Maybe you've been promoted, or maybe you're brand new to the organization. In either scenario, it's important you assimilate to your new team in your new role. After all, building rapport and trust is essential for cohesive teamwork. And stats show ... cohesive teams outperform 'unhealthy' teams by 20-30%!
With this POPin recipe, we'll attempt to kickstart three objectives:
Provide direct reports with the opportunity to 'get to know' you as the new manager ... in a very short period of time.
Begin to build the basis for a longer-term working relationship with your team.
Lay the foundation, very early on, for open communications, work planning and problem-solving as a team.
Use the below detail to guide your POPin session Titles and Questions.
WEEK ONE
Session 1: Getting to Know Me
What's one thing you'd like to know about me or my leadership style?
Session 2: Getting to Know Team Values
When you think about this team: What are you most proud of?
Session 3: Getting to Know our Challenges
If you had to identify one thing that's preventing this team from achieving the next level of greatness, what would that be?
WEEK TWO
No sessions launched. Via a team meeting, address the top responses surfaced in week one. Start with gratitude for the willingness people had to participate and reinforce how helpful it is to get candid feedback.
WEEK THREE
This question moves away from crowdsourcing ... and towards crowdsolving!
Session 4: Share the How on Greatness
Do a “Share the How” session on one of the things identified in session 3 of this recipe. (e.g., "Most of you said our team members didn't have the proper level of training to reach the next level of greatness. Based on this being our top-voted challenge, what's one step we should take in next 30-90 days to solve for this reality?")
WEEKS FOUR AND FIVE
No sessions launched. Acknowledge the team's top ideas from session 4 and share how you will act based on that input and feedback. Continue to use information gathered from all previous sessions to inform your management plan and fuel follow-up conversations.
WEEK SIX
Session 5: Checkpoint
Based on what you've observed so far about my leadership style and the changes I've made: What's one thing that's either working or not working?
WEEK SEVEN
No sessions launched. Recognize the team’s effort in continuing to improve issues by participating in the week six session. Verbalize your desire for continuous improvement. Share how any changes will be implemented based on the input and feedback you gathered.
WEEK EIGHT (Re-run the second week of each month for at least 6 months)
Session 6: Unsung Heroes
Who on our team was the unsung hero last month?
Session 7: Obstacles
What obstacle is preventing you from being effective or productive, right now?
WEEK NINE
No sessions launched. Take the time to recognize the Unsung Hero identified in session 6 by way of team meeting or email. Follow up the obstacles question in session 7 by assessing answers received so you can engage the team on how to solve for the top obstacle.
WEEK TEN (Re-run the fourth week of each month for at least 6 months)
Session 8: Share the How
Do a “Share the How” session on one of the things identified in session 7 of this recipe. (e.g., "Most of you said competing priorities are preventing us from being effective or productive. If we can't pause any of our project work, how can we best address this obstacle, right now?")
Always be sure to close the loop with the team and recognize the work planning and problem-solving effort they put forth in the past weeks—and keep them in the know for future changes and solves. In short, be the leader who listens, and your team will be unstoppable!!!
Use the live Help chat to contact our Client Success Team if you'd like help executing this Success Recipe.