A Cup of Leadership CaffeineAll teams and groups have a rhythm and natural energy for their tasks that ebb and flow based on a variety of factors, including personal, environmental and seasonal to name a few.

As a leader, you should be aware of these cycles that are characterized by either intense creativity, outstanding productivity or on the other extreme, by a slow, plodding march through the days and weeks as if everyone’s feet were encased in clay.

It’s your job to help smooth out the highs just a bit and minimize the time spent in the lows. Good coaches pay attention to the rhythm of their people and teams and leverage their leadership tools to make appropriate adjustments.

A Great Example of Managing the Rhythm:

One client managed an intensive and exhausting trade show and event program from March to May and then again during September and October.  Energy and creativity peaked 30 to 60 days in advance of “go” and fell off the cliff as people caught their breath for a few weeks after the end of the each period.

This team’s manager shifted her focus from one of support, encouragement and oversight in advance of the programs, to one that facilitated recovery, rejuvenation and reinvigoration at the close of the programs.  The 2x per year awards events (low budget, pizza and laughs) were “don’t miss” opportunities to share the fun, excitement and achievements and to poke some great natured fun at slip-ups.   These events were produced and emceed by team members and team members began carrying cameras to capture “moments” that would ultimately make their way into the team-produced awards presentation.

Celebration in this example transitioned to a reflective period, where the benefit of recovery time created a natural opportunity for reflection, assessment and improvement.  While this “team” of cross functional participants worked together only for the event programs, every member had a voice in suggesting strategic ideas to beat competitors and better reach customers and prospects as well as to improve internal execution.  Year after year, the results improved, the costs shrunk and competitors were left guessing.  Oh, and everyone involved had a riot.

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6  Common Rhythm and Energy Management Mistakes of Managers and Ideas to Improve:

1.  Treating people like machines: not recognizing the need for rejuvenation and reinvigoration.

2. Assuming that they (the manager) are the source of energy and motivation.  Nothing could be further from reality than this misguided belief.  Team energy derives from many sources…a shared cause, a sense of belonging, individual and group pride and so many  places other than from a manager’s cajoling.

3. Staying too distant from the challenge and not truly understanding the nature and intensity of the work.  The manager described above also took on distinct tasks and played her part in program execution.  Her credibility was sky high because she was involved in the work, albeit, in a highly specific role that didn’t interfere with others charged with executing this program.  She supported and served in this instance.

4. Getting too close to the execution and communicating that you don’t trust your team members. There is a fine line between appropriate oversight and micromanaging.  Don’t cross it.

5. Focusing the lessons-learned on the negatives. Instead of managing program debriefs to the tune of “What did we do wrong?” try the “What should we do more of?” approach and watch the change in tone and creativity.

6. Forgetting to celebrate.  Pizza, some printed certificates and widespread team involvement in picking favorite moments, iron-man/woman awards for most travel, most hours etc. and any other fun category that your team members can think of, go a long way to creating a shared bond and driving some healthy laughs.

The Bottom Line for Now:

Whether you manage tradeshows and events or engineering teams or customer support professionals, it is up to you as the leader, manager or project manager to understand the rhythm of your teams and manage the cycles to match the business needs.  Master this and watch performance grow.  Oh, and you’ll likely have a lot more fun in the process of doing great things.  You get bonus points for creating a high performance environment where people have fun as well.