When we work in a team, often we see all the best ‘biscuits’ get taken. Sometimes the mangled ones are left and sometimes it’s just the broken pieces. I am not referring to the food as such; I am referring to the team workload or tasks. It’s like the packet of ‘Family Favourites’ it has many different types of ‘biscuits’. We have that in the many different tasks and types of work a team does; why is it that it’s often one person who goes to have a ‘biscuit’ and there are none they like left. What do they do? Eat a ‘biscuit’ they don’t like, same as doing a task they don’t like; or do they sit and do nothing because they don’t like the options available to them. This can always become the case, they never get their favourite.
How then as management do you address this? The obvious outcome is that you have a team member pack their bag and go elsewhere to find a new team where they can get the ‘biscuit’ they like. Should management take an approach to help the team members learn to like other ‘biscuits’? Find ways to skill their team up across the board? Does your team want to be trained?
It comes down to the method and delivery which training is offered. Most people are not classroom learners, as adults we are often a practical learner (see and do) or an audible earner (go to a conference or seminar and listen to ideas which we trial and play with later once we get home). There is no right or wrong and most trainers understand you need to mix up the methods in a session because in a group environment you need to keep all participants engaged.
Training needs to be targeted with a goal and a group or audience in mind; generic training only works for processes like on-boarding which is all mandatory training for legal reasons etc. I am referring to specific training, non-compulsory to your company for legalities. What are you trying to achieve from this training session? Just like a Personal Trainer; what area is it you want to focus on? Some Personal Trainers are more specific to certain outcomes you want to achieve, and will provide you a better program to get that outcome.
It is good to find out areas of interest or find areas that are lacking within the team. Good managers can see the flaws; doesn’t mean you have to have the answers or the training capabilities yourself. A doctor for example will not fix your illness; you go and see them and they prescribe a drug or they refer you to a specialist. Managers are like a doctor for their team, they notice the ‘injuries’ or ‘illness’ and can refer the team to a specialist and get the problem resolved.
Team building is important; referring back to my ‘Sport of Business’ you are in a team. A business team and it operates the same as a sporting team; same rules apply. Someone gets sick and has to sit out of a project; it is no different to missing a sporting match or two. So as a manager we should cultivate relationships in the team, admit not everyone will love each other; but that they will be able to see the common goal and achieve it as a group of people for the business ‘club’. As previously mentioned the manager is the coach and needs to find ways to facilitate the team building and help, because at the end of the day members of the team might occasionally eat the different biscuit but they will always have a favourite.
So can your team eat various ‘biscuits’? Do you find tasks that are always avoided and when addressed they moan like a bunch of children refusing to eat their green veggies?