Team Team MakeoverMakeover

Some Practical Strategies Some Practical Strategies for Successfully for Successfully Remodeling an Remodeling an

Organizational TeamOrganizational Team

A Presentation for the OHA Annual MeetingA Presentation for the OHA Annual Meeting

Kendall L. Stewart, M.D.Kendall L. Stewart, M.D.June 13, 2006June 13, 2006

Why is this topic Why is this topic important?important?• For a variety of reasons,

organizational teams must be remodeled continuously.

• Most of us don’t do this easily or very well.

• This is a clear opportunity for improvement—right here, right now—in most organizations.

• That you have recognized this opportunity sets you apart.

• This presentation will suggest some practical strategies that can make your current or near-future team remodeling project more efficient and successful.

• After mastering the information in this presentation, you will be able to identify– Some of the common

reasons teams need to be remodeled.

– Some of the reasons that team remodeling projects often flop,

– Some practical strategies that will make your remodeling project easier,

– Why you should adopt these strategies, and

– How you can implement them.

What are some What are some reasonsreasons why teams why teams need to be remodeled?need to be remodeled?

• People leave the team.• New people join the team.• The team loses focus.• The team loses steam.• The current team is no longer

the best possible team.• The team becomes

dysfunctional.• The task changes

significantly.• The organizational culture

changes.• Leaders set off on a new

direction.

What are some of the What are some of the reasonsreasons that that team makeovers often flop?team makeovers often flop?

• People fail to engage in succession planning.

• People are chosen for some reason other than “fielding the best team.”

• People focus on “teamwork” instead of performance.

• People fail to recognize that a makeover is needed.

• People are afraid of hurting other people’s feelings.

• People assume the makeover will occur “naturally” on its own.

• People. Duh.

What practical What practical strategiesstrategies will will increase the likelihood of a successful increase the likelihood of a successful makeover?makeover?• Make a passionate

commitment to the mission—and the goal.

• Stay focused on performance.• Accept your obligation to field

the best possible team.• Embrace discomfort.• Listen intently.• Clarify everyone’s

expectations.• Learn the rules—both kinds.• Request an annual, facilitated

360-degree evaluation from your key customers.

• Observe, predict, manage and serve instead of longing for people to change.

• Manage feelings appropriately.

• Keep finding more efficient and effective ways to get things done.

• Prepare for meetings.• Stop tolerating muda in

meetings.• Embrace succession

planning.• Weave your professional

and personal lives together.• Stay in the loop.• Communicate effectively.• Become the team expert at

something the team needs.• Take a position and state it

good-naturedly.• Maintain a task list and

deliver on your commitments.

Manage Manage feelingsfeelings appropriately. appropriately.

• Why should I?– We all have them.– Sensitivities vary from

person to person and time to time.

– Upset people feel perfectly justified in feeling the way they do.

– Feelings blind us to options that would otherwise be obvious.

– Feelings incline us to behave impulsively.

– They are most destructive when not identified, expressed and managed.

• How can I?– Recognize that emotional

arousal is always a danger sign.

– Recognize that very few people understand this.

– Recognize that strong emotion is contagious.

– Recognize your own emotional arousal and restrain yourself.

– Recognize others’ emotional arousal and urge caution and restraint.

– Give feelings some time to dissipate and be understood.

What have we What have we learned?learned?• Teams frequently need makeovers.• Your team may need one now.• Team remodeling projects usually don’t

come off very well.• The successful team remodeling project

does not occur naturally; successful remodeling leaders plan and execute the project carefully.

• We have identified some strategies that will increase our chances of success.

• And we know why we should do these things and exactly how we should go about doing them.

• Now we need to just do them.

Where can you learn Where can you learn more?more?• Katzenbach, Jon R. and Smith, Douglas

K., The Wisdom of Teams: Creating the High-Performance Organization, Harvard Business School Press, 1992

• Parker, Glenn M., Team Players and Teamwork, Jossey-Bass, 1996

• Schein, Edgar H. The Corporate Culture Survival Guide, Jossey-Bass, 1999

• Stewart, KL, et. al., A Portable Mentor for Organizational Leaders, SOMCPress, 2003

• Stewart, Kendall L., “Relationships: Building and Sustaining the Interpersonal Foundations of Organizational Success” SOMCPress White Paper, SOMCPress, March 11, 2002

• SOMC Executive Staff, “Rules of Engagement: Some Expectations for SOMC Leaders,” SOMCPress, June 2003

Visit www.KendallLStewartMD.com to download related White Papers and presentations.

How can you How can you contactcontact me? me?

Kendall L. Stewart, M.D.Kendall L. Stewart, M.D.VPMA and Chief Medical OfficerVPMA and Chief Medical OfficerSouthern Ohio Medical CenterSouthern Ohio Medical Center

President & CEOPresident & CEOThe SOMC Medical Care Foundation, The SOMC Medical Care Foundation,

Inc.Inc.

1805 27th Street1805 27th StreetPortsmouth, Ohio 45662Portsmouth, Ohio 45662

740.356.8153740.356.8153

stewartk@somc.org Webmaster@KendallLStewartMD.com

www.somc.orgwww.KendallLStewartMD.com

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