What to do When the Rules are Ignored by Your Team

I have an issue with getting my employees to follow the rules in the office. I started in my position 8 months ago as a team leader. It was a unique situation. I was working the floor along with everyone else (I’m the youngest team member). Ive worked for the company for four years now and we have never had an manager in the office. When I came in as team leader, I had to start enforcing rules that were introduced by our new practice administrator. Before this we had the rules but they were never enforced by anyone. I’ve gotten part of my staff to understand the importance in this but they are also the newest staff its just the older staff that have been here for awhile that don’t want to follow the rules. What do I do?

The Team Doc Says…

Your older team members might just look at the rules as something they can choose to do since they never bothered before you came and to them things seemed to run just fine. Does that make them not following rules the right thing to do? No, but it could put it in perspective for you.

What I suggest you do is to first take a look at the rules and see if they add value to the business or the work that your team has to accomplish. Are they rules for rules sake? Are they required rules to meet some type of regulation? Are they rules that help the company run better?

Once you’ve taken a look at those rules, talk with your practice manager about any rule that isn’t adding value and isn’t required by law. Just get rid of those.

Then you need to educate your team on the rules that are left. Make sure you identify why the rules are important and what will happen if your team members don’t follow the rules. Listen carefully to feedback from your team while you are having this discussion. Make sure you address the team member concerns. Follow through on implementation and take action as necessary.

What do you think reader? Please share your thoughts by leaving a comment.

Tagged as: accountability, code of conduct, team rules