Get all of your people to work together

by Jim Cathcart
Cathcart Institute, Inc.

A few years ago one of my clients was a Country Club with 25 managers, 125 employees with a mixture of two languages, about 500 members and a world class facility including Golf, Tennis and Dining. They had experienced a lack of communication between departments and some of their managers weren't taking their roles very seriously when it came to attendance at special social events. Some of the managers never complimented but frequently criticized their employees. Others never confronted bad behaviors. Relations with the customers (Members) were less than ideal. The budget available for addressing the problem was limited but they couldn't afford to do nothing.

The General Manager decided to schedule a series of training lectures from various experts in an effort to change attitudes and, ultimately, behaviors. I was invited to deliver one of the lectures.

When I interviewed the GM to see what his goals were he told me of the situation described above. Upon looking at the plans for the lecture series I could see that it was not a coordinated series focused on the needs but rather it was a group of interesting general presentations on "teamwork", "time management", "communication", etc. So I made a radical suggestion.

I said, "Don't do the lecture series at all. Just put all your energies into addressing the real problems. Let me be your project chairman and I'll design a plan to turn the attitudes and behaviors around." After some discussion he agreed and I was hired to be the outside "Director of Training" for the balance of the year.

Upon closer inspection I found that there was no ongoing program to orient new managers to the Club and its ways. Sure, everyone got some training to do "their job" but there was no form of In-Processing that would assure they were all thinking in compatible ways. Nor was there any training or process in place that truly made them feel like everyone was part of the same organization, all as one. So each person quickly fell into the mindset of "I'll handle my department and you handle yours."

No teamwork, no handoffs, little communication, no sense of connection with other employees, and no sense of duty or commitment to serving the members and guests. These were the predictable results of assuming that everyone would "get it" on their own. But, at least, they were pleasant toward each other. And, a couple of the first level managers were exceptional performers with great attitudes despite the lack of direction from above. Of the entire group most were well qualified for their positions and were good people. Only a few had "issues."

I determined that the first need was to orient everyone toward the Club in ways that made them proud to be a part of it and feeling an obligation to do their part to make it better. So I got their promotional packet that was distributed to every prospective member and to the press during special events. This gave me the images and content upon which to build our first meeting. We decided to work with the managers at first and to let them carry the message to their coworkers.

The press kit cover said "Welcome to XYZ Country Club". In the opening meeting I established an open atmosphere and put the managers at ease, then I posed the question, "To whom are we speaking when we say "Welcome to XYZ Country Club"?
They said it was directed at prospective members and guests. "Anyone else?" I asked.
Yes, the media reads it too.

Then I asked what seemed to be a stupid question, "What does Welcome mean?" They said it meant that we want people to feel that we are glad they are here and we will happily help them with whatever they want or need. They said it also means that they should have no apprehension about being here, just relax and enjoy because they are "welcome" here. (Nice answer.)
So I followed up with a second question, in the spirit of Dr. Phil, I asked, "How's that working for you? Do people truly feel welcome here? Do they tell you so? How do we know if anyone feels that way?" You see, without measures and feedback we don't know what is working and what is not.

My next question backed them into a corner even more. "Do we want the people who work here to feel 'welcome'? Or do we just want them to do their jobs and quickly go home? " I said that any worker who did not feel welcome here would probably resent their job and coworkers. If we want someone's best efforts then we have to treat them with dignity and show them that we care about them. People who are often reminded how little they matter tend to become resentful employees and they resist doing any work that isn't absolutely required. So, everyone agreed,"Yes, we want everyone who works here to feel welcome too."
Now I had them. So I asked, "what do you do that lets them know they are welcome here?" Silence.
I tried another approach, "what do we do or not do that causes them to feel they are NOT welcome here?" Answers started to flow. In other words, there were plenty of turn-offs being handed out but almost zero turn-ons.
Once I had made my case for new behaviors I asked the group to embrace a single, simple new policy: We acknowledge people, all people, all of the time, under all circumstances. I explained that this meant greeting each other in the hallways or at least smiling and nodding hello. It also meant speaking with people doing landscaping and housekeeping work. And it meant that all staff at all levels would begin to acknowledge members and guests too. They agreed.

Within one week of the new policy people started communicating more. It took some supervision to get everyone to practice the new behavior but once they knew we were seriously committed to acknowledgment, then everyone started speaking and smiling more often. It's hard to ignore a friendly hello or a smile and eye contact, so the effects were felt almost immediately. A simple behavior had produced dramatic effects. But much more work was still needed.

Our next management session focused on the Why behind all of the things we do. I asked each of them to explain why their department was important to the organization and why each role within it was needed. This was hard for some, they had never thought that way. They could explain How all day long, but they seldom thought about why. And a Why overrules a How every time. The person who knows How may have a job but the one who knows Why will usually be their boss.

After several sessions like the above, each building upon the others, we got to a point where every manager and many of their coworkers could easily explain how the country club worked, what each part of it did for the members and the owners, and how every one of their jobs fit into the system. They knew why they did things in the ways they did and what the value of each behavior was. They agreed to become more accountable for their outcomes and more cooperative with each other. The group had become a team and they cared about each other as well as the club itself.

The lesson here is that Behaviors always follow Mindset. Change the Mindset and you will change the Behaviors.
But to sustain the Mindset you need Systems. And all systems within the organization should grow out of the purpose, mission and vision (the DNA) of the Club in this case.
Between Mindset and Systems are Skillsets. People need to be continually trained in the Skillsets that allow them to perform at an excellent level.
Mindset, Skillsets, and Systems are the key to transforming a group into a Team.
For more information on how you can use ideas from this case study contact me at jim@cathcart.com.