I recently moved here and made contact with a volunteer advice/information service which I have long been connected with. I was amazed to find mistrust between members and of the Management Committee, conflict between paid staff, and an unwillingness to move to fix it. I have already had some affect on training programs, on the way the Management Committee is regarded, and a few other things but I need to set it alight somehow. The problems arose from a botched amalgamation of three branches a few years ago and some ‘old hands’ won’t let go their grudges. Ideas appreciated!
The Team Doc Says…
Good for you for taking the “bull by the horns” and making things happen to turn this team around!
It sounds like not only are old grudges playing a role here, but also the team never adjusted to the change when they were consolidated.
Here are a few things you can do:
- Get the team together to take a look at their mission / purpose. Get confirmation from the team that this is indeed their mission or make changes to reflect what the current mission is about.
- It would also be a good idea to talk through some role clarity. I suspect when the organization consolidated three years ago, there was probably some conflict around who was supposed to do what. It probably has festered under the surface all that time. Make sure you identify each person’s role and how they interact with others to accomplish the mission of the team.
- To help team members who are really stuck in the past, it helps to have a “so what” discussion. As a team, you’ll discuss what would be “better or not” if the group went back to working the “old way.” Break the team up into small groups and have them brainstorm answers to the statement, “The old organization was better because…” Debrief this exercise, then have them brainstorm answers to the statement, “The new organization is better because…” Do another debrief and then talk through the advantages / disadvantages of both. Develop an action plan to make any changes discovered.
This should help move you along in the right direction. Please come back and let me know how your team is doing by leaving a comment.
Does anyone else have additional suggestions? Please leave a comment.
About Denise O'Berry
That’s great – I am taking up the first two points in a day-long team builder with the new Board following AGM next month, specifically focusing on governance/management/operations, roles and using Board members as Team Leaders, but I’d sooner not open the ‘as it used to be’ question or we could get bogged down in the ‘old days’ = water under the bridge, that was then, this is now!! Only way to go is forward, so here we go! Thanks
I hear you Frank. Thanks for taking the time to add your thoughts. The thing that’s interesting about looking at the “old” way is that the participants typically realize it wasn’t as great as they thought it was. Using this process helps them make the transition to the new way a bit faster. When you don’t take the time to acknowledge “what’s been lost” it continues to surface in interesting ways during interaction with team members. Ironically, the ones that struggle the most with the new way seem to get the most “ahas” from this activity. It really works well and you can control it using strong facilitation skills. You might want to consider how you could make it work for your group.