Engaging a Small Team

The (White)Board Meeting

Throughout my career I've been told to help staff celebrate the small wins in order to keep momentum moving forward and resist losing the discretionary efforts of key staff members. If you manage to do this, you can truly capitalize on team dynamics and create efficient workflows.

OK back up, what's discretionary effort? This is the effort over and above what someone needs to do to satisfy job requirements. Typically you can assume your staff spends a significant portion of their day focused on personal, non-work-related tasks. Could be banking, facebook, texting, water cooler chats, etc. This is normal and somewhat predictable, and it can also be beneficial when properly harnessed (we'll visit that topic again another time). Discretionary effort is just that, staff using time they usually reserve for their personal sanity to further the goals of the business (and they feel good about it!). This does not always mean working late, it simply means higher and better quality output, don't confuse the two!

Alright, so back to the whiteboard meetings. I was looking for a way to show my team just how much they accomplish day to day, which isn't always easy. We expect people to contribute to the organizational goals, participate in projects that impact the company, and continue to support their workgroup and accomplish day to day tasks.  We write a to-do list and then get depressed when we don't achieve anything on it as a result of daily business distractions requirements. When people get too jaded with these fruitless efforts, they stop keeping a to-do list.  This can often lead to poor prioritization and failure to complete important tasks. 

Enter the collaborative team task list, my Whiteboard Meeting.

I came up with a strategy that works with small teams and I called it simply the “Board Meeting”.  These are weekly meetings that take about 30 minutes with a team of 5 or so people.  I called the team together in the hallway where we had a whiteboard hanging, and no chairs nearby.  One member asked if she could grab a chair and I replied with “No, This will be quick and we’ll be moving too much.”  Here are the steps I followed to create a collaborative team task list that the staff truly embraced:

Week One

1.      Gather team in front of the whiteboard

2.      Have all members write down the tasks on their plate for the following week or two.  (long term tasks can also be added, but be wary of things that will take more than a month to accomplish)

3.      As items are written on the board, discuss them for about 30 seconds.  What barriers will be in your way?  Do you foresee any problems?  Is there something you could use additional support on?

4.      Do NOT add deadlines.  Talk about them, but do not write them down

Now here’s where the fun starts.  Over the next week, before the next meeting, the team goes about their daily tasks.  As they complete items on the board, the come out and cross them off (don’t erase them, just strike them through with a dry-erase marker to indicate completion).  Team members are free to complete tasks they didn’t add if they have time to help. 

Second, third, fourth week (and so on)

1.      Gather the team at the whiteboard again

2.      Take a picture of the board in its current state

3.      Go through the list of items that have been crossed off, discussing briefly how each item was completed successfully.  If it’s a routine item, acknowledge it, but don’t waste time.  If it’s a more significant item, spend more time learning about how it was completed, who was involved, etc.  Let the person who completed it take ownership and explain the process.

4.      Once the item is discussed, erase it.

5.      Repeat this process until all completed items are removed from the board.

6.      Next, go through the items remaining and discuss each one.  Why is it still there?  Time constraints, resource limitations, external barriers?  Talk about these so you can share the combined knowledge of the team.  Maybe someone has dealt with an issue where they learned how to bypass the barrier being experienced here. Maybe the leader needs to take control and raise it up to break down an impasse.  The communication piece here is key and will make your whole team feel supported and celebrated

7.      Once you’re satisfied with the answers in the previous step, start adding new tasks.  DON’T OVERDO IT.  If the team is sitting quietly with more than 30 seconds between task suggestions, the meeting is over.  Team members are free to continue to add items during the week at any time if something comes up.

This process provides several key benefits on a weekly basis:

·         Weekly acknowledgement of the amount of work being completed

      ·         Keeps priority items visible to the entire team
      ·         Allows team members to take on additional work when capacity (and desire) allow them to
      ·         Creates a sense of pride and ownership of the completion of tasks

In addition to all of these benefits, I would collect all of the weekly pictures illustrating how much work was completed and print them out on a semi-annual basis.  We would have a celebration lunch where I would display the pictures around the room and supply catering to thank the team and remind them that while we accomplish many large scale goals to help drive the organization forward, we also maintain a day to day business that is no small accomplishment. 

Celebrate often, work smart, and capitalize on team dynamics.