The Missing Link In Building The Perfect Team

by Starbucker on March 15, 2010

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j0309460They are often thrown into their jobs head first.

They typically know their stuff, but are lacking in certain skill sets that directly relate to their new responsibilities.

Worse, they don’t get a lot of  guidance from their bosses before they dive in.

Sound familiar?   This is the usual story for a first- level supervisor – the person directly overseeing the personnel who serve customers, make the widgets, or code the software.

And therein lies what I consider the missing link in building a perfect team – the proper training of these supervisors.

More specifically, the leadership training.

It’s very often a forgotten part of the curriculum at that level, and it really shouldn’t be.    All too often I see new supervisors struggling mightily with the idea of actually “managing” a staff – setting priorities, communicating the company vision, motivating,  holding people accountable,  and delivering the necessary coaching and corrections.

Delivering such training can be expensive, because this is typically the largest management group in most organizations.  Plus, taking these critical cogs in the wheel out of circulation for even a few days can certainly be a burden on the operation.

Consequently, a lot of companies take a pass on any organized programs and let on the job training do most of the work for them.  Some supervisors figure it out fast enough, and fend for themselves very well.   But a lot of them do not, and that leads to lot of unnecessary upper management intervention.

Worse, it leads to turnover, which costs time, money, and critical continuity.

On the other hand there are many examples of companies who make this commitment, and prove that the investment is worth it.

One I’ve always admired is the Zingerman’s chain of delis and bakeries in Michigan.  They take training very, very seriously, especially for their supervisors.  In fact, they got so good at it that they formed a training company called ZingTrain and now share their accumulated knowledge with other companies (how’s that for a side benefit of finding the missing link!).

Great companies like Zingerman’s also spend a lot of time on the hiring side making sure that applicants have the necessary personality, temperament and common sense needed to be on the front lines, typically using personality tests and other profiling to get a good “read” early in the process.

There’s one more thing that might even be more important than the formal training and the pre-screening-  there absolutely needs to be a frequent feedback loop between the supervisors and their bosses.   It just can’t all be nuts and bolts, and numbers and metrics.   They must talk about the soft stuff – how the supervisor is progressing as a leader, and determining areas of follow up and additional learning.

And not just once a year.  Constantly.

So yes, this all costs money. And yes, it takes time away from the regular course of business. But it must be done.   We must devote more time to our front-line supervisors.  As companies like Zingerman’s so vividly illustrate, it is indeed the missing link to building the perfect team, and thus, a great company.

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j0441778Think for a second about what sliced bread did for humanity.

Seriously.

Why else would all new products or innovations be compared to it since it was first sold in 1928?   It was just another consumer convenience,  allowing us to make our sandwiches faster.

But because it made it that much easier,  it launched the sandwich into a whole new level of popularity.  And much time was saved, particularly in the morning.  So we were able to sleep longer.  Thus, sliced bread brought us the ultimate in convenience, AND a more rested society.  Not bad.

Now let’s consider Social Media.  It too has a “sliced bread” quality, in that it too delivered a quicker and more efficient way to “consume” something.

That something is conversation.   And boy oh boy, can it do that.  Everybody that has dramatically expanded their conversation universe well beyond what you ever believed you could 15 years ago, or even 10 years ago, please raise your hand {sound of my hand quickly going into the air}

Just like sliced bread, Social Media has made something much easier, and gave us an incredible side benefit: Many more people to converse with.

And there’s my case that SM is the greatest thing since sliced bread.

All good, right?  Wrong.

Unfortunately, I can also make a case that Social Media isn’t the greatest thing since sliced bread.

The evidence?  Allow me to present Exhibit A:

Me.

While this marvelous thing has opened up so many doors,  like one of those drug commercials on the nightly news (yes, I’m in that demographic that still watches the nightly news) it has a couple of not-so-good side effects, both of which I have experienced.

Number one,  it has eroded my focus on too many occasions – I call this the “Under Toad”.   The Toad pulls me away from the here and now – and can lead to some dangerous things.    Like Tweeting while driving.  I only did that once, but that was one time too many.   Or being distracted by the flashing Blackberry light, or worse yet,  multitasking while trying to personally visit with someone, face to face or on the phone.

Second, it can spread you too thin – and can therefore erode your productivity as well  (It’s no coincidence that I just wrote a whole piece on productivity – that message was for myself too).

Having experienced these side effects firsthand, it then becomes difficult to conclude, on this level, that Social Media is the greatest thing since sliced bread.    Sliced bread has its weaknesses, to be sure, but they are not like this. And I can’t imagine I’m the only one in this boat.

So what’s the bottom line here – are we ready for a new era where the new saying is “the greatest thing since Social Media“?

Based on the evidence pro and con, I’d offer that we are not.

Yet.

Those side effects need to be worked out- by all of us who use it.

But once they are - look out sliced bread!!!

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