team building and Leadership expert michael cardus

“When we are in an operations team meeting, and I bring up 7 or 8 process changes and tweaks…the other managers all get pissed and become combative.”

“When you bring up several changes, the other directors become combative? Give me an example.”

“All right…recently, in a meeting, I mentioned that I was making some small tweaks to the inbound sales call process. These changes needed IT help, and the change was small and should have been easy, BUT Steve (the IT guy) freaked out.”

“So you were making changes to a process and decided that Steve’s work is easy?”

“Yes”

“Hmmm…let me ask another way. Has there ever been a time when you needed Steve’s IT assistance, and he was all for it, meaning he thought it was a great idea?”

“Yeah…when reception desk staff wanted a wireless printer.”

“Tell me about that.”

“Well, the reception staff wanted a wireless printer. I made an appointment with Steve to talk about this, see what model and set-up systems would work best for the area and needs…and then introduced the idea in an operations team meeting. Steve spoke up and was very supportive of the changes.”

“So Steve, was for your tweaks and changes…when you made an appointment, asked for his input, understood what his ideas were, and then included him on the plan from the beginning?”

“YES…I should do that more often!”

“Do what more often?”

“Before walking into the operations team meetings and shooting off ideas that I think would be easy for the other directors. I should make an appointment, speak with them, get their input and involve them in the plan.”

“When will you start?”

“Once we leave here.”