Issue Resolution and Prevention Specialists
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6 Common Symptoms of an Underperforming Team
Recognizing when teams are underperforming is critical to business success. If a team is not hitting the mark, the likely outcomes include unsatisfied customers, disgruntled employees, delayed growth, reduced profit, and excessive time to market – overall lagging business results. There are tell-tail signs of a team in trouble – once you know how to identify them, it is possible to make needed adjustments and accelerate overall performance of the team and your company. Below are a few of the signs to watch for, ordered from team formation to project execution.
1. The team leader is not clearly identified. Teams are established in many ways, sometimes via management’s advance planning but other times spontaneously, such as when a big issue suddenly arises. When these spontaneous project teams form, there is a propensity for people to start working without naming a leader to coordinate the team, actions, and communication. This often results in chaos. Have you seen a customer emergency situation without a clear leader defined? It happens far too often. It’s much more effective to briefly pause and structure the team properly with all needed functions and sites represented, and of course to name the leader. The leader could come from any of a variety of functional groups in these situations. Don’t chose the leader based on the function they happen to perform; select the team leader based on the talents required to maximize the chances of success. Determine, for example, whether customer communication, technical knowledge, or organizational skills are the priority and select accordingly. Note that team leadership can (and should) be formally handed off as the issue evolves and different skill needs come to the fore.
2. Roles within the team are not defined or not clear. Roles within a team can develop based on many factors, including the type of team (e.g., problem solving, corrective action, new product development, continuous improvement, change management, etc.), its goals, the progress along the project plan, and the specific functions and activities involved. Best practice is establishment of a RASCI chart describing the default standard for each functional role. RASCI stands for Responsible (owner of a task or activity), Accountable (owner of overall project, control over allocating relevant resources), Supporting (providing assistance), Consulting (providing advice/guidance), Informed (need to be kept in the loop). RASCI’s help ensure everyone understands what’s expected of themselves and others when teams form. Having such a structure will allow all employees to follow a standard protocol, moving faster and reducing churn. However, please note that RASCI’s are just a starting guide. It is perfectly acceptable to team members to agree to blur or cross the lines on the RASCI when it makes sense to do so.
3. Action items and milestones are unclear. We frequently see team leader’s action lists that are unfocused, too long, or not sufficiently well-defined to drive action. Action lists should show the overarching plan for an entire project but individual actions should be very crisply defined. It’s critically important to include periodic milestone checkpoints to drive progress for each team member (we find weekly works best for most projects, but sometimes daily is required for very urgent issues). Action item lists that have targets set too far in the future often result in missed deadlines – people lose track without the reminder of an imminent deliverable. A balance must be struck: The team leader should be managing the critical upcoming deliverables and holding the team members accountable to deliver on time and with adequate quality, but they mustn’t fall into the trap of trying to micromanage everyone. There are several steps to improving team and project management execution (part of a specific CAEDENCE workshop, reach out for more details).
4. Team members stepping backwards instead of jumping in to tackle tough actions or assignments. We’ve all worked on a school project with that one person who doesn’t help at all; it stinks being one of the team members who actually cares. Guess what? Unfortunately, the same thing sometimes happens in almost all businesses. Poorly performing teams frequently have ‘passengers’, team members quietly listening without participating, not offering many inputs or actions. This can be highly de-motivating for the other colleagues. Teams like these can drift into stagnation, with people backing away from critical actions, not ‘jumping into the fire’ to tackle tough assignments, speak up, or lead. There are many reasons why someone might not help on the team. They might be afraid of the challenge itself, not recognize the tasks as their job, they might not have the necessary skills, or they might have competing priorities. Step one is communication – talk to the person one-on-one to clarify expectations, understand their concerns, and rearrange priorities if needed. If the issue persists, one of the best strategies is to make it more apparent: have team members present their updates at team meetings, set visible milestones for them to hit, have them present to management (or even customers) versus hiding behind others. If you still don’t see improvement, involve the passenger’s manager to support or coach them, or directly coach up their leadership skills yourself. If the situation persists, escalating the complaint to their management may be necessary.
5. Best practices not being followed (or unclear, or nonexistent). I recently saw this quote from American author Brandon Mull, “Smart people learn from their mistakes. But the real sharp ones learn from the mistakes of others.” Strong teams don’t reinvent the wheel, they take advantage of the known best ways of doing things. If you see repeat issues in the same areas, “solving” the same problems again and again, these are signs that the team is not following a set of best practices. Is this a gap in company structure and training, or are individuals not seeking out the current practices? Without a systems-thinking culture, this problem will arise very quickly. Codifying the learning of various teams (both inside and outside your business/industry) and effectively deploying that learning pays off handsomely. Instituting things like structured problem-solving, standardized change management protocols, stage gate new product development, defined customer communication methods, and many other kinds of tools and templates can save huge amounts of time, effort, and resources. (CAEDENCE can lead your systems deployment or updates using years of documented best practices, see here for more info).
6. Results are falling short. Are milestones slipping on key projects? Do you see customers upset or lacking confidence in the team? Are the team’s KPIs (Key Process Indicators) behind typical performance for the broader business? Monitor outcomes and start digging into why the results are lagging. Managers should regularly monitor performance and step in to change the outcome if the team is headed ‘off the rails’. First, look for evidence of the other 5 symptoms to pinpoint the problem. Next, help the team overcome the gap through coaching or training, or investigate other ways to address the problem. Finally, continue to monitor performance by either attending some of the team meetings or asking for periodic reviews. (CAEDENCE can help you establish KPIs and dashboards well as defining remedial actions.)
In summary, it is vital to periodically assess team performance. Use the 6 symptoms of an underperforming team to recognize how a team is functioning. Take needed actions to close the gaps. Are you recognizing these symptoms and taking necessary actions to address them? If you need help to spot team disfunctions, actively coach a struggling team, or provide training to avoid or overcome these pitfalls, reach out to CAEDENCE – we can help!
Dealing with an underperforming team member is a “rite of passage” for any manager. Addressing poor performance is a vital management activity. It's a skill that you should develop. Acting swiftly in these cases is recognized by senior leaders and mastering this skill is important to career development and being viewed as an effective leader. Our 4-step approach will guide you through this challenge. Consider the 4 likely reasons for low performance and follow this simple guide to address them.
Previously we challenged you to “Decide if your company really wants to improve quality!” This week we’ll reveal how a company can de-emphasize quality without even realizing, and what to do about it. Quality is often viewed very differently from company leadership and various functional groups. Making strides in Quality requires such an uphill battle of incremental improvements and constant pushing & aligning of functional teams. Quality is rarely a topic of management meetings and metrics often lack quality improvement goals. It is as if leadership says “Quality’s not that important”. Follow these steps to regain your quality focus, and to drive several strategic and tactical changes to turn things around at your company.
Remote work - you love it for the flexibility, convenience, and time & cost savings, but have you thought about the longer term impact it's having on your career advancement? As we all know, the world has changed. Working from home several days per week (or working in a different city from your teammates) means that the traditional informal mentoring system has broken down. Face to face interactions are far less frequent and spontaneously bumping into someone is even rarer. That way of expanding skills and influence simply doesn't exist anymore. To deal with this problem, actively cultivate a mentor-protégé relationship with your manager, senior colleague, or external coaches from CAEDENCE. And if you’re a manager, facilitate these relationships with your team.
Making a customer presentation requires significant planning and coordination. Your team will need to address the following questions and actions:
-What is the reason for meeting?
-What topics will be discussed?
-What information is required?
-Collect relevant info.
-Analyze information & draw conclusions.
-Organize storyline.
-Integrate materials.
-Iterate and finalize.
-Fine tune presentation.
Commonly missed areas that are critical to success include:
-Agreeing on the agenda with the internal team.
-Agreeing on the agenda with the customer to set expectations prior to the meeting.
-Team members taking ownership of their contributions to the overall deck.
-Incomplete, confusing, or missing Journey Map™
-Providing the deck to the customer 1 day prior to the meeting.
A problem we see all too often is teams not finding the right balance between information-gathering and decision-making. Some teams take unwarranted leaps with nowhere near enough relevant information, driven by real or imagined deadlines, thus inadvertently taking on huge risks. Other teams become “stuck” – unable to make progress because they are (rightly) motivated to be very rigorous, but lose track of their schedule obligations; this is “analysis paralysis”, which also puts projects at risk. We’ve developed the heuristic shown in this infographic based on our experience in automotive, aerospace, heavy vehicle, semiconductor, electronics, and other industries to help teams find the right balance between schedule pressure and rigor.
Successful people are distinguished from unsuccessful people not by consistent self-motivation, but by sustained self-discipline over time. No matter how motivated you are, every role comes with undesirable tasks, and every person has “bad days” sometimes. Of course, progress is easier (and more fun) when people and teams are motivated, but you cannot rely on motivation alone to get the job done. Self-discipline is the ability to pursue what you think is right, despite temptations to abandon it. The take-away lesson: Don’t wait for motivation - make it a point to make (at least a little) progress toward your top priorities each and every day (it adds up!).
Leadership isn’t developed in a vacuum – as managers, we need to foster the development of leadership skills and give people opportunities (and support) to thrive in challenging positions. We’ve used this approach successfully for many years in different organizations. It takes a little courage to hand over the reins (they won’t do things the same way as you, and probably not as well, at least at first), but it’s well worth it!
People will do what they’re being measured on without regard for the big picture. And, to avoid non-productive “local optimizations”, it is essential to have a designated champion with the authority to hold people accountable to the overarching goal.
Language and word choice influence thinking and behavior! Here are two examples.
Most major accomplishments throughout human history have required dedication to a mission: traveling to the moon, winning a major sports championship, writing a novel, or painting a great work of art. Completing a significant project at work is no different. A brilliant project manager I had the pleasure of working with used to say, “The mission is the mission.” I love this expression because it encapsulates so much of the focus and drive that made the teams he led so consistently successful.
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