questions.

• ​What would I include and not include?

• Who should run the meeting?

• Should they have a prepared agenda?

• Should the manager hosting the meeting be the only one talking?

• Is a team builder or icebreaker even necessary for an established team?

• What about notes or minutes, if yes, who should take them?

• And, on and on...

This line of questioning went on into delirium. But it did make me ponder their dilemma. Learning about the higher-level stuff was great. But they also wanted to know precisely how I would structure a departmental meeting if I were hosting one.

By the end of the line of questions, it was clear that they wanted my EXACT FORMULA for an effective team meeting. And, friends, this is how The Ideal Team Meeting​ formula was incubated. 

Later that day, I scratched out my ideas and added them to our private LinkedIn group. You know what? It worked! 

The next week a participant said, ​"​Hey Amy​,​ I tried your ideal team meeting format and it worked! Starting with that team builder that you recommended the format worked for my team.​"​ 

Thanks to this cohort, I’ve been deliberating on making more guides like this for SIX MONTHS. Over winter break, I recorded an on-demand that answers the question of exactly what you should include, how, and why. This also led me to plan a series of related classes that will support your curiosity in taking a deeper dive into some management tactics that we talk about at a high level during the ​M​anager ​T​raining ​S​eries.

And now, I’m very pleased to announce that Building Blocks to an Effective Team Meeting is ready and available for you to make your meetings that much better.

I’ve tested this with a few clients, and here is what one of them had to say:

"The Building Blocks to an Effective Team Meeting course hit the spot in terms of giving both conceptual and actionable guidance to address my current needs. I'm adopting The Ideal Team Meeting Agenda and adapting it to meet the needs of my senior leader meeting."

— David Weiner, CEO, Social Studies School Service

So if you’ve ever been in a meeting that’s less than great (or run one yourself!) check it out!

Is your team stalled or continuously experiencing mishaps or dysfunction? Managers leading teams that experience repetitive 'issues' often feel battered and unable to right the ship. The first step is to understand what is causing the dysfunction among your team and then get to work correcting it. Patrick Lencioni's Five Dysfunctions of a Team gives us an excellent roadmap to correct the dysfunction and cultivate strong teams. Whether you have significant issues or a few small burdens, these insights will help. 

In his book, Lencioni identifies that the five dysfunctions include:

1. Absence of trust—Unwilling to be vulnerable within the team.

2. Fear of conflict— Artificial harmony, not discussing real issues, conflict avoidance, unwillingness to speak up or listen.

3. Lack of commitment—Not involving team members in decision-making. Team members may be silent, but silence doesn’t necessarily mean agreement.

4. Avoidance of accountability—An unwillingness to hold each other accountable resulting in mediocracy instead of excellence. Team members duck the responsibility to call peers or superiors out on counterproductive behavior, which lowers the bar.

5. Inattention to results—Focusing on personal success, status, and ego before team success.          

How do you build these capabilities among your team? While each team will be at various stages of development, here are some ideas that we have accumulated that can help grow these capabilities for your team.

1. Absence of Trust. Look for ways to model vulnerability among your team. One example is to include sharing opportunities during team meetings, such as an icebreaker asking: What was your biggest failure in the last month, quarter, or year. Be prepared for some awkward silence but hold out until one person on your team is brave and willing to share their failure first. Then, be ready to share yours too. This is an easy but important trust-building activity for teams. 

2. Fear of Conflict. Artificial harmony looks like an unwillingness to share a counter opinion at a team meeting or in a 1:1. On the contrary, having a healthy debate and then a willingness to pick a direction and the whole team gets on board. How can you cultivate healthy conflict? First, practice having conflict on your team and then recognize teammates who willingly debate or offer a counter perspective. In your next team meeting practice conflict by debating first a fictitious situation such as which ice cream flavor is the best, pitting people/teams against each other. Other ideas are local favorite restaurants, and coffee shops (Starbucks vs. Dunkin, etc.). Then, practice with a real-life situation that you preselect. This type of debate is invaluable for the team. Regular practice will help the team get better and be more productive when real situations come up, and passionate debate is imperative to success. 

3. Lack of Commitment. When making a decision as a team, silence is not agreement. Leaders need to be careful not to accept silence as agreement. Silence will provide surface-level agreement, and then team members will grumble in the hallway after they have left the meeting. Instead, encourage an active dialog before making a decision. People need to weigh in to be bought into a decision or concept. Brene Brown Ph.D. is an American research professor, lecturer, author, and incredible podcast host. She shares on her podcast that she often holds blind votes in her team meetings to prevent the first person from swaying the others and creating a popular opinion. Also, that prevents the leader's opinion from unfairly influencing others. A blind sticky note vote on which direction you’ll be going on a decision is not a bad idea, even on Zoom.  

4. Avoidance of Accountability. This goes both ways, managers sometimes fail to be accountable to their team members, and team members sometimes fail to be accountable as well. In 1:1 meetings, are you asking for deadlines from your team members and then holding them to it? When can I expect to have that report in my inbox? Get a date and follow-up if the report is not done on time. At the same time, managers sometimes fail to follow through on their commitments; is anyone behind on quarterly or annual reviews? Make a point to get good at accountability by setting reminders, tracking deadlines, and bravely following up if things slide. Good management hygiene is a strong indicator of great leadership. 

5. Inattention to Results. Team results have to come before the individual or personal outcomes. While one salesperson could be having record sales, the production team could be swamped as a result, causing the brand to falter. The whole team has to work together and be focused on overall results, not simply individual results. 

Next steps?

After reading this identify the top 1-2 dysfunctions, your team may need to cultivate and begin implementing a plan to develop skills in this area. 

Building Strong Teams - Training Opportunity:

Want to cultivate your skills of Building a Strong Team? Sign-up for the training series Building Strong Teams. This four-part training series will help leaders develop competencies to cultivate a strong team. Apply here.

Amy McGeachy, HR Consultant to small and medium-sized businesses in the Pacific Northwest talks about the Five Ways to Support Your Team Right Now (August 2021). Watch via Youtube.

Managers, you have been in the thick of things and it turns on we are not out of the woods with managing COVID in the workplace. Managing a team during these times is hard. Very hard. Watch this video created just for you, Five Ways to Support Your Team Right Now. In it, Amy shares ideas on how to support your teams' wellbeing, build connections, and ultimately make your workplace more fulfilling.

In honor of Thanksgiving and the upcoming Small Business Saturday gratitude and all of the love for small businesses is in the air. To reinforce the benefits small business leaders enjoy, as opposed to their counterparts running massive organizations, here is a list of reasons to be grateful for leading in a small business.

10 Reasons Small Business Leaders can be Grateful.

#theexceptionalworkplace #smallbusinesssaturday

1. You know all of your employees by name, their family, and you might even know their dog's name too!

2. Your entire leadership team can sit around one table.

3. Making a business change to ebb and flow as needed is like steering a kayak, it takes some effort but your hard work will pay off, versus captaining a large vessel.

4. You have a significant influence on what's happening in your workplace. Awe, the sweet feeling of good ol' American independence.

5. Team building, with your entire team, is possible! Try this one --> Portraits of Appreciation

6. Calling a morning huddle in the lobby or conference room doesn't usually require calculating time zones and video conferencing.

7. A dozen (or two or three) Blue Star Donuts makes for a sweet snack for your afternoon all staff team meeting.

8. As a leader you can share your vision in 1:1 dialog to ensure that everyone is engaged.

9. Some fantastic tools are free to small businesses under a certain number! Officevibe (employee engagement tool) is one example.

10. In times of significant excitement or significant sadness for your business or team, your whole workforce comes together to support and encourage.

Bonus: Small business leaders know their workforce well enough to realize that enrolling team members in a "Jelly of the Month" club is not a good holiday gift (a la the movie Christmas Vacation with Chevy Chase).

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Love practical tips for creating an exceptional business? We’ve got loads more in The Exceptional Workplace! We help small business leaders (CEO, Owners, HR, Controllers) cultivate exceptional workplaces through strong HR and people practices. 

Over Thanksgiving I overheard my husband talking to my parents about how successful my business has been in 2016. “Her efforts have paid off!” And, “She’s amazing!” rolled right off his tongue like I was paying him to say those things! Of course, I wasn’t. But my heart grew bigger and my confidence grew stronger so much that I think I stood nearly an inch taller by the end of the day. Let’s face it, how amazing does it feel to be recognized for our hard work? Recognition, either in public or in private, is ridiculously motivating. We are in a unique situation where most of us want to call it a year and sweep 2016 out the door. But wait! Let’s pause and all look at what’s going right in your workplace.

Get it started:

• In your own way, take a minute or two to recognize someone for their hard work. This can be verbally in front of peers, it can be in private, digitally via email, social media, text, Slack -- there are so many digital choices these days! You pick.

• Then, add the tagline below to your note (or send it separately if your recognition is verbal).

• This note was inspired by a Bucket Filling in the Workplace activity to generate loads of appreciation at work. Do you want to pay it forward too?

How can I participate

• If you received a Bucket Filling in the Workplace note you are hereby challenged to give back three times what you received. That’s right, pay it forward to three people.

• What is Bucket Filling in the Workplace? Just a note telling someone what you like and appreciate about them. This can be in the form of a handwritten note, an email or even a text. Whatever comes naturally to you.

• Include the tagline and link at the bottom of your communication (or send it afterward for verbal recognition). Let’s get the spotlight focused on what’s going right in your workplace.

Examples of killer workplace recognition (plagiarize as you wish):

• Jen, you lead with heart. There is not a leadership decision that you have made this year that your heart didn’t enter the equation. Your ability to pause and take note of where humanity fits into our workplace motivates me to do the same. Thank you for constantly role-modeling this for me and others in our workplace.

• Ryan, your drive to achieve results is unrelenting. Once you set a goal there is no holding you back to achieve it. This year you hit your sales target and then some. I am beyond impressed!

• Thank you, Natalie, for your help reinventing our workplace culture this year. People like you are one in a gazillion. Seriously, in your league, you have no competition!

• Ben, hands down, you are one of my favorite people to work with. You are a bright, big picture thinker who delivers every single time. I appreciate that so much about you. Thank you for being you!

• Thank you, Emily for helping me keep my head in the game in 2016. It was a tough year and without you I might have given up on our goals. You kept not only me but our entire team motivated with your infectious personality, unrelenting drive and supersized heart. I appreciate you so much.

• You rock! Is it fair to say that when I’m assigned to projects on your team I do a mental backflip because I know it’s going to be an out of this world experience? Joe, working for you is simply the best.

Now, go spread some workplace cheer. I'm talking to you. Yes, you. Do it. You will be glad you did. 

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Supplies: Whiteboard or large post-it paper (for virtual teams a shared Google doc will work) and markers (colorful markers are best)

Participants: Any number

Time: Unlimited (could run Monday - Wednesday of Thanksgiving week)

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Gratitude is contagious and most often it doesn't cost anything. Grab the post-it notes and start decorating your office!

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This team builder can be kicked off at a regular staff meeting or even via email. In the spirit of Thanksgiving and being grateful, have participants share on the whiteboard or post-it paper what they are grateful for at work. The goal is to have employees reflect on what is great about the workplace and build a bond among the team as everyone collectively takes this time to reflect. There is no limit to how much each person writes; one person might write a word or multiple words while another might write a sentence.

Start with a whiteboard or large post-it paper and put it in a prominent location in your office. A location where people walk by often is the best. Write in the center, “What are you grateful for at work?” A bucket of colorful markers will help liven up the team builder.

Every workplace will have a different end result, some might be full of words while others may even have icons or pictures drawn. Encourage creativity.

Results: The individual and collective group reflection about what makes your workplace a great place to create a bond among the team. It’s simple and collectively effective at drawing out insights into your workforce.

Take a picture of the final product. Perhaps send the picture to your team expressing your own gratefulness or keep it for yourself for a rainy day to remind you of the synergy you've created. And if you want to brag about your workforce send me a picture of this masterpiece. Nothing makes me happier than a grateful workplace.

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Supplies: Photos from team members, tape or pushpins

Participants: This is a relaxed spirit-boosting team builder for both small and large teams (3+)

Time: 10 to 15 minutes

Have team members bring a photo of themselves in a Halloween costume. They should secretly give it to you prior to the next staff meeting. All photos must be workplace friendly! Prior to the staff meeting, post all of the photos on a whiteboard (or wall). Let the team try and guess who is who. The person with the best-disguised costume (the hardest one to figure out) is the winner. This may be arbitrary! Give a pat on the back or a candy bar to the winner, your choice.

Results:

A fun stroll with your team down memory lane. Some employees may choose to bring a photo from their young childhood while others may want to bring something more recent. Either is acceptable as long as it’s workplace appropriate.

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