Smart Teams

Chapter 9 Some productivity projects

In this final chapter I will introduce several projects that you and your team can use to quick-start your cultural change. My advice is not to try to implement every idea in the book all at once. Choose a project, and focus on that for a month. Then choose another project in the following month, and another in the month after. Over a short period of time your culture will start to evolve and you will become more productive.

Think of your projects as plates spinning on a pole. Once you have one up and running, you can introduce another, and keep them both spinning with a little occasional encouragement.

Over three months, you will have embedded some simple but powerful changes in how your team operates. Not everything will stick, but if you take this approach you will see tangible positive changes.

As we have discussed, culture is just a set of collective habits. To change a culture, we need to get the team to do something collectively for a month, then build on this.

As a leader, you will need to champion these projects, and keep them top of mind for your whole team. As you demonstrate the required behaviours, you will need to hold yourself to the highest standards of accountability. And you will need to check in with your team regularly to ensure they are on track. This is more work to add to your overflowing schedule and task list.

No one said this was easy. Worthwhile rarely is, and this is so worthwhile. Now, to work!

The following ...