A quick boost for team results

I was talking to a manager the other day about a lack of results from their team.

We were standing next to a nice looking visual management board, and discussing the role of managers to kick away the obstacles for the team.

So, when I asked them about what problems their team were facing they quickly gave me a list.

"Who can resolve the problems that they are stuck on?" I asked.

"Well, I guess that's my job to either coach them or to directly help when appropriate" they replied.

"How much time do you spend on resolving their stuck issues?"

"Well, I'm pretty busy with other things, so not much"

I probed a little further and found out that they were spending time fire fighting because their team couldn't get their work done due to a lack of decisions being made elsewhere in the business.

This kind of downward spiral isn't uncommon...

A quick solution

If you find yourself in a similar situation, why not try the following experiment?

Work out how much time you are spending (as a manager) on removing obstacles.
Work out how much time your team are spending on their core activities.
Start your working day with a focus on obstacle killing.
Monitor the time spent on the first two items and the results the team are producing (output / value etc...).

It can make a huge difference to your team's performance once you become conscious about these numbers.

Enjoy,

Giles

About the author:

Giles Johnston is a Chartered Engineer who specialises in helping businesses to grow and improve through better business processes and embracing Kaizen.

Giles is also the author of Effective Root Cause Analysis and 'What Does Good Look Like?'.

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