Team Management

MANAGING THE TRICKY TEAMS

By Syed Hammad Raza

What if you have been asked to lead a team that comes,

--- With various personality imbalances
--- With unaffordable Attitudes
--- With different struggling backgrounds (fluctuating Ethics, Manners & Values)
--- With different personal objectives

Interesting?

Rather!  It’s kinda challenging situation. The moment manager relaxes the grip, instantly team focus will shifts from WORK to settle personal conflicts, exerting Attitudes and to establish personal territories within the project teams.

Directing all the TEAM ENERGY towards WORK is a nonstop challenge. You need to continuously check and manage the TEAM BEHAVIOUR.

But there is a twist, all tricky team members are not same, they are suffering from different level of Psycho disorders, and BEHAVIOUR MANAGEMENT techniques are different for each group. We need to diagnose the patient and place him in right GROUP.   

CRITICS

These people assume that their primary role in the society is OPPOSITION. They used to oppose each and every decision of the company management and logically prove it WRONG, during Tea breaks and Lunch hours, just to prove their Analytical ability and so called VISION. Totally unaware of the damage, they devote all the free time, to spread negative and fearful vibes in the company. I have witnessed that they were spoiling the workers, by discussing the Fringe benefits and salary packages of the management, propagating fake stories about the misuse of company cars and other assets. They even proceed to criticize the business dinners and Marketing events. Soon majority of workers start believing that company management is living far from the reality and chasing unrealistic targets, it lacks the vision and leadership qualities.

  Mr. Kallis is working as a Sales A/c Manager, he has done decent numbers in past. Sales team is staying at Hilton - LasVegas over a week for Annual Sales conference. The effects of luxurious and motivating environment are reflecting and the Sales team is oozing ENERGY leaping for the skies. Everyone is geared up to meet THE NEW TARGETS. Management has spent millions to electrify the worldwide Sales teams and effects are visible on every participant Confidence, Focus and Believe in success but Kallis is in a different world. So pissed off and scared of the new target that he won’t be able to think anything but the TARGET he won’t be able to talk anything but the TARGET. He gave went to his inner fears (Fear of the Failure) openly laughing at the targets, growth forecast and saying loud and clear “I can bet, we gona MISS the target and we gona MISS it by miles”. I am sure Management is not serious, they must be joking.

These coward freaks always live with the fear of Failure. They talk negative about the targets and growth forecasts. They talk so definite about the failure that anybody listening to them start believing in absolute failure and eventually start waiting for the failure.

Mr. Imran always fantasies to join a fortune 500 company. He idealized these multinationals their matured processes, glorious policies and attractive perks & benefits. Although he is working for a company of 100 employees only, he has a great research on the processes and policies of Fortune 500 companies. Now and then he can be seen educating the ignorant employees with the Ideal processes and right Policies. Unintentionally, criticize the prevailing processes and Policies of his current company. Specially In place grading and performance evaluation system always proved an easy target for him. If there is nothing to say, he starts pointing the short comings of Grading and Performance evaluation system. Declaring it the cause of injustice and lack of financial benefits for the deserving work force. This is a very sensitive topic. Immediate effects soon become apparent, as Motivation and team Moral goes down. Lack of productivity, lack of interest, frustration and depression will soon follow.

Mr. Denial is the only earner in the family, came from a struggling background and working as Quality control officer. His Job requires interaction with all production departments and during the tea break we can see him answering a lot of hello hi. He started holding brief discussions with the group around him and people seem impressed with his knowledge of Quality Standards. Within a few months, rather unintentionally, he started analyzing the Financial Position of the company (without any background of Accountancy). He gave way to his inner fears and based on 1 or 2 incidents, concluded that Company has serious threats to its survival. Next 2-3 months are decisive and in case company stumbles we all would be in a very bad shape. So, wise approach is to look for some backup. Such fearful rumors spread like a fire in the jungle. Dynamic, motivated and energetic staff starts switching jobs and this chap remained there in the company with drawing the regular pay cheques. Interestingly, this rapid fall of wickets brought new exciting topics for discussions and spreading new FEARS. Pity childish minds, for them TEA BREAK is just a time out for a HORROR MOVIE.

George is a senior technical resource and has a great reputation in his domain. He used to win the technical arguments and successfully defend his technical solution. Recently he has been asked to participate in the middle management meetings to assist on the technical issues. Obviously he is totally blind to Project Financials, Market Strategies and Risks. After discussing the different options with him, management selects the most suitable one. He always starts a silly argument WHY? unsatisfied with the answers, he took the discussion to the technical teams  and  gave very convincing arguments against the selected option. Soon all technical team concludes that going with the management decision is a sue side. Then onwards, (totally unaware of the management constraints and risks), it became a habit to discuss pros and corns of management decisions. Unnecessary open discussions on every decision eventually make the decisions controversial. Execution team becomes double minded, sometimes execution halts and higher management got involved for reconsideration. At this stage, it becomes apparent that the critics don’t have balls to take up the overall challenge nor they have courage to accept the responsibility of their proposed solution. So they destroyed the momentum and ran away.  

Antidote:

All the cases discussed above are the silent CANCERS living in the company. Management need to identify and isolate them as soon as possible. Else they shatter the FAITH of loyal employees on company management. Sometimes these people have been found suffering from DEPRESSION (Negativity and hopelessness is bound to occur) but unfortunately by the time they got diagnosed, they would have spread the CANCER in the company.

OBSESSED

People with over obsession. They are over committed to reach to the top hierarchy really quickly. Their sole focus is to join the higher ranking community, not at all WORK and work competencies. Sometimes, these people are seen as very hard working individuals but their hassle to join the higher ranking community will make them pain, for rest of the team.

Mr. Warne came from a struggling background, slightly imbalance personality in social interactions and greedy to grow quickly and to make up for the lost time. He is a very hardworking guy but notorious for being non-courteous to, same level colleagues. And to those he thinks he is ALMOST at same level. (Lol.. He.. he.. he..  A living evaluation machine). He always lives in a constant state of dream that soon he will be resuming the position of his boss. Due to this mental disturbance, sometimes he started bossing his colleagues. Unintentionally, he always secure distinctive seating position, always act superior to rest of the team, while walking with the group he always keep himself slightly ahead. Another big symptom is SELF EVALUATION. In a hassle to join the community of higher-ups, after completing every successful assignment, he won’t wait for the formal Review and Evaluation system. Instead, he self-evaluates himself, to be a lot better than the pack and start acting like a pack leader. Even more interestingly, sometimes he starts acting at par with the boss. Taking permissions as required in Standard operating procedures and REQUESTING leaves, are now a past. With the new rating (Self Evaluation) just informing boss is enough, NOW.

Filling an empty Management level position in the department (which has no apparent connection with the troubling guy) can start a new Drama. He instantly got very upset and behaved similar to a teenager that has been told about the marriage of the most attractive girl in the neighborhood. Oh No!!! I do not have any career path, at all. There is no room for growth at my position. Management added a misfit in the organization and snatched my right.  Moving a step ahead they can create a new situation by opposing the new comer and make all necessary efforts for his absolute failure.

Antidote:

I was having not 1, but a bunch of these characters and together they put a great show at Project site. I was holding my head with the HEADIQUE when I happened to watch a show on National Geographic channel. DOG WISPERER ( http://www.cesarsway.com/dog-training/the-basics/How-to-Be-Calm-and-Assertive) and You won’t believe all the solution came from that show. Crux of the show was, “A MANAGER should always impose himself as a PACK LEADER before these trouble makers”. Leader should communicate with the team with its Energy and Body language.  Agreed but my question was HOW ??  The expert Cesar Millan  proved that, pack is bound to follow a PACK LEADER who projects the calm, assertive energy. Communicate with the team with your Energy and Body language “How do I learn to project calm, assertive energy?” This is where a very powerful human ability comes in handy: Imagination. Imagine someone who inspires confidence in you – a parental figure or mentor; a famous leader or hero; even a fictional character. How do they carry themselves, and what in them inspires confidence in you? Now, imagine that you are this character, real or fictional. Stand like they would stand. Move like they would move. Take long, deep breaths. Relax your body, but keep your head up, shoulders back and chest out.

To handle such resources Manager has to keep an eye on nomads, who now and then practicing to project assertive energy and check them immediately. Always maintain a dairy for short comings, mistakes and minor overlooks and don’t discuss it in person, instead keep it and point it out in the meeting in the presence of whole pack/team.

CONFLICTERS

People, with the aggressive personality. Some way or the other they reach for a CONFLICT with the colleague. This CONFLICT will serve as a fuel, for their passion to WORK. They don’t take WORK as a challenge, instead, they always take-up personal CONFLICT as a challenge. They work hard, to compete with the enemy and deliver to strengthen their position. In the strive for a WIN, they won’t hesitate to play politics. They always live in this self-created WAR Zone and ruin the whole working environment.

If Manager backup him for his work, they instantly assume that Manager has joined the WAR from his side. He will pay frequent personal visits to such Manager and will urge him to take certain actions (badly needed for THE WAR). At this stage, if Manager fails to smell the situation then they take weak managers on a ride. If manager pass some nice comments for the opponent, they assume that Manager has changed the party. Instant panic will ripe out and their attitude towards Manager will go 180’.

Jacob came from a far flung mountain village have a very crude background. He was a hard working intelligent guy but his harsh and aggressive talk used to create a scene. Whenever he got refused for anything, right away he starts an argument with the opponent and his attitude turn aggressive. Just to diffuse the situation, sometimes opponents accommodate him on showing such attitude and this further misleads the guy.

I have sent him to HR Department to complete certain formalities, they asked him to come again in a couple of days and he got upset, he openly questioned “Why you are not WORKING”. Standing in the main hall he started dictating the DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF HR DEPARTMENT. And ended up in an explanation call for MISBEHAVE and interference in the procedures of other departments. Coming back to his seat the guy was still confused why this explanation call has been issued to him instead of the LAZY HR guy.

On the project site he started an argument with a senior technical resource. Coming to me he made it clear that he will not report to the guy. He won’t stop there, he questioned the competency of the opponent then claimed that even a junior guy like him can deliver better than him. Then onwards, I watched a great action film on my project. I watched 2 groups competing with each other for project deliveries and in the race to claim the credit both groups gone out of the way. I have watched some of the finest performances and longest working stretches. But all this, to settle a personal Grudge.

Antidote:

Management need to identify and isolate them as soon as possible. Strong manager should stand out firm and check them immediately else they will get confidence and soon start a tug of war with the Manager. Including them in Project teams can ruin the whole working environment and can result in loss of key professional resources.

CHALLENGERS

People, who always go against the current. They always challenge the conventional ways and love to try new ways. They can be seen having arguments with the boss, challenging the conventional solutions and asking permission to try a new one. If given a chance they work really hard to prove their point. They derive motivation from doing INNOVATIVE WORK. They are asset for the organization but quite tough to afford. Each and every project doesn’t have flexibility and space, to allow their experimentation. Where I have this MARGIN, I always try to support this group by allowing them liberty, to try interesting new ways. Otherwise I have to give them solid reasons to go with the conventional/ safe method.

This group is a perishable commodity; they need very open and equal opportunity working environment to excel. Exerting managerial authority or use of veto power, to turn down their idea can quickly ruin the whole lot.

PESIMISTS (The story tellers)

People facing Lack of recognition, Lack of authority. They are suffering from Inferiority complex and badly in need of someone who consider them guru. These can be seen in every office telling stories about the past when they were kings. They hate to recognize the contributions and performance of youngsters. Always oppose new ideas that youngsters present.

On the start of every project they used to play the same old cassette of their outdated methods. And expect the audience to religiously follow it. They openly oppose and condemn anyone suggesting a better solution. They don’t like CHANGE and they always resist CHANGE. These silly creatures stand against the Nature and met the defeat sooner or later.

Antidote:

Do not let these pessimists interact with the fresh blood (Youngsters) of the company.

MEDICAL ISSUES

Mr. Michel is one of my friends; a genius, a Mechanical Engineer working as Chief Officer in Oil and Gas Company. He is well placed and well paid as per the prevailing Job market. But he always sound quite tense & upset and always worried about future. He thinks that people around him are too pushy and due to this unfair behavior he is lagging behind in the race, always complaining that higher-ups are capitalizing on his efforts and he is being kept deprived. By chance I met his GM, he openly recognizes his contributions but complains about him, being oversensitive for the recognition of his WORK and being over possessive for the credit of his work. The causes of his never ending anxiety and uneasiness remain unknown for years but recently he was diagnosed with the 2^nd Brain disorder. His mood swings, low feelings, negative thoughts and baseless concerns about the Future, were all due to Stomach and food pipe disorder. Would you believe this……….

 (http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/201110/your-backup-brain)There's a "second brain" in your stomach. It influences your mood, what you eat, the kinds of diseases you get, as well as the decisions you make. And you thought it was all in your head!

(http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=gut-second-brain)

(http://www.seri-worldwide.org/id101.html)

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There can be a thin balance between company objectives and employee’s personal objectives. If Manager got it right then he can reap a multiple fold performance gain. Let’s see how we can align the company objective with the employee’s personal objective. 

LEARNERS & EARNERS

Company took an initiative to enter into a new business line, the resources for this NEW TECHNOLOGY are really in demand and quite highly paid in the market. Company decided to use a mix of few Technology Experts leading a bunch of low paid youngsters to control the cost of the Project. Company made it clear that the selected youngsters will face extensive Training a Challenging environment and will not be having any financial gain for this year.

Mr. Asim and Mr. Waseem has been selected for this exclusive project. For Waseem, it’s a chance of the life time, he is working by soul and heart to make this project a success. For him, learning this cutting edge technology, project experience and adding this project to its profile is the TARGET. These days he is enjoying a luxurious life in Canada.

For Asim, it’s a big question that Why all the donkey work has been directed to him? Why company don’t want to pay him a decent salary. On the project site his body language clearly reflects a looser. He always talks about his hand to mouth financial situation and lack of any hope for the coming year. He became a hurdle in the project and eventually kicked out of the project.

Few years back company needed a dozen of support professionals in its Africa operations. Ahsan and Bilal were among the selected group. Special daily allowances and pay was part of the package. Ahsan belongs to a well settled well educated family, he was recently married and enjoying every bit of his life. Bilal belongs to a middle class family that recently faced some financial problems he was still single. Both the guys performed quite well and company decided to extend their stay for a year. For Bilal it’s the break, he was waiting for. He worked by soul and heart try to save as much as he can and at the end of the tenor, he managed to build his own house. For Ahsan it’s a night mare to stay alone in an unfamiliar society, home sickness quickly took over and on top its marriage went into jeopardy. Emotional turmoil grew at such a speed that one day he resigned and took the flight back to his home.  

Cadre shift Seekers

 Mr. Hue was a senior technical Support working at this position for last five years. Every year he gets a nice raise but now he is looken for a Cadre shift because all of his group mates are now Managers. He is targeting for a Team lead position leading towards the Management role. Salary raise is not on his current agenda. But this year, he has been given a nice Bonus + a decent increment no promotion again. Instantly Mr. Hue went into its shell. Very indifferent to what is going on in the company. Soon he joined the Competitor as Assistant Manager Support services and started building and training a new team, attracted some key resources of the old company and become a threat in the Market.