Neglecting Goal

Questions of the week: Why must the team lead within the team cannot neglect the goal?

I write this article based on the insight of my conversation with my team in our monthly 1-on-1 call. I speak with each one of my team members. This article is to share the question of this week and our method to work on it. You can subscribe to the Building Our Team newsletter (2700+ subscribers)

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Why must the team lead within the team cannot neglect the goal?

After the first version of the SOP, the team consolidated the current output rate and completed the scorecard in about 90 minutes. That's a pretty good score compared to where we started three months back when nobody agreed that it could be done, and within three months, everyone had a change of heart.

I have mentioned this point repeatedly, but it is important to acknowledge the breakthrough because you may find a hidden gem inside that lesson that can be applied.

As I watched from outside, I noticed that all team leaders focused more on completing tasks quickly than achieving our main objective: building a system to create the scorecard in one day.

While completing the scorecard is a part of the process, there are other goals for the year. Building a system that contains SOP and delivers our goal is crucial. Unfortunately, Not all leads knew that there was an integration SOP. Since they were not using the SOP they did a freestyle on the call to integrate the scorecard. I was quite disappointed to see the scattered focus and lack of cohesion.

There is one major drawback to not using SOP. Despite seeming straightforward due to the scorecard's simplicity, this approach needs more scalability. Continuing without a systematic method will likely become problematic as the scorecard's complexity and components increase.

To address this, I plan to ask nine investigative questions to understand why they have yet to adhere to the SOP, explore their reasons, and discuss their estimates. Here are those nine questions.

1. Did you know there is an SOP for Integration for Scorecard Day? If yes, Can you share the link?
2. Are we using the Integration SOP during Scorecard Day? If No, What is the reason?
3. Would the SOP of Integration help on Scorecard Day? If yes for Q3, could you let me know why you didn't take the initiative to complete it? If No for Q3, what are your reasons? If the SOP works for individual parts, why won’t it work for the integration part?
4. Did you notice that the SOP for Integration is not complete and not used? If Yes, for Q4, Whose permission were you waiting for to complete it on your ME Day? If No for Q4, Why didn’t you notice it?
5. How long would it take for each lead to complete an SOP of integration by completing a subsystem, namely Template & Survey, Import, Dataset, Formula, Create Feedback report/ Scorecard, Charts, and HTML??
6. If we use Integration SOP, how many minutes will be saved for each level of integration, both Level 1 Merge and Level 2 Merge? Could you explain the reason behind your answer?
7. By which date do you estimate the Integration SOP will be completed so we can start using it on Scorecard Day?
8. Do you think we can delegate the integration part to team members in the future without a complete integration SOP?
9. Do you see the possibility of integrating without jumping into the team call? If Yes, Do you see how it can save time?

After gathering individual responses from each team lead, I compiled them into a document without further questioning, simply clarifying ambiguities or missing details. This document will now serve as a training tool. The team will be asked to identify the clearest and most well-thought-out responses. This exercise aims to reveal our operations' current state, helping us understand our starting point and chart a path to our desired end. It also prompts team leads to reflect on their answers and consider why certain responses resonated well, effectively addressing current challenges.

I have two observations that are bad traits for our leaders.

A) Some leaders naturally gravitate towards tasks they prefer, which disrupts our system and slows us down like they love to get on calls.

B) Some want the team to merge the scorecard without noticing that the SOP still needs to be developed.

Let's not reinvent the wheel and double down on our breakthrough;

The system works, and we need to automate most of it.

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