Your Team Needs a Doctor
Your Team Needs a Doctor. Here's why...
How often do you think about the performance of your team? Do you only consider team performance when an issue occurs that creates pain for you? Below are common responses we receive when asking a business owner about team performance:
Is your team performing at the level you expect?
- We have a pretty good team
- Yeah, we are doing pretty well
- My managers make sure the team delivers
Do you have issues on your team?
- We have a few under-performers but deal with it
- Everyone doesn’t always get along but the work gets finished
- Employees have way too much freedom and managers have to work more
Many business owners do not view team performance through an objective lens but will provide an emotional response after considering issues they have with leaders, employees, culture or engagement. Business owners and leaders experience a higher level of frustration when those issues lead to customer issues, quality issues, turnover or other issues that require their attention. Out of sight, out of mind until the issue impacts them or a customer.
With this in mind, we created the concept of “Your Team Needs a Doctor”. If you’re like me, you will say your health is “fine” or isn’t a problem and won’t give it much thought. It is only when some type of issue arises that I actually consider what might be causing it. A headache will be a minor annoyance that makes me search for the aspirin. A headache for 5 straight days makes me start to wonder. Typically, I won’t take action until I have suffered, I mean REALLY suffered for at least 2 weeks. After 2 weeks I will generally give it another week or so to make sure it isn’t something that resolves itself.
Aren’t health issues just like issues on your team? These issues will probably just go away and resolve themselves over time, right?!
In our “Your Team Needs a Doctor” series, we will:
- Explore the team issues that should get our attention immediately
- Share perspective on symptoms that can be eliminated with some preventative maintenance
- Provide business owners and leaders with valuable advice on how to improve your team’s health to help you avoid those headaches, stomach issues and pains that can’t even be pinpointed.
Keep an eye out for next week’s topic: “My Team Is Fine”.
