This readable book includes astute analysis and practical tools developed by leading specialists with much experience of fixing teams. It is welcome and timely, especially as there are so many work teams that are dysfunctional. Fixing them would benefit all concerned. — Professor Greg J. Bamber, Monash Business School, Monash University In today’s busy workplace, the need to work productively and harmoniously with others is critical, but not always the reality. Fix Your Team explores the common dysfunctions that can derail your team’s effectiveness, and provides practical solutions to move your team dynamic from dysfunctional to functional. Make some time to Fix Your Team. — Dermot Crowley, author of Smart Work and Smart Teams and founder of Adapt Productivity Fix Your Team is a very well organized, step-by-step guide for anyone who wants to improve their workplace and team dynamics, regardless of the size of their organization. From toxic personalities and reluctant or abrasive managers, to downsizing and overtime, the authors tackle every imaginable issue and break them down into manageable bites of what to do. Rose Bryant- Smith and Grevis Beard pack decades of experience into this very practical guidebook. — Bill Eddy, training director, High Conflict Institute, and author of 5 Types of People Who Can Ruin Your Life: Identifying and Dealing with Narcissists, Sociopaths and Other High-Conflict Personalities A wonderfully practical and informative tool for leaders, with helpful examples and case studies that will really guide you through the difficult scenarios we see on a daily basis, not just the theory! — Rebecca Fraser, Head of Human Resources, Energy, EnergyAustralia Finally! A book that addresses the most commonplace issues impacting team dynamics and effectiveness … and delivered with logic and humour. Rose and Grevis are to be congratulated on clearly identifying both the problems AND the solutions. — Cath Gillard, Executive Director, People & Culture, Australian Red Cross Blood Service In today’s competitive environment, organisations need to bring out the best in everyone. Fix Your Team is a definitive guide for all those on the front line — managers, human resources, risk, legal and other internal advisors — to get employees working with, and not against, each other. With actionable guidance on building buy-in, executing the strategy and staying the course in tough times, Fix Your Team is an essential read. — Christina Gillies, independent company director and Chair of the Victorian Council of the International Women’s Forum There is a lot of preaching about the value of teams at work – but it’s not always backed up with practice. Here’s a book that locates the most common problems and helps you and your team fix them. A clearly written handbook that will help you and your colleagues realise their true potential. — Rob Goffee, Emeritus Professor, Organisational Behaviour, London Business School Fix Your Team offers a comprehensive guide to the problems faced by those managing a team. The authors’ experience and expertise are apparent in the detailed analysis of underlying problems and practical advice to resolve them. Every manager will find value in these pages. — Nick Grant, Director of Human Resources, Australia, K&L Gates This book will be a critical read for all managers and professionals looking to build a thriving team. It’s easy to find a book to tell you how to build a great team, but there are not many that so effectively and pragmatically help you to eliminate the dysfunction and barriers that will prevent you from even starting to thrive! Read it all, or dip into it when you see dysfunction — either way, you will find real and practical help. — Aaron Lamers, Human Resources Director Northern Europe, General Mills Managing your team has just become a whole lot easier with this book. Fix Your Team is a compelling guide to realising your team’s full potential. The authors advance specific team goals and offer a myriad of suggestions, including fun team activities, on how to achieve this. This book is a must- have reference for all team managers. — Isabel Metz, Professor of Organisational Behaviour, Melbourne Business School A must read for anyone despairing of the dysfunctional team they have joined, inherited or hired. Fix Your Team is the practical guide for leaders, managers and employees that provides realistic solutions to seemingly impossible team dysfunctionality. The Fix Your Team Toolkit will help you shift the dysfunction and build team morale, values and good behaviours. — Kimberley Poynton, Head of Human Resources, Ivanhoe Grammar School When teams work well, they work very very well, and when they don’t, they are horrid. If you ever need help with improving your team’s dynamics, then this book is the one for you. It is the ‘one stop shop’ for unearthing what’s going wrong, identifying the ways forward, and implementing the necessary solutions. — Chris Roussos, Executive Director, People & Corporate Support, St Vincent’s Hospital, Melbourne Fix Your Team is the tool that many team leaders have been wanting. For many years, I have written and spoken about organisational culture. Every team, no matter how big or small, has a culture. The team leader is pivotal in setting in that culture. Where can a team leader start in assessing and improving the team’s culture? Reading Fix Your Team is the ideal starting point. — Neville Tiffen, specialist consultant in business integrity, corporate governance and compliance, member OECD Secretary-General’s high level advisory group on integrity and anti-corruption Teams outperform individuals when they work well together! Fix Your Team identifies common team dysfunctions then offers 14 insightful, tailored and specific tools to overcome them. Anyone on any team would be well served by accessing these insights. — Dave Ulrich, Rensis Likert Professor, Ross School of Business, University of Michigan First published in 2018 by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd 42 McDougall St, Milton Qld 4064 Office also in Melbourne © John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd 2018 The moral rights of the authors have been asserted All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the Australian Copyright Act 1968 (for example, a fair dealing for the purposes of study, research, criticism or review), no part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, communicated or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior written permission. All inquiries should be made to the publisher at the address above. Cover design by Wiley Cover image and internal illustrations © Flipser/Shutterstock Disclaimer Although based on aspects of actual complaints, conflicts and team dysfunction we have resolved in our professional work, no character, situation or organisation described in this book represents any real person, situation or organisation. The contents of this book are provided as general information only. We recommend seeking advice from a qualified lawyer before acting on any matter with legal implications. The material in this publication is of the nature of general comment only, and does not represent professional advice. It is not intended to provide specific guidance for particular circumstances and it should not be relied on as the basis for any decision to take action or not take action on any matter which it covers. Readers should obtain professional advice where appropriate, before making any such decision. To the maximum extent permitted by law, the authors and publisher disclaim all responsibility and liability to any person, arising directly or indirectly from any person taking or not taking action based on the information in this publication. To the team at Worklogic. Every day you demonstrate accountability, integrity, confidence, wisdom and joy. Every day you innovate and collaborate to build happy, healthy, productive workplaces across Australia. Worklogic is the best team we know. CONTENTS ABOUT THE AUTHORS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS INTRODUCTION PART I WHAT IS GOING ON? CHAPTER 1 GOSSIP CULTURE WHAT’S GOING ON IMPACT ON THE TEAM CHAPTER 2 UNPROFESSIONAL CONDUCT WHAT’S GOING ON IMPACT ON THE TEAM CHAPTER 3 TOXIC PERSONALITIES WHAT’S GOING ON IMPACT ON THE TEAM CHAPTER 4 PERSONAL CRISIS WHAT’S GOING ON IMPACT ON THE TEAM CHAPTER 5 WORKPLACE ROMANCE WHAT’S GOING ON IMPACT ON THE TEAM CHAPTER 6 FAMILY TIES WHAT’S GOING ON IMPACT ON THE TEAM CHAPTER 7 LACK OF DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION WHAT’S GOING ON IMPACT ON THE TEAM CHAPTER 8 UNRESOLVED HISTORICAL ISSUE WHAT’S GOING ON IMPACT ON THE TEAM CHAPTER 9 THE MANAGER’S STYLE WHAT’S GOING ON IMPACT ON THE TEAM CHAPTER 10 UNHEALTHY COMPETITION WHAT’S GOING ON IMPACT ON THE TEAM CHAPTER 11 NO CLARITY, NO ACCOUNTABILITY WHAT’S GOING ON IMPACT ON THE TEAM CHAPTER 12 OVERWORK WHAT’S GOING ON IMPACT ON THE TEAM PART II THE FIX YOUR TEAM TOOLKIT CHAPTER 13 WHERE TO START INDIVIDUAL DYNAMICS, CONTEXT AND CULTURE IS THE ‘SURFACE’ PROBLEM HIDING THE REAL PROBLEM? IS MORE THAN ONE PROBLEM AT PLAY? DO YOU NEED MORE INFORMATION? WHAT IF THE WHOLE ORGANISATION IS BROKEN? THERE IS NO MAGIC BULLET CHOOSING THE INTERVENTIONS CHAPTER 14 THE FIX: ADDRESS UNHEALTHY CONFLICT TOOL #1 TRAIN EVERYONE TO HAVE IMPORTANT CONVERSATIONS TOOL #2 OFFER FACILITATED DISCUSSION, MEDIATION OR CONFLICT COACHING CHAPTER 15 THE FIX: ADDRESS UNCONSTRUCTIVE INDIVIDUAL BEHAVIOUR TOOL #3 COUNSEL THE BAD APPLE OR UNPROFESSIONAL TEAM MEMBER TOOL #4 GET THE ORGANISATION TO INVESTIGATE THE APPARENT MISCONDUCT AND DISCIPLINE THE WRONGDOER CHAPTER 16 THE FIX: DEVELOP THE TEAM’S CHARACTER AND CONNECTIONS TOOL #5 NEXT HIRE TOOL #6 DEVELOP SELF-REFLECTION IN THE WHOLE TEAM TOOL #7 BUILD THE TEAM’S CONNECTIONS CHAPTER 17 THE FIX: ALIGN WITH VALUES TOOL #8 DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION INITIATIVES TOOL #9 MAKE SURE THE ORGANISATION’S VALUES AND BEHAVIOURAL EXPECTATIONS ARE KNOWN, CLEAR, UNDERSTOOD AND REAL TOOL #10 BUILD A CULTURE OF FEEDBACK CHAPTER 18 THE FIX: DEVELOP LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT TOOL #11 TRAIN THE MANAGER TOOL #12 ENSURE CLARITY — HOLD PEOPLE ACCOUNTABLE! CHAPTER 19 THE FIX: CARE FOR EACH OTHER TOOL #13 SUPPORT THE TEAM THROUGH PERSONAL CRISES AND CHALLENGES TOOL #14 DEALING WITH OVERWORK PART III MAKING IT WORK CHAPTER 20 CREATE A PROJECT PLAN WHAT HAS ALREADY BEEN TRIED? TIMING AND SEQUENCE OF STEPS USING INTERNAL RESOURCES AND DO-IT-YOURSELF HOW YOU WILL MEASURE SUCCESS CHAPTER 21 BUILD A BUSINESS CASE SOCIALISE THE ISSUE FIRST
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