They Know How – But They Do Not Do It!

When the team don’t do what they have been asked

“I have told them a thousand times and they all claim they know what I want and they all nod in agreement” claimed a client recently “and they they go and do something completely different.”

My client was nearing the end of his tether. He was frustrated because he had taken the time to communicate the message to the team. He has taken the management team aside for a day and had spent the day instilling his vision and mission. They had all finished the day espousing how much they believed in and “got” the message.

But the message was not communicated and there was no way that it would reach every team member in the business and most importantly the team at the coal face of the business. So it was highly probable that the customers in the business would not experience any change. And thats exactly what happened.

So what to do about this dilemma?

We suggested a few things:

1. Communication of the message via more than one medium
2. Challenging the managers and their teams on a more regular basis to check delivery and adherence to message
3. Spot checking and random assessments
4. Getting feedback from team members about what the message means to them and how it would help them personally.

he is implementing these over the next few weeks.

An important feature when it comes to change is that it can take quite a while to fully embrace change and see that it can enable a business to work better. the lure of “how it used to be” is always there.

It can take a few months to fully learn.

It is also important that the new changes enable team members to live in some correlation to their own values – otherwise change will never stick for long.

It is also important that the team members understand why changes are being made.
Want to be a better leader – speak to Derek O’Dwyer – Business Growth Specialist – 087 222 0720.