Your people need a plan too - Building the Team to get it done

In this article, I share ideas about Step 3 of the Releasing Agility model. This is also episode 3 in the Releasing Agility mini series.

Transcription

(May contain errors).

This is the 3rd episode in a mini series about releasing business agility. A model I use with clients all over the world in different industries to help them move smoothly and quickly towards their goals. As I've said in previous podcasts, this model is also applicable to our own lives.

So have a think about whether or not this would be useful for you to paint a bright picture of the future and unlock your ability to move there smoothly and quickly. Just to recap, the model has 5 particular stages to it.

The first one is painting a bright picture of the future and then setting some goals around that. The second part is about identifying our current reality and leaning into the obstacles and problems that stand between where we are now and where we wanna get to. Another way to think about that is to say, well, if the painted picture is so compelling, so exciting, so interesting, why are we not already there yet?

The third step is then to build a team to get it done or to build ourselves with our own, you know, I guess capabilities and competencies and abilities in order to achieve this bright future. But in organization what we want to be looking at is saying, is this the team to get it done? If it is, great. If it isn't, well what are we doing about it?

Step number 4 is then to build routines and processes and habits. That even if we got rid of the goals in the painted picture and we followed these routines and processes. We would still achieve amazing things.

And then step number 5 is all about learning. How can we get better? How can we make ourselves and the business better?

How can we learn from our mistakes?

So I've covered the painted picture and identifying obstacles and at the end of those two bits of this model you should have a very good strategy that articulates a bright, compelling, exciting, interesting future. It's got some goals that are measurable and time bound. And then, it's got a plan on how we're gonna overcome the obstacles that are standing between where we are now and where we wanna get to.

And these two things alone give you the ability to focus, to get rid of distractions, to not solve those shiny interest and exciting problems, but instead to solve the ones that are actually gonna move you forward.

And at this point, you've hopefully as well made a decision. You don't have choices.

And when you make a decision everything morphs and twists and changes to achieve those goals, those outcomes. That's what we're after. What we don't want to do is have multiple choices and different options open because they will distract people.

There'll be people with 1 foot in each option. I've seen organizations that have a bright future and a plan but there's a little plan on the side just in case it doesn't work. Well, that distracts everybody.

Focus everything you have on achieving those goals of executing the plan so that you can move towards your bright painted picture.

Is this the team to get it done?

So in this stage when I'm working with leaders and managers and we've done step 1 and step 2, the inevitable question and a hard question for a lot of people to answer is : I ask leaders and managers to put their hand on their heart and answer with honesty.

Is this team the team to get it done?

Now, what I often find is 9 times out of 10 the managers and leaders say no, not really. We need more competencies. We need better behaviors. We need more people or we need a different set of skills.

Or it is the right team to get it done but we're just not there yet. In which case, great. We can build learning plans and coaching and all of the other stuff.

Now, in our own lives we might want to ask, am I the person to get this done?

So if we painted a nice bright painted picture of the future, this wonderful amazing thing that we're trying to achieve. We've identified the obstacles and we've got a plan in place. Then are we the right people right now in order to get that done? And if not, what can we do about it?

If you've painted a wonderful bright picture of the future, you've got a story and stories help to move people into action.

They help people to feel something. And when we feel something we move. When we have emotion we get motion. And that's what we're trying to do here. So we're gonna build the right team to get it done and then we're gonna get alignment because we've got this amazing bright paint picture of the future.

Now, the interesting thing here is a manager's job really or a leader's job really is to make the problems and the obstacles so interesting and so compelling that like minded people want to join you to overcome them. And that's what we're trying to do here.

We're trying to make sure we've got the right people in the right place with the right abilities in order to get the job done.

In order to move people into action to get alignment, you need that crystal clear clarity which we've got from step 1 and step 2. Now, we need to tell stories. Now, we need to get people engaged with it. We need to articulate why this is the right thing to be doing and then we need to move people into action.

And if you have got all that right and you've got a wonderful story to tell and you've got energy and enthusiasm behind this because it's what you want. And hopefully you've not designed to paint a picture for a different company or for a dream that's not yours. Then you're gonna find that like minded people are gonna gravitate to that.

We move towards people who are passionate about what it is that they're doing. And they want to join this organization or these teams that are achieving this amazing, compelling, exciting, bright future.

You won't have to work really hard, I don't think. In order to get people to galvanize and gather around you to try and solve these problems to head towards that painted picture.

Now, of course, when I ask this question "Is this the team to get it done" - there are some managers and leaders that say no, this is not the team to get it done.

Now, I don't have time to jump into the whole performance management, setting standards, encouraging the right behaviors to drive the right culture for your organization. That is a deeply complex and complicated topic.

But like I say, this model is to get you to think about that. And if you're a leader and a manager and you put your hand on your heart and you say no, this isn't the team to get it done. It's not right. I don't have the right people in the right place with the right behaviors. Then you need to have a plan.

People need a plan too.

Is it a case of coaching, of mentoring, of learning paths, of coaching plans? Or is it a case of moving people around? Is it a case of promoting people so that they can take on elements of achieving this bright future? Or is it a performance management question where actually maybe you don't have the right people?

But if you don't have the right people, what have you been doing about it?

And this is where we get into the nuts and bolts of performance management and management. I don't have time to jump into that into this podcast. But essentially, if you want to achieve this bright future and you've identified the obstacles and you have a plan, you're really going to need the right people to get it done.

And this is no different in our personal lives.

What do we need to do as individuals in order to move towards that bright future? Do we need to set a new course, learn some new skills, move jobs? Do we need to move locations? Do we need to start a new routine or a habit that's gonna help us? Do we need to become different people?

Do we need to build our strengths or mitigate against some of our weaknesses?

This is all about personal development and growth when we think about this in our own lives.

And really it's no different at work where we've got people that work in our organization. Are they the right people in the right place with the right abilities to get the job done? And if not, what are we gonna do about it?

And if yes, let's get cracking.

So that's step number 3. And really this is to get leaders and managers thinking about whether or not we have a challenge, a problem, or an opportunity whether we've got the right people. It's a very difficult conversation to lean into as part of this when I'm doing this as consultancy. Because some people believe that that can't change the situation.

We can't change the teams. We can't deal with performance. Of course, you can.

But really here, we want to be able to with all honesty put our hand on our heart and say, yes. This is the team to get it done.

But essentially, that's why I say it's a communication thinking model. And when we think about performance at work and we think about whether we've got the right team, usually high performance expectations have never been communicated.

The standard has never been set, it's never been talked about, people don't get feedback. Often it's the annual performance review is the first time anyone gets to hear whether they're doing really well or not so well. Against what standard?

But at the heart of it, it comes down to managers communicating about expectations, about behaviors, about culture and about whether or not people are really doing a great job.

And it's really sad I think when employees don't get to find out whether they've done a good job or not until the annual review, where it's it's a cop out, it's not good, and it's all about communication.

So step 2 and step 3 are all about alignment. You know, you've got a plan, you've got a strategy, you've got some goals, and then you've got the team to get it done or not depending on where you are on that. This is about alignment.

It's about aligning people to the work, to the mission, to the vision in the right place with the right skills. This is about elevating those that are doing well and giving them more responsibility or accountability or opportunities to really grow. This is about dealing with low performance. This is about building the right culture for your organization, which is nothing more than behaviors. It's about setting a standard.

It's about alignment around achieving those goals. And trust me, when you get this right people will flourish because they're excited about the painted picture.

They know that the work they're doing in the solving of problems, of identifying blockers, of overcoming it, of delivering value - is connected to something bigger. There's a tangible real connection there. They know that their job is making a difference to themselves and the organization.

They can see clearly that they're adding value to the organization And it's really sad in a lot of companies that's not obvious sometimes. There's a lot of busy work goes on but it's not obvious how it connects to something bigger.

And that is the goal with this. We've got a bright future. We've got goals. We've got a strategy. And we've got a team that are galvanized, mobilized and aligned around delivering value for the organization. But not only value, but helping to bring to life that painted picture of an amazing place to work of, you know, growth and personal development, of opportunities in the marketplace, of scaling an organization, of growing into different markets. There's all sorts of different painted pictures that you'll have.

And when people can feel like they're contributing to that, that it's making a difference, then I believe that people will grow, engagement will be high, and people will be motivated to bring their energy and attention to bring about this future.

Because they can see how they're making a difference to themselves and to the organization. So there you go. Hope that's been helpful and useful. We're gonna jump into step 4, which is routines and processes and habits in the next episode. Like I say, I'm not gonna go into too much depth on here that here's an idea with playing with podcast was designed and set up potentially to be short sharp introductions to ideas that are worth playing with.

There's no right and wrong and that's why this model is a thinking model. It's not a prescriptive model that thou shalt do this. These are ideas to play with. And that was another one there. And in the next one, we'll cover routines and processes like mentioned.