If Only . . . .

Team Rules that would make life so much more interesting.

Somewhere around 1999 I once saw a page of information from a business course at the University of Alberta in Canada and I seem to recall writing down these dot points - I have a feeling that they were themselves extracted from a book which I believe I have seen at some point in my life by Jeffrey C Petkevicius called "The Unchained Worker - Principles of Ownership of the Workplace."

Recently when discussing the way in which people at work attending meetings seem to behave they popped into my mind again and I had to give them a new title which is:

IF ONLY we would . . . .

• participate as fully and as openly as possible, while honouring the privacy of others;
• give feedback directly and openly in a timely fashion, and provide information that is specific and focuses on the task and process and not on personalities;
• use our time wisely, starting on time, returning from breaks and ending our meetings promptly;
• come to our meetings prepared with information and materials that are required for the meeting. When fellow members miss a meeting we would share the responsibility for bringing them up to date;
• focus on our goals;
• avoid sidetracking, personality conflicts and hidden agendas;
• acknowledge problems and deal with them. Within our group, we have the resources we need to solve any problem that arises. This means that we all contribute;
• respect different ideas;
• are supportive, not judgmental;
• each be responsible for what we get from this team experience;
• ask for what we need from our facilitator and the other group members;
• encourage others to share ideas in small and large group sessions The feelings of all participants are important;
• focus on what the team will gain, the strengths we have, rather than what individuals fear they will lose;
• respect that everyone brings something of value, talent, skill, resources, understanding, etc., for a more effective, efficient organization;
• operate all meetings with an agenda Everyone is expected to help facilitate the meeting and keep it on track Job titles are left at the door;
• address the process not the individual;
• communicate effectively. One person talks at a time and all others listen with the commitment to understand the speaker's message;
• rotate responsibilities All action items are clearly defined, assigned and scheduled to a specific Owner to complete and report back to the group. No hanging clouds
• not accept the first idea, but go for the second and even a third before making a decision;
• build each other up and encourage one another;
• summarize the meeting and get agreement on the action items and Owners;
• set the agenda for the next meeting before breaking up;
• have fun;
• be open to new ideas, change and the unknown, that's the definition of an adventure;
• show willingness and comfort in making decisions and acting;
• act to benefit the whole organization;
• all be involved in cross-functional work;
• show willingness to pitch in and help;
• take problems directly to the right person for decisions and action;
• coach, support and encourage other employees in making effective decisions and taking actions;
• seek and share new information;
• create an environment to actively learn from each other;
• be willing to admit failures;
• have the courage to review them and the maturity to learn from them;
• transfer learning into effective action

Let me know if you think that these 'rules' would help in your meetings or more to the point tell me about all of those meetings where the lack of these rules has led to continuing problems.

Ah - if only . . . .

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