Ready To Lead?

seem to be a major problem with this. But it should be of concern to you,

because a clique is in effect a team within a team and often they form con-

flicting goals, which are at variance with the overall cohesion of the team.

This is not to say that individuals cannot exercise their right to mix with

whom they like, but the formation of cliques is different and can be detri-

mental to overall team performance. You should proactively tackle such

issues as they arise.

Building-block 5 –

communication and consultation

Communication and consultation comprise the life-blood of all successful

teams and it is through regular, structured and effective communication

that common bonds are formed and conflict is addressed before it esca-

lates. As a leader, you must establish appropriate mechanisms to facilitate

better communication.

Communication at work tends to be focused upon outcome-related matters

and little separate time is devoted to dealing with team concerns. As a leader,

you should seek to address this imbalance with your team. This can be rela-

tively easily achieved by holding daily briefings, which have an outcome focus,

and monthly team meetings which also have an outcome focus, but allow time

to focus on team-related matters. There will of course be other meetings, but

introducing these two forms of communication should be your early priority.

Daily briefings



Keep them short, to the point and outcome focused.



Use them to clarify with the team the work requirements for the day.



They are not designed to be two-way discussions, for that would take

too long, but of course opportunities are provided to team members

to seek clarification on issues relating to the day’s work.



They are an opportunity for you to provide direction and to give

regular feedback to the team.

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Due to the fact that they are short, usually around 10 minutes, many

leaders overlook their importance and believe that missing a daily briefing,

or not holding them at all, makes no difference.

YOUR TEAM

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Frequently Asked

I don’t see the need for daily briefings. It’s only a couple of minutes:

what’s the point?

Some leaders use excuses for not conducting daily briefings,

ranging from there is no time, or that shift patterns mean

everyone would not be there, to the fact that the work is the

same every day so there would be nothing to say. But this is a

major misconception for a number of reasons.

First, taken in isolation, a 10-minute briefing is really not of

great importance, but it is their collective value over a working

year that has significance. A 10-minute briefing held five days a

week, 50 weeks of the year leads to 2,500 minutes of communi-

cation with the team, or in other words over 40 hours per year!

It is this total impact of the direction and feedback provided during the

year which makes briefings such a critical tool for the leader. In addition,

holding daily briefings also reminds the team, in a subconscious way, that

you are the leader and they are a team.

A further advantage of holding briefings is that by bringing the team

together on a daily basis, you will be able to gauge the mood and dynamics

of the team over time, which will help you to monitor overall team

‘climate’, which we will discuss later. You will naturally see individuals

throughout the day, but this is your chance to view them as a unit, and you

will quickly get a sense as to the atmosphere and relationships. So bringing

everyone together for a few minutes is vitally important at the start of each

day or shift.

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