Building E1™ Team Trust

Like it or not, all teams are potentially impaired. This is inevitable because they are made up of imperfect, limited human beings. From the basketball court to the executive suite, politics and uncertainty are more the rule than the exception. However, facing the test and focusing on teamwork is chiefly significant at the top of an organization because the executive team sets the tone for how all employees work with one another.

A client, the founder of a billion dollar company, best articulated the clout of teamwork when he once told me, “If you could get all the people in the organization paddling in the same direction, you could lead any industry, in any market, against any competition, at any time.”

Whenever I repeat this maxim to a group of leaders, they without delay nod their heads, but in a distracted sort of way. They seem to take hold of the truth of it while in chorus surrendering to the impracticality of truly making it happen.

Fortunately, there is hope. Counter to conventional wisdom, the causes of low team trust are both identifiable and curable. However, they don’t die easily. Making a team efficient and interconnected requires levels of guts and restraint that many groups cannot seem to gather.

Addressing the Challenges

To begin improving your team and to better appreciate the level of contest you are facing, ask yourself these simple questions:

• Do team members candidly and willingly make known their views?
• Are team meetings gripping and dynamic?
• Does the team come to decisions rapidly and steer clear of getting bogged down by agreement?
• Do team members face one another about their limitations?
• Do team members forgo their own wellbeing for the good of the team?

Although no team is ideal and even the best teams sometimes tussle with one or more of these issues, the most excellent organizations constantly work to make certain that their answers are “yes.” If you answered “no” to many of these questions, your team may need some work.

The first step toward reducing politics and misunderstanding within your team is to understand that there are challenges to compete with, and address each that applies, one by one.

The Challenges

Challenge #1: Lack of Trust

This takes place when team members are hesitant to be open to the elements with one another and are disinclined to admit their oversights, weak points, or needs for help. Without a certain comfort level among team members, a base of trust is impossible.

The E1™ Plan

• Identify and discuss individual strengths and weaknesses.
• Spend considerable time in face-to-face meetings and working sessions.

Challenge #2: Lack of Conflict

Teams that are deficient on trust are unable of engaging in unfiltered, ardent discussion about key issues, causing situations where team disagreement can easily turn into roundabout discussions and back channel remarks. In a work setting where team members do not openly expose their opinions, second-rate decisions are the result.

The E1™ Plan

• Recognize that conflict is required for industrious meetings.
  
• Understand individual team member’s ordinary conflict styles, and set up common ground rules for engaging in conflict.
  
  

Challenge #3: Lack of Loyalty

Without conflict, it is tricky for team members to commit to decisions, creating an atmosphere where doubt prevails. Lack of direction and assurance can make employees, particularly star employees, discontented.

The E1™ Plan

• Evaluate commitments at the end of each meeting to make certain all team members are allied.
• Accept a “disagree and commit” mindset making sure that all team members are committed apart from initial disagreements.

Challenge #4: Lack of Accountability

When teams don’t commit to an understandable plan of action, even the most alert and motivated individuals think twice about calling their peers on actions and behaviors that may seem counterproductive to the by and large good of the team.

The E1™ Plan

• Plainly communicate goals and standards of behavior.
• Frequently talk about performance versus goals and standards.

Lack #5: Lack of Results

Team members unsurprisingly tend to put their own needs (ego, career development, acknowledgment, etc.) ahead of the cooperative goals of the team when individuals aren’t held responsible. If a team has lost sight of the need for achievement, the business in due course suffers.

The E1™ Plan

• Keep the team focused on concrete group goals.
  
• Reward individuals based on team goals and shared success.
  

 

The Treasure

Striving to construct a purposeful, unified team is one of the few remaining competitive advantages available to any organization looking for a powerful point of differentiation. Well-designed teams avoid wasting time talking about the wide of the mark issues and revisiting the same topics over and over again because of lack of buy-in. Purposeful teams also make higher quality decisions and achieve more in less time and with less diversion and aggravation. Additionally, “A” players seldom leave organizations where they are part of a solid team.

Flourishing teamwork is not about mastering slight, chic theories, but rather about accepting common sense with uncommon levels of discipline and persistence. As luck would have it, teams do well because they are extraordinarily human. By recognizing the weaknesses of their humanity, members of practical teams triumph over the natural tendencies that make teamwork so hard to pin down.

Is The Ultimate Question the Final Question?

“You will not believe how high my Net Promoter Score is,” said a dear friend and banking executive to me over lunch. “But my organic growth rate is nil and I can’t get a handle on my customers’ commitment.”

His customers were formally saying one thing and, practically, doing another.

“Maybe asking The Ultimate Question should not be your final question,” I jovially replied and reached for the bill, figuring that lunch was now my treat for this month.

And it occurred to me that gauging commitment is very different from gaining and keeping commitment.

Lately, I enjoy completing customer surveys via paper, email, or telephone. Normally, I run from them. They’re long, cumbersome, and I wonder if my answers are lost in some thrice-cross-tabulated marketing report.

So why, now, do I fill in circles, click through extra screens, and stay on the line to answer a few quality control questions? Because, with near perfect accuracy, I know the final question will be a form of: “Would you recommend us to a friend?” – The Ultimate Question. My answer helps a company determine its Net Promoter Score (NPS).

I fancy The Ultimate Question and the Net Promoter Score (NPS). It is a brilliant gauge of potential customer loyalty and advocacy. One can read about it in Fred Reichheld’s book, The Ultimate Question, and get an even better handle on its origins and research in The Loyalty Effect and Loyalty Rules, both by Reichheld.

I will not contest the inherent value from determining the NPS. If Jeff Immelt, CEO of General Electric says, “This is the best customer relationship metric I’ve seen. I can’t understand why any of you wouldn’t want to try it,” I’ll take him at his word. If Ken Chenault, Chairman and CEO of American Express says, “All companies should ask their customers … ‘the ultimate question,” – ditto.

At its nucleus, the NPS measures: 1) A customer’s inner economist and willingness to buy from you again; and, 2) His motivation to stick his reputation on the line by referring you to someone close to him. It makes perfect sense and is backed up with ample statistics and correlations.

But, it strikes me again – gauging commitment is very different from gaining and keeping commitment. Just because someone says they will buy from you again and refer you to someone they know doesn’t mean they will.

For example:

A T & T asked me The Ultimate Question. I answered, “Yes.” They offered me $100 for every friend I referred who, within a certain time period, became a new customer. But, thoughts of my neighbors hiding behind their front doors as I shilled kept me from furthering the gospel of wireless telephone service from A T & T.

Delta Air Lines asked me The Ultimate Question. They offered 2,500 SkyMiles® if I met referral-turned-traveler success. But convincing a fellow elite traveler is not that trouble-free. There’s more to frequent business travel than hoping for an aisle seat and a suitable cup of coffee. We don’t switch travel partners on a whim or at the whiff of a better deal.

I even asked the delightful woman who cuts my hair if compensating for referred business is good for growth. “People are super sensitive about their hair and it takes a lot to convince someone to switch stylists. Ten dollars off of the next highlighting session doesn’t lead to new clients at the recommendation of satisfied clients.”

My NPS scores are high, but my real world action is low. I will enthusiastically recommend A T & T, Delta Air Lines, and Tracy to those interested – if they ask my opinion and express interest in my recommendations. I’ll do it because I believe in these products and services. I’ll do it because these businesses are committed to me. I’ll do it when I hear questions from those I know are seeking a new solution.

But, The Ultimate Question is not the final question. We need to ask more questions. Now, what does one do?

First, measure your NPS. Be as complex or simple in your measurement tools as you need to be. Find out who will buy again and who will spread the good word about your business. You’ll discern more about their promise for loyalty and commitment.

Then, depending on your job, ask more questions. After all, we’re all responsible for growing commitment from our customers. More important, we’re in charge of showing commitment to our customers.

For the front line leader: Think a step beyond the transaction at hand and propose a solution that shows you are a promoter for your customer. Rather than only completing the transaction, study the customer information you have (on the screen or in your mind) and present a way that your institution can make life just a bit better. Perhaps the savings account can become a certificate of deposit. Or the new car loan can include breakdown insurance. Or the check you just made payable to Fidelity Investments can remain under your institution’s management.

For the business development officer: Look closely at your customer’s business elsewhere and determine if you can offer a better deal at your institution. Can you offer a better rate or price? Does offering a bundled package make sense? Do you offer relationship-based pricing? Will you sacrifice some profit in the near-term for a consistent stream of long-term revenue? Finding a way to add an extra product or service goes a long way in increasing commitment. These additional products or services weren’t sold out of thin air – they almost certainly existed at another institution.

For the marketing officer: Distinguish why your current cadre of most loyal customers chooses you. This involves segmenting those with high NPS scores or high use of products. The key is not asking your entire customer base why they choose you. If you do this, you’ll get 80 percent of your answers from those who give you 20 percent of your revenue. You want answers from the 20 percent who give you 80 percent of revenue.

For the executive: Don’t waste time holding meetings, tabling for next time, or forming ad hoc groups. Get your entire institution involved – now. Contrary to popular belief (and consultant billing statements), it doesn’t take 24-36 months to rebuild, rebrand, or re-you-fill-in-the-blank. Your customers simply will not, and should not, wait.

What’s needed is an enterprise-wide understanding that: 1) Most customers won’t bring in new business until you ask; and, 2) Most customers won’t send your institution referrals until you ask – and the odds are still low. However, when your customers believe that your true interest is in earning their commitment, they will watch for ways to bring you more of their business and they will mention your institution as they hear of needs from their friends. These customers believe in your institution.

We all want customers, but regular customers can be fickle and lured away. We all want promoters, but promoters may not promote you as often as you want.

What we need are believers – believers who do not consider another option when it’s time to buy again and who recommend you to another when the occasion arises.

Tough Times Need Tough E1™ Leaders

It’s tough out there. The financial markets are miserable. Is there an end to the housing crash? Will unemployment arrive at ten percent? Is there such a phenomenon as consumer confidence? Will my job be next? Will my company be around next year?

These are worries and question marks not just of you, but of those you lead. How do we lead when the direction is blurred? How do we lead when we’re not convinced that many will follow? How do we lead when – frankly – it’s a tough time to lead?

When it’s tough, we lead tough. We go in opposition to the hunker-down-and-let-it pass outlook of so many and lead en route for the opportunities that exist in such demanding times – chances to learn, progress, and even profit.

What does your E1™ team need on the whole? They want you to:

Be honest. Be believable.  This is no trouble-free test. Nobody can be convinced about the business situation and its course. How can you enlighten people with what you accept as true when you can’t be convinced that it is precise? You can’t pass off or pretend — anybody can examine your ideas by visiting Google or Bing. The lone way out is rational sincerity. Level with people: Tell them how you distinguish the business environment, concede the confines of your grasp, and invite them to express their individual positions. Doing this may perhaps take grit, but jointly you can piece together more improved probabilities than any one person can. Tell people the truth and they will tell you the truth that you need to hear.

Be real. In this unpredictable and unsure atmosphere, realism is a moving target. You have to continue revising your depiction of it, incessantly keeping an eye on change and impending revolution through ground-level brainpower. Have your team do the same. Position all of your tangible outside information on the agenda, however ghastly it may be, and talk about it among yourselves. Don’t get sheltered into one notion of things. Permit the model to adjust as you pull together up-to-the-minute facts. Bottom line: Your front line leaders – the folks who work with your customers every day – know more about the practical application and execution of your business than you do. Accept this and invite their input.

Be hopeful.  Pure glumness is no more levelheaded than unchecked confidence. Concentrate your group on a mental picture of what is achievable and support them as they seek out the measures that will carry out the idea. This is where leadership becomes a performing art, establishing that stroke of confidence that draws on cerebral reserves to deal with unpleasant information and convert concern into undertaking. Tell your people where you want them to help your team go – then, allow them to get it done. They want to win just as much as you.

Be valiant. Coping with the inevitability of protecting cash and surviving in the short run, you may feel compelled to shortchange the yet to come. Refuse to give in to this burden. It will take mind’s eye and spirit to lay calculated wagers with no fail-safe payoffs when there’s so little money available and so much ambiguity about the best guesses your plan is based on. Yet such gambles are significant: What gain will it do if you shamble to the finish line and find nothing there? A body in motion tends to stay in motion. Are you and your team making some sort of headway to continue to build your business in spite of what the economic talking heads say?

Be resolute. Practical chipping in is indispensable in these times. You have to mine into the appropriate fine points with much higher regularity than ever before. Only through entrenched exclusive contribution can you get your hands on ground-level insight, disclose and discuss it with your team, and proceed with swiftness.

Your people want you to be there with them in the foxhole. Your sense of realism is a waste of time if you can’t be aware of it and act on it, and you cannot do this with memos and public statements unaided. You have to be interactive, responding to questions, taking the exchange to the next plane and then doing it yet again. Your people will be encouraged not by rousing expressions as much as by witnessing, straight from the horse’s mouth, that you have put reality on the agenda and have a strategy for tackling it determinedly, as a group. Get out of the office and get your professional hands dirty.

Be motivating. Until the end of time essential, it is vital nowadays. Most people are apprehensive. The economic challenges arrived so quickly, obliterating their well-merited investments and placing their jobs in danger, which they don’t bank on. Worse, they don’t appreciate that will turn things around and many are losing faith. What can you do?

Get going with your own team — it is they who will have to enthuse the rest of the organization. Work with them to build up their steadfastness to get through the tempest effectively. Then, lend a hand to work out one or two pragmatically buoyant pictures of what can lie further on. This is very important: They need an image that will turn on their imagination, spawning resourcefulness and thoughts. Motivate your team to concentrate on the fresh priorities by doing so yourself, confidently. Encouragement will also help you and your team make decisions that bring into being incremental accomplishments. These are high energizers that build further successes.

It’s demanding to lead. It’s even more difficult to lead when times are hard-hitting. However when E1™ leaders get tough about their leadership, it’s preparation to be tough about accomplishment. This E1™ level of toughness readies us not just for the challenges at this moment, but also for the opportunities ahead.