December 2009
December 2009 Newsletter - What’s Inside
• Getting to the Finish Line
• Let’s Play
• Team Bonding
• Take a class
• Financial Management
For most organizations getting to the finish line, whether it be taking care of customers or completing a major project, requires a team. This month we’ve put the spotlight on team building and getting employee buy in, both of which are probably the most important aspects of working together.
Doing nothing to build the team connections is like choosing to avoid exercise because you don’t currently have a weight problem. We all know that team building takes work but that work will payoff, just like exercise, as will taking the time to make sure you have the buy in of your employees before starting major new projects or changing the strategic direction of your organization. Building the bonds and always working towards the same goal will allow your team to remain cohesive through rough times.
Getting to the Finish Line: Getting Employee Buy in
As a leader do you ever find yourself running a race where you feel like you are making great progress, the finish line is in sight, the terrain is perfect - and yet when you look back you find that your team is still standing at the starting line staring at you like you are crazy? We have all been there. We start into a new project or make a change that we see as necessary and obvious, but at some point, we realize that the employees, who are crucial to making the change or making the project work, are not on board. Some of them might even be resentful or angry. We never took the time to assure that they bought in to the direction we were running and where we believe the finish line to be.
How can we avoid this? Luckily, there are a few simple things that leaders can do to help build buy in.
Think before you run.
This step is the easiest thing to forget. Many of us get caught up in meetings that we have with bosses, clients, or inside our own heads and tend to jump into ideas without taking the time to think through how the changes we are implementing might directly or indirectly affect employees. Before starting anything new or making any changes, take time to go through a checklist of possible affects on employees. For example, will it require more time, a change in priorities, a physical move, refocusing of energies, learning new skills, adding new team members or other such outcomes?
It is often worth the time and energy to create a written checklist for projects and changes that will require significant time and resources, or that have other significant impacts.
Communicate, communicate, communicate.
If you are reading this article today, but do not plan on starting any new projects or making any changes, the information is probably not relevant to you right now and thus you will probably forget most of it. The same holds true for information given to employees. We can talk about an upcoming project or change all we want, but until the employees start to see how it affects them, many of the details and pieces of the discussion will fall on deaf ears. Thus, even though it may feel to you like you communicated the changes, the reality is that they did not get the information they needed at the time they needed it in order to fully buy in.
While you may not be able to give employees all the details for a variety of reasons, the more information you can give them the better. The most crucial part of the communication is the “WHY”. Why is the change happening? Why is the project important? Why does it affect me? Before an employee can get on board, they must know the “why”.
Give responsibility.
It’s true: things have more value when we feel invested in them. If employees have responsibility for making part of the change, overseeing the project, or making some of the decisions, they are more likely to buy in to the final product. While delegation is not always easy, especially for type “A” personalities, employees will be more engaged and bought in if you are able to find ways to get them involved. The trick with this is finding balance, because giving employees more responsibility than they are ready for may cause them to get frustrated, while giving them too little may cause them to disengage.
Celebrate successes.
Take the time to notice when the project or change has reached milestones and then find ways of celebrating team and individual successes. This will help employees not only feel good about what they are accomplishing, but also track the progress.
Let’s play!
Building and maintaining teams means creating team activities. In order to practice the skills the team needs when doing actual problem solving, incorporate problem solving activities into your team’s routine. You can start staff meetings with activities…or make “game time” a set time in your office every week or every month. You can find games that you determine to be relevant…or you can assign team members to do so.
Go to your favorite bookstore - real or virtual - and search for “team building activities.” An amazing array of options will pop up. If you’re new to team play-for-learning, check the introduction to see if the author or editor gives you good direction on how to use the book and the activities. Our favorites divide activities into categories, such as communication, problem solving and team building. This is helpful in determining what games will meet your purposes.
Team Play can be ten minutes or an hour - it’s up to you. Whatever you decide about the length of play time, you will be astounded at how teams bond when given the opportunity to work together on activities not related to daily tasks.
Team Bonding
Your team is fully staffed and productivity is high. You believe everyone is getting along well and only encounter minor issues between co-workers on rare occasions. The team is functioning cohesively. Why fix what isn’t broken, right? Not doing anything to continue to build the team connections is like choosing to avoid exercise because you don’t currently have a weight problem.
If your team is currently built and functioning properly, the team members may still benefit from and enjoy team bonding time. Help maintain the strength of your team by allowing them to show off and strengthen the bonds that already exist.
While the group may be strong in general, there may be specific team characteristics that may benefit from some connection building time. Did they get so bogged down in the last project that they lost some creativity? Did they play it too safe and stay “inside the box”? Or maybe they are doing the best job possible. A team bonding event can be reinforcement or a reminder for them to keep using creative team members and the variety of skills within the team to reach their highest potential.
There are many activities that help strengthen the bonds of a team. In addition to formal events and activities such as ropes courses or case studies, there are also many informal ways of helping build bonds. Socializing after hours, volunteering together, rallying when one team member is in need, and sharing laughs with one another are some of the ways that we informally create bonds within teams. If an organization wants to take measures to allow opportunities for bonding to occur, consider planning some team bonding events either on a formal or informal basis.
Effective team bonding events can occur at the workplace or off-site. However, consider how the dynamics may be different when you get the team off-site. When people have their offices easily accessible, they may be eager check email or return phone calls on a break. In fact, it can make the event feel like a burden if they have other work-related things that they feel are more important. An off-site, well planned event should give employees enough notice for them to arrange being out of the office for a half day, or full day, and also get them mentally focused on the purpose of the day: building work connections with teammates.
Choosing a team bonding event that is right for your team is important. Team challenges that are not limited to a specific sport, art, hobby, etc. but include a variety of these things are ideal. By creating challenges around a variety of interests, you allow different team members to be the expert when they are needed. You may discover who the athlete is, who the artist is, who the problem-solver is, who the quiet one is, and who wants to play it safe versus who wants to take risks. Someone may have very unique methods for problem-solving while someone else will have very linear and logical problem-solving methods. Team members may also develop new skills or realize they have skills they were not aware of.
Why does team bonding matter if your team is already fully functioning? It matters because as each team member knows more about other members’ methods, processes, strengths or weaknesses, they will know which resource to use with specific issues and projects that the team will manage. Building the bonds now will allow your team to remain cohesive when rough times do appear.
Take a class!
Not sure your “talk” is actual communication to everyone on the team? Go back to school!
Even if you’ve had classes on effective communication, if it was more than two years ago, it’s time to update and refresh. In this age of information that is delivered in a vast array of electronic media, as well as the old standby verbal communication, we are learning more every day about how the human brain processes information. There’s no shame in seeking out a class in which you can learn and practice your communication skills. We bet your team will appreciate that you make the effort.
Align will help…
We provide classes on communication skills and we conduct teambuilding sessions, from two hours to full days. Check out the web site alignwslc.com.
Is your financial management up to date with the region’s other nonprofits?
Response to the October 2009 Financial Management Survey
There are a lot of good things going on with nonprofits and their financial management, but there is always more that can be done to protect the funds as well as the jobs of those that work on staff or as a volunteer .
Outsourcing your financial management is something all nonprofits should at least consider. Doing so will let your limited staff concentrate on the mission of your organization. Approximately half of the organizations responding to the October 2009 survey outsource some portion of their financial efforts with half of that being payroll. This is a good area in which to obtain assistance as the requirements change frequently and most of us don’t have the time or expertise to keep up with the tax and benefit regulations. Payroll services are offered by many professionals and a nonprofit organization may be able to find one that will do this on at least a partial pro-bono basis. (Align‘s human resources specialist can help you evaluate the value of outsourcing payroll and benefits.) The other item that is usually outsourced is assistance with the investment policies and actions, assuming you are one of the lucky ones that have funds to invest. Don’t pass up using this level of expertise.
How’s your audit? For the many that do an audit, 65% of all sizes of organizations represented, the answer is probably that it was fine. Much of the reason that it was fine is probably that the entire staff knew that it was going to happen and worked all year in making certain they could be proud of themselves when the Board received a clean audit, with an outside firm saying they are doing a great job. For those that are not doing an audit , perhaps they consider that the mission is so important that they can’t waste the dollars, and besides no one would take anything from those we serve. Right?… Wrong! It has happened before and could happen again as noted on the front page of a recent local newspaper. If you are not doing an audit, talk to a CPA about doing one or at least a review with specific interest in certain areas. This extra effort and expense could save you more in the long run. The audit can also be used to show those who provide dollars towards your efforts your interest in operating a well run, accountable organization. Try giving those donors, grantors, or members an annual report that includes a CPA’s evaluation of the organization’s stable financial situation and see if it doesn’t help with the funding.
Where is your organization’s credit card tonight? (About 66% of nonprofits need to ask themselves this question regularly.) There have been a number of nonprofits who have lost funds or their executive over the use of a credit card. The first time the card was used it was a mistake and paid back, the second time the person was out of money and it was paid back, the third time was “I’ll pay it back on pay day” and that was when a Board member happened to look and ask a question. Then it was another question and pretty soon there was a lack of trust on both sides. Really look at why the credit card is necessary. Could it be replaced with a travel advance or with a payment for business expenses right after they were made? Let the staff earn the miles or points and then treat them well by reimbursing for those expenses quickly. The use of a nonprofit credit card was mentioned as a part of the loss in the recent newspaper article.
While the setting of financial policy and ensuring its accurate application is the board’s responsibility, it is the executive and staff that work with these issues on a daily basis. It is important work and extremely important that the organization, the board, and the staff are all protected from the opportunities to be accused of poor financial management.
Watch for our survey on December 15th regarding the makeup, size and performance of non-profit boards in the region. In the meantime call us if you have a question or need help. 307-772-9154.