A Losing Team of One

Do you need someone to take the blame?

baseball

Early last month, I made good on a belated birthday gift to my son - a trip to St. Louis for two Cardinals baseball games at Busch Stadium. It was Independence Day weekend, so the stadium was packed beyond capacity for the first game.

Entering the 9th inning, our beloved St. Louis Cardinals were up 3 - 0. The whole place was rocking as the anticipation of another win reached its climax. Then it happened.

The Closer came in to save the game and promptly gave up two runs. With the tying run on base, he finally managed to get the last out. You could hear the collective sigh of relief from the more than 46,000 in attendance. The home team was able to eke out the win, 3 – 2.

As my heart recovered from the emotional roller coaster of the game's final 10 minutes, I suddenly got angry as I heard myself saying,

“This Closer should not get the save for this game! They should consider the manner in which the game is saved before awarding a pitcher the save. But they don’t! Now, he gets credit for a save that he almost blew!”

I was ready to blow a gasket when Paul said,

“Dad, you know it doesn't work that way. It's a team game, and the team awards the ‘Save’ to the pitcher who gets the last out in a close game”.

Yes, I knew that, but I was still mad anyway! Mad that he was awarded the save. Mad that he got the credit for doing a sloppy job.

But that’s the beauty of teamwork, isn't it? It includes everyone. All share in the team’s success and failure. While the performance of just one member may prevent the team from accomplishing its goals, a good team won’t sacrifice the guilty party. It will try to pick up the team member and encourage them to do better next time. That’s what the Cardinals team did after that game.

But that doesn’t happen quite often in other areas of life, especially in business. Typically, the size of the failure determines the consequences. And it could range from a minor reprimand to being fired. The team leader would want to be able to explain to the powers that be, that the culprit has been dealt with. In business, we have a long memory and we need someone to pay. That’s what Wall Street expects when things go wrong.

But can you imagine how this affects the morale of the other team members? The results can be devastating, especially for a team that depends on innovative ideas for its success.

If Jill knows that she will be the sacrificial lamb when she comes up with an idea that backfires and loses money, how willing will she be to take the risk? But that’s what you see in many organizations. No wonder most of these just thread water; they're barely surviving.

Organizations that flourish encourage their people to take risks within the bounds of decency. And they don't punish the risk-takers when things go south. That’s how a business thrives.

Baseball may be about business to the players and team owners, but to the typical fan like me, it’s all about the emotions. The die-hard fan in me still thinks that those who (almost) cost my team a win should not get an undeserved credit. And I was proven right during the next game the following day.

The same closer came into a 5-4 game in the 9th inning, gave up two runs and lost the game for the Cardinals. This time, I blamed the Manager for putting him in the game.

I have to blame someone, don’t I?

Even Paul agreed with me on that.

Getting them to Agree

Make the changes that many will buy into.

Times are changing at Yamuka Corporation. Once the beacon of internet search engines, recent start-ups have eaten deep into its sources of revenue. As income has dried up, deep cuts are desperately needed.

One bright Monday morning, Erika arrived at work to find an email from the company’s CFO in her inbox. Extra hands are needed on deck, so 12-hour work days are now mandatory for everyone, including weekends. To ensure that people are available when needed, every employee will now be required to carry a pager. Once paged, they need to be in the office or log onto the company network within a half hour.

Erika was mad. She fumed as she silently contemplated the situation.

This isn’t what I signed up for! I have a life. I have a husband and two little children who need me. How can they just increase my workload by 50% overnight? And a pager? Why don’t they just put a leash around my neck? I’ll have to look for another job.

During the few minutes that followed, she thought about her strategy for job-hunting. She would spend some time to search for opening while at work, and apply to the ones that fit once she gets home.

Let’s face it. It’s a fact that most organizations go through cycles of good and bad fortunes. But only the ones that are nimble and able to respond fast to changing economic environments are able to weather the storm.

Many organizations lose valuable employees because of the way much needed changes are implemented. Here’s a few tips on what works.

Wisdom in Numbers

When changes are necessary in most organizations, the top executives would usually put together a team of top leaders to figure out what needs to be done. Typically, this team spans the functions on the organization for a balanced representation. Despite this approach, the ideas gathered by the team may not be representative of the entire organization. This is because not many of these leaders reach deep within their functional areas to poll for ideas. As a result, many good ideas are left uncovered.

In his book, The Wisdom of Crowds, James Surowiecki told the story of a country fair in which those in attendance were asked to guess the weight of a slaughtered ox. After the roughly 800 responses were averaged, it came to 1,197 lbs. When the ox was actually weighed, it came in at 1,198 lbs. This is just one of the many case studies and anecdotes that the author used to show that the aggregation of information in groups frequently results in decisions that are often better than could have been made by any single member of the group.

When organizations poll many, instead of a privileged (or top) few to effect changes, there’s the likelihood that a much better decision will result.

Change is Coming

Don’t get me wrong here. I’m not advocating requesting inputs from everyone ad infinitum in order to please everybody. That doesn’t add value and it may end up paralyzing the decision-making process. You simply cannot please everyone.

However, when inputs are requested from the entire organization, it serves as an informal notice to people that changes are on the way. It helps to prepare them for the final decision so it doesn’t come as a shock.

With today’s technology, this is very easy to do. Many organizations now use workplace social networking platforms such as Yammer. With such tools, it’s easy to poll for ideas from the entire organization by asking a simple question. Employees can use such a platform to present ideas while others would see them and post questions and/or add inputs to further refine those ideas.

Choice is Key

Another benefit of asking for ideas is that you’re telling everyone that several choices are being considered. It tells them that they potentially have a say in the final decision. Having the choice to decide something that affects us means a lot.

Think about it. How do you typically respond when people try to compel you to do something? Your natural reaction is to resist. As humans, we have this deep desire to retain our will. In fact, the history of civilization shows that we’d rather lose our lives than surrender our freedom. We’ve been known to go to war over even a small infringement on our freedom. The story of the American Revolution drives that point home for us.

Peter Block said, “Your ‘yes’ means nothing if you can’t say ‘no’. There can be no commitment if there’s no choice.”

When you ask people for their inputs into a decision-making process, you’re giving them the chance to say “no” to other ideas. But when you legislate what must be done, you may end up the way of Yamuka Corporation and lose your most valuable people.

Leading by Following

You don’t have to run the show to be an effective leader

Photo courtesy of Dominik Lange

I was once in a leadership meeting where the team leader said nothing. If you didn't know who he was, you wouldn't have guessed that he was the boss; that the buck stopped with him. He wasn't running the meeting, so he didn't say much. He simply asked some clarifying questions and made a few comments. He didn't challenge anyone’s assertions nor did he force his ideas on the team.

While, there’s great value in having a take-charge kind of leader, being a leader doesn't mean you have to run the show at all times. Unfortunately, there are those who think you don’t have leadership abilities or potentials if you don’t always and visibly show what they consider leadership behaviors. To them, you have to say something at every meeting. They believe that you must always have something to contribute, or you don’t belong in leadership circles. Some expect every leader to exhibit a Type A personality even if that's not who they are.

When James Sinegal co-founded COSTCO in 1983, it was a small organization trying to grow. With his leadership, the company grew to be one of the most profitable in the world with an enviably low employee turnover. Against very stiff competition from bigger companies like Wal-Mart, Sinegal kept COSTCO strong with collaboration and solid operational tactics.

Most organizational cultures develop from the personality of the founder. At inception, the founder has to take charge to chart a course for the organization. After all, it’s her vision and she knows exactly what she wants accomplished. However, with success comes expansion and possible changes in direction. The vision could suddenly become bigger than that of one person. A smart founder will find ways to tap into the strategic skills of other leaders in the organization. To do this, she must have been able to surround herself with leaders that are equally capable.

In a piece about Sinegal, Karlee Weinmann wrote that “At a young company, it's important that the few members of your operation can collaborate, share ideas and develop strategies to grow. As the business gets more established, it's important to have open communication with your direct reports.” Open communication and collaboration help to birth new ideas and strategies. These are the keys to sustainable business success.

You Can’t Be a Know-It-All

Even after you have surrounded yourself with leaders who have like-minded passion for the organization, situations will occasionally arise, when you don’t agree on issues. What you do in those instances may make or break your reputation as a leader.

In their book, The EQ Edge, Steven Stein and Howard Book noted that “… excellent leaders can compromise and put their preferred decision aside when the team or department’s decision is appropriate. Doing so solidifies team spirit, is evidence of your (the leader’s) flexibility, and demonstrates that good leaders are also good followers.”

As long as the team decision does not seem to put the organization in jeopardy or potentially result in unimaginable losses, putting your preferred decision aside will do a lot to build trust within a team. Rather than taking the lead all the time, allow others to lead; let them flex those leadership muscles and grow into the leaders they’re meant to be.

My Way or the Highway

I used to work in a place where one head of department ruled with an iron fist. He had to have the last say on everything. There was no doubt about who was in charge. He got his way through intimidation, fear and coercion. This went on for a while because he delivered results. However, such results are not sustainable; not with the methods that he employed. Eventually, he was let go.

The results we get and the manner in which they are achieved are equally important. There are leaders who focus on "what" needs to get done. They need to get immediate results. While getting quick results are important and crucial indicators of success, the "how" determines whether or not those results are sustainable.

Are you the type of leader that achieves outstanding results, but your team members do not feel valued? If that's is the case, they will jump ship at the slightest opportunity?

Do you lead in such a way that makes your team members loyal even when what looks like good opportunities get dangled in front of them? Only one of these types of leaders delivers the kind of results that endures.

What will it be? The choice is yours.