How effective can a group personnel review be when the reviewers (managers) each are reluctant to say anything that would make them seem as not a team player? Is there ever a time when an employee canbe effectively and efficiently reviewed by a team of people? I am speaking of a small non-profit which hired an executive director and who gets perfomance reviews from 3 directors, whom the executive director has had a hand in naming. Seems to me that this person would never get a bad review.

The Team Doc Says…

In two words — not very. Team reviews are only effective if there is a strong foundation of trust for every member of the team. If that doesn’t exist, I would avoid team reviews like the plague. It would be a total waste of time and effort, plus it would add no value to the employee or company whatsoever.

I operate a small plastics business outside of Burbank and love every minute of it and have for the twenty years I’ve been doing it. What started out as just my wife and I molding household furnishings out of our basement has turned into an internationally shipped product line of patented sealants for self-storage facilities such as StorageMart, with just under three dozen employees operating everything from factory mechanics to sales.

The first extra hand we hired was Bob. Now Bob is a hard worker and true blue in his values and responsibilities. He started out as our assembly line operator when he was only 30 and hasn’t left the company since. In the fifteen years working for us, he’s risen to factory manager, a position he’s been in for the last five years or so.

The problem is Bob really wants to become a regional manager and while he’s been around the company long enough to be an expert on just about everything, my wife and I just don’t think he’s cut out for the job. He works wonders on the factory floor, and uses that in his arguments for why he deserves the promotion. While the pangs of lost productivity are certainly a factor in our resistance, Bob believes that’s the only reason we refuse to make the promotion. But it’s more than that. We just don’t think we’d get the most out of Bob as a regional manager as we do out of him running the floor.

What’s a self-made couple supposed to do? Bob is our friend as much as he’s our employee.

The Team Doc Says…

If you and your wife believe Bob to be unqualified for the promotion then there’s not much else to discuss. You are making a tough decision which is complicated by your friendship with Bob, but I believe you will do the right thing.

Your situation begs mention of the Peter Principle, which states that employees are often promoted to the point of ineptitude. Bob uses his success as the factory floor manager to argue why he deserves to be promoted, but being excellent at one skill set does not mean the employee is a good fit for the next position. In fact, that’s what causes the Peter Principle to take effect — supervisors promote workers until the worker is at a level that is no longer easy for him or her. The result is often a loss in productivity.

My advice is to approach Bob with a thorough explanation for your decision. Find the real reason that underlies Bob’s desire to become regional manager. There may be a way to accommodate your needs from a business perspective and Bob’s desire to move up. Make sure you communicate to Bob how highly valued he is in his current position and why promoting him is a perceived risk to the company. Friendship between employee and employer is a two-way street. If he’s a good friend and a good worker, he’ll more than understand.

I am the leader of a political group on a town council. We are the majority group, by a margin of one, which makes me the leader of the council. One of our number is the Mayor and therefore the chairman of the Council.

Initially he stood against me for the leadership of the group and when he failed to get elected by the group, he then put himself forward for nomination as mayor and was duly elected as such. I should add that his wife and daughter are also members of the group.

He is clearly resentful about not being made the group leader and is using his position as mayor to disrupt the cohesion of the group under my leadership. He is withholding information and excluding councillors from civic functions and events. He is also carrying out trivial acts to annoy and upset the opposition, which leads to endless political niggle that upsets my group. Attempts to address this issue with him are stonewalled.

This problem is probably akin to having a disruptive member of a board, who is supported by two other people whose loyalties are conflicted.

What should one do about this?

The Team Doc Says…

I would rarely call a political council a team. There are too many competing priorities with each of these people. And sadly one of those issues is typically ego. Way too many politicians have forgotten that they are in place to serve the public — and end up serving themselves.

It sounds to me like you and the Mayor need to have a heart to heart. Obviously you are both passionate about your town and you probably have some common interests and goals.

Rather than assuming he is doing things to undermine your leadership, call him on it. But first do it in private.

And, as with any conflict, you want to make sure and keep emotion out of the conversation (I know that’s really hard) and just deal with observable behaviors.

It would probably be a good idea for your council to hire a facilitator to help you develop some joint goals and objectives that are focused on your town and its people. That would go a long way to helping you and the Mayor become more collaborative and less competitive.

I will be given responsibility as Team Leader after one month of working in my team. It’s a new team of only two people. What is the first thing that I should do after they announce that I am a Team Leader?

The Team Doc Says..

Well congratulations to you! If you’ve never been a team leader before, starting out small is a good way to go. But small teams can have as many (if not more) challenges than big teams. So here’s some advice I’ve given others in your situation that will help you.

In my post regarding a new team leader wanting to make the team effective again, the key to success is in communicating with each team member and then gather as a group to move the team forward.

You should also take a look at the team building forum discussion on a new team leader who is managing four peers. Please feel free to participate in that discussion or start a new thread.

You can get to the “New Team Leaders” section of the team building forum by clicking here.