Room for One – is your organization ready to really excel?

COVID-19 has changed the face of business – not just a few businesses, all businesses.

The ether is rife with stories of downsizing, of discovering new ways of working, of ditching unprofitable elements or commitments, of driving for greater efficiencies and, sadly, of companies that will not survive the pressure exerted on them by the pandemic.

Businesses emerging in a post-pandemic world will almost certainly have lost ground in some way, or will need to catch up on lost profits. Some will be fortunate enough to have made money during the COVID-19 lockdown but even they will be entering a world where those around them will be working in new and different ways. Everyone is affected.

The Lockdown has given many organisations the opportunity to rethink their structure and their strategy. Despite the challenges to businesses brought about by the global financial crisis in 2008, a mere 12 years ago, many organisations have become inefficient and overburdened once more. Have you noticed there might be a few more meetings than really necessary, that meetings take longer than they really should, that projects are frustratingly more sluggish than they ought to be? These are all signs that change is needed.

Add to that the fact that many of a company’s clients will be pushing for post-pandemic cost savings, and it doesn’t take a huge intellectual leap to determine that efficiency and effectiveness are no longer ‘nice-to-haves’. They are ‘must-haves’; often in the context of finding new ways of working in a socially-distanced world and potentially with reduced workforces.

As a consequence, never before has it been more important for those businesses emerging into a post-pandemic marketplace to achieve that nirvana of One Team.

What is One Team? In it’s purest form, we define One Team as everyone in your department, team or organisation pulling together in one direction, not wasting time, effort or resource, working not only efficiently but wholly effectively, and doing so with a positive, can-do frame of mind.

It does seem like Nirvana doesn’t it? The good news is, it isn’t: our version of One Team is not difficult to achieve and its returns are likely to change your business or organisation forever. A One-Team culture tends to be highly profitable and to create a leadership status.

When we create a One Team culture in an organisation we look for a number of key elements to be put in place. In their simplest form, they can be defined as:

-         Purpose

-         People

-         Presence

Let’s start with Purpose.

There is a probably apocryphal tale that US President John F Kennedy, in 1962, sprang a surprise visit on NASA Space Centre following his announcement that the United States would be first to put a man on the moon. On encountering one of the janitors there, Kennedy asked what the person was doing. ‘Keeping the place clean’ was the reply. Asking the same question of the next janitor, the response was ‘making a living’. Approaching a third janitor, Kennedy asked the question again. ‘Helping to put a man on the moon’ was the answer.

True or not, the point is clear: One Team starts with a Purpose. The Purpose should be one that affects everyone and can be influenced by everyone. For a team goal that’s everyone in the team. For a company goal it should be everyone in the company.

Based on experience, examples can include:

-         Doubling the company’s profitable turnover in 5 years

-         Providing a 50% service improvement within a fixed period

-         Increasing the average customer feedback score by 30% in 6 months

There are many more examples but each tends to have three things in common:

-         They are worth achieving, for everyone

-         They are easy to comprehend and memorable

-         They will impact the business/organisation, department, team positively and significantly

The Purpose should be simple, uncomplicated and single-minded. If you find you have a list then it’s not a purpose, it’s a set of goals. The two are very different. People remember a single-minded focus where they struggle to remember lists – the very reason lists exist in the first place of course. 

Don’t be afraid to be bold and uncompromising in your thinking: something that might seem borderline impossible to an individual can be the perfect challenge for an engaged One Team culture with a desire to win.

Through a number of tools and techniques, some of which are mentioned below, creating One Team requires people to begin thinking not just about the greater Purpose and its benefits, but also how they, as an individual, can play their part in its achievement; whether that’s as a member of the leadership team, a department head, a machine operator, an administrator, a janitor or the MD. One Team is a perfect exemplar of the ‘whole being greater than the sum of the parts’.

And, of course, normal SMART thinking applies: any Purpose should be Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and, of course, placed within in a clearly defined Timeframe (which allows milestones to be established and achieved).

Having a Purpose is important; bringing it to life is equally vital.

The more of our senses we can use to engage with something, the more memorable and engaging that experience becomes.

We can bring a Purpose to life by giving it an appropriate name and identity, even a phrase that succinctly encapsulates its benefits - for the organisation and, very importantly, for the individuals who will be driving its achievement. Once again, simplicity is the key: simple, memorable, engaging; visual and cognitive.

This simple tactic is used for more than just engagement purposes: by creating something iconic we can also establish a ‘touchstone’ that keeps peoples’ attention focused on the outcome being sought. Diversions and tangents are to be avoided in the pursuit of purposeful success; efficiency and effectiveness are the desired behaviours.

It is hugely beneficial to employ a small number of influential staff within an organisation to support this stage of the process – helping to provide form and meaning to the defined Purpose. These people later become advocates for the programme because of the role they have played in its genesis.

At this point we have a Purpose, positioned in such a way that people can engage with it, comprehend it and remain focused in line with it. The next step is to involve people. After all, without the people behind it, our Purpose is nothing more than an idea.

In any organisation there tends to be three broad categories of people: those who embrace new initiatives, those who are uncommitted and those who object.

Creating One Team success means all three have to be addressed.

I’ve already referred, above, to advocacy. This is one of the essential components in creating a movement: establishing a cohort of people who believe in the Purpose and will advocate for it.

Advocates can be recruited from those who embrace new initiatives and those who object. Often the latter do so ‘on principle’ rather than for any sound reason and simply need to be ‘won over’. In one manufacturing company there was a particularly vocal person who resisted change of any sort and had done so for many years. Invited to be part of a One Team programme, the response was initially one of cynicism. All that changed once the engagement started. Not only did that person become the leading advocate for the Programme in their area, they led the charge to make changes in that department, contributing massively to the achievement of the overall Purpose.

As the advocacy gains pace, supported and directed through a series of engagement tools and opportunities, ranging from regular Action Advocate meetings even as far as Advocate WhatsApp groups, others will increasingly be drawn into advocacy. Typically those who embrace change are rapidly followed by the ‘uncommitted’ (who subsequently commit from fear of missing out) and then the ‘resisters’ who often go on to become the greatest advocates of all.

One Team is sustained through a number of simple practices and tools, some of which are:

-         Regular engagement forums (such as Action Advocates meetings and channels) – to share and more widely benefit from ‘learnings’, to solve challenges, promote innovation and to celebrate success milestones

-         Promotion of the iconography – this creates both a sense of ‘belonging’ and a desire to belong. In one company, when budget dictated that only a small number of Advocates could be offered programme ‘branded’ work-wear, the rest of the staff paid for their own rather than miss out

-         Trust – enabling people to determine their own contribution; setting milestones for themselves and comparing their progress with their peers

-         Other, often digital, forums – where people can share their achievements and ideas – often sparking exponential thinking in others and driving programme standards to higher levels

-         Honesty – leadership team engagement that acknowledges the ‘good’ and the ‘bad’, and seeks help from staff and peers to build on the ‘good’ and challenge the ‘bad’ – empowering people to do so collectively and as individuals. After all, the expert in your job is you

-         Praise for success. On the whole, people seem to be brilliant at pointing to failings. One Team cultures are great at celebrating successes; and they do so regularly, frequently and ‘publicly’ across the programme participants – but never insincerely or without cause

-         Focus on benefits – we tend to be more committed if we can clearly see the benefits for our organisation, for ourselves, for our clients and so on. A focus purely on the programme features is disengaging. Leading with benefits is motivating, engaging and makes it personal

-         Open communication - between those engaged in the Purpose-programme and especially with leadership team members. This latter gives people ‘permission’ to fully play their part in achieving the Purpose. In some cases it will take the form of an ‘open door’ policy, in others it’s regular attendance of leaders in forums, in yet others it’s regular leadership-originated communications or newsletters that are engaging, informative and that encourage people to be responsible for their contribution to achieving the Purpose. In one organisation the desktop wallpaper regularly issued the challenge: what did you do today to achieve your Purpose?

In most cases, if you choose not to engage an external organisation such as Brands United, you’ll need a ‘super-advocate’ (or super-advocate-group)  simply to ensure that meetings and forums are sustained, the Purpose-programme iconography is promoted, milestones are met, individuals set and meet their own goals, actions are kept on track, sharing is promoted and achievements are publicised and celebrated. This sustains the initiative’s momentum.

The final component in this simplified One Team description is Presence.

By Presence, we mean the way that a Purpose-oriented One Team culture is infused through an organisation, department or team.

Presence is a combination of the forums where participants can exchange ideas and achievements (avoiding overlap and inefficiencies, innovating and celebrating), through the Action Advocates, the ubiquity of the purpose-programme identity, through driving awareness of the benefits for all parties, encouraging participation and ownership (especially in the form of ‘permission’ and ‘praise’ from leaders), celebrating success milestones publicly and more.

In essence, Presence is the sustainable manifestation of the Purpose in the everyday lives of all those engaged in its achievement. It keeps the Purpose real and it keeps it 'in the moment'.

At this point, we have achieved a One Team culture that will drive the organisation, department or team towards achieving the desired Purpose. But what does that actually look like?

You should now be engaging with a team of people who are regularly exchanging ideas, who are innovating, sharing and celebrating successes; who are working as a team, efficiently and effectively, avoiding overlaps through timely and habitual communication. And you should be seeing milestones being met and, often, exceeded. Once One Team gains traction it can accelerate exponentially. You should be experiencing a motivated, driven environment where, as one Purpose comes to a close, the next is embraced. If once there were a small number of gainsayers these will have engaged, or fallen by the wayside as the process gained momentum.

If you do all of the things I’ve described, will that guarantee achievement of your company or organisation’s ‘Purpose’?

If it was set in a SMART and collaborative way, almost certainly, but sometimes extraneous influences can also have an impact. One company that had set themselves the purpose of doubling their profitable turnover within 5 years, was roughly 70% of the way towards its achievement, on an exponential path, as they entered the fifth year…followed shortly after by COVID-19.

Will they tip the scales in the coming months and achieve the final stages of their stated ‘Purpose’? Probably, but the jury’s out. What’s certain, is that four and a bit years on from stating that Purpose, the organisation is fitter, better, more efficient, more driven, with a significantly higher, profitable turnover, and in a position where the final stages of the race are more likely to be achieved successfully than anyone could have dared to claim as a certainty at the outset.

Great things can be achieved in an organisation with one purpose, but truly great things are achieved by an organisation operating as One Team.

David Hall

Managing Director. Brands United Ltd

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