How to fix a broken team

mandyjane · 12-22-2008, 10:35 AM

Have you ever worked in a broken ISV support team? Here’s how you can fix it next time: computing.co.uk/computing-business/analysis/2192662/did-fixing-broken-team-cio-tale]How I did it: fixing a broken team – a CIO's tale - 21 Jun 2007 - Computing

Any other tips for developing a successful team?

Mandy

GSD · 01-06-2009, 12:29 AM

My suggestions on how to build a successful team

1. Read Good to Great or

2. Read my latest post on Secrets to Managing people.
Not that they are secrets...as I just told everyone.

Sam Goodman
Me-2-B.com
People you can count on

brandon123 · 01-15-2009, 01:15 PM

You fix a broken team with leadership, patience, and taking the initiative to better your team. A book is not going to change the team, although it may have informative steps towards improving a team. You have to change the team.

veteranowner · 01-15-2009, 01:37 PM

You need to improve communication skills.

veteranowner · 01-15-2009, 01:37 PM

By that I mean the efficiency of it. This is critical.

Nordstrom · 01-15-2009, 06:57 PM

Be a LEADER not a BOSS, usually solves the problem. If you do not understand the definition(which I am sure you all do) I will post again later.

brandon123 · 01-20-2009, 01:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nordstrom

Be a LEADER not a BOSS, usually solves the problem. If you do not understand the definition(which I am sure you all do) I will post again later.

Exactly, when you are a leader people will follow you. When you're a BOSS people despise you.

clabrat · 05-07-2009, 11:34 AM

There are several key factors that make up a team. These components combine to produce a team that excels above and beyond its counterparts. I've posted an article on Eight Hour Journey.com that briefly reviews the characteristics of a high performance team.

Hope this helps

nonrate · 05-07-2009, 12:11 PM

Interesting approaches... but the best way to fix a broken team is found in the process of fixing anything that's broken. Find out what's broken and repair it.

Identify what caused the failure and apply a solution to prevent the same failure from occurring again. The aircraft industry is notorious for this approach. The aircraft industry is also notorious for keeping on file past failures, and very regular "checkups" to make sure "parts" are replaced and everything is in good working order.

Things like leadership, patience, communication are tools one uses to both find and solve the problem. But I NEVER hear anyone talk about actually finding out exactly what's broken and fixing that component.

Let's use the computer as an example, in place of the team. When your computer "breaks" most people don't know why. They just know it's broken and they call a tech or IT to fix it. IT doesn't say they need good screwdrivers, high-end video cards and really good CPU's to fix the problem. Actually, saying "my computer's broken, how can I fix it?" to a technician will get a laugh. The tech needs to identify what broke inside the computer and replace it, otherwise, how can they fix it?

This is the same when you refer to "how can I fix a broken team?" In the computer example, what's key are the skills of identifying the problem. A crappy screwdriver might make it take longer to open the case; If the CPU was identified to be the broken part, a low end cpu might make the computer run a bit slower, but it will work if you are strapped for resources.

So my advisement to fix a broken team is:

- Use good detective skills to clearly identify what's broken. This means that individual has to have a good knowledge of how the team works, what its functions are, and the "parts", or personnel that make it work. This is where good communication skills comes in to play.
- Once you identify what's broken, do your best to discover what caused the failure.
- Create a plan to fix the problem. In the "design" of the solution, make sure you implement measures to prevent the team from breaking again the same way.
- Apply the fix. This might mean firing and replacing individuals, hiring additional ones, training folks, allocation of resources, maybe even counseling... this is where leadership would most likely be useful.
- BONUS POINTS: Create a scheduled "maintenance" plan for the team. This is traditionally thought to be done in weekly team meetings, but I have never been to a team meeting that functioned well and had management that actually understood what to do in them. Instead of accepting a weekly report from your manager, let them know what type of information you expect to get from it.

Don't overlook management as a problem. Most companies I have worked with often ignore middle management as the problem because it's so top-down. The upper managers tend to listen to their subordinates verbatim, and thus, get bad information much of the time. Make sure you clearly understand the roles and responsibilities of your subordinates. I truly hope they are not "get coffee at 9:30am" and "throw darts at the ceo's face at 10"

rogercbryan · 05-07-2009, 02:39 PM

Does anyone in this post have experience in managing teams and/or fixing them? I hate when people write these articles and give no info on their experience.. Summarizing a book you read does not qualify you to speak on a topic...

nonrate · 05-07-2009, 03:20 PM

Quote:

Does anyone in this post have experience in managing teams and/or fixing them? I hate when people write these articles and give no info on their experience.. Summarizing a book you read does not qualify you to speak on a topic...

Yes and yes.

rogercbryan · 05-07-2009, 03:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nonrate

Yes and yes.

Tells us about your experience and why we should listen to you?

nonrate · 05-07-2009, 04:00 PM

You should only listen to me if you choose to do so. My previous post in this thread is a summary from my experience. I don't have time to print my life story in management, unfortunately, nor how to develop the "skills" to find the problem. That's a field for experts, and I am certainly not an expert in that area, and if I were, I would be charging for that advice.

chrisro · 10-24-2009, 11:31 AM

To fix a broken team is difficult but can be done. first identify major problems that can be easily fixed. next identify your influencers and get them on your side. next identify bad attitudes move them or fire them. then create a easily attainable team goal reward them well then raise the bar. lead by example be there first leave last dont let any of them out work you.

chrisro · 10-24-2009, 11:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by brandon123

You fix a broken team with leadership, patience, and taking the initiative to better your team. A book is not going to change the team, although it may have informative steps towards improving a team. You have to change the team.

reading a book is not going to hurt the team either. Leaders are readers and need to set the example for growth in the group.