What To Do When The Supervisor Is The Problem

The biggest problem right now is getting supervisors to acknowledge that they have a problem with lack of teamwork.  They are part of the dysfunction.  Any ideas?

The Team Doc Says…

That’s not unusual. The people who are the problem typically don’t see themselves as being the “one.” It’s always someone else.

One thing that can really help is to develop a program where supervisors get together (weekly or monthly round table) to discuss supervisory and team building issues and the best ways to handle it.

I don’t know about your company, but in many companies supervisors are typically promoted because they were the best techie, not because they had leadership skills. And then the companies that promoted them don’t offer any opportunities to gain the skills they need. It’s a vicious circle that will often lead to failure — for the supervisor, the team and the company.

It’s also important to have a good feedback loop in the organization at all levels. That way, when a person needs a course correction, it’s a regular part of the culture to reach out and offer them the chance to get help via feedback.

Be Clear On Your Expectations or Plan To Be Disappointed

Are you having trouble getting your team to meet your expectations when it comes to completing projects and day-to-day deliverables? If so, you could be the problem.

Sometimes we get so busy that we forget to verbalize our expectations for projects, deliverables and day-to-day activities. Especially when we are very comfortable working with our team and “just know” they are going to get something done when we expect it to be. But that’s not the best way to lead and for critical deliverables, it’s a recipe for disaster.

Here’s an example.

Mike, the leader, needs feedback from his team on the operations plan for the year so he pops off an email with the file attached and includes the message, “Please take a look at the attached document and provide your feedback.”

He waits two days and hears nothing from his team. Annoyed, he zips off another email that says, “I haven’t heard from any of you on this yet. I was expecting your feedback by close of business yesterday.” Needless to say, all the team members scramble to get it done.

He could have circumvented the entire issue by simply stating in his original email that he needed the team members’ feedback by close of business the next day. That way each of them could juggle their priorities and get him the feedback he requested.

It’s not hard to share your expectations. You just need to be specific.  A request with no due date (yes, even from the boss!) will get shoved down on the to do list.

What do you think? Please share your thoughts in the comments.

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