Team Building Tips

I recently took a position with a new company and have three administrative staff who report to me. Some challenges I've been given by my boss, the VP and Division Manager, are to clean up the overall office of clutter and make optimal use of our space as we are running out of room.

My biggest challenge so far is not coming up with solutions to better optimize the space, but getting the three administrative personnel to get on board with me. I get constant resistance from them. I take so much energy trying to convince them of my strategy and the payoff for everyone, only to hear they are complaining to other staff about me. How do I get my group to move toward a team player attitude? HELP!

Your best bet is not to try to convince them that your way is the best way to make changes. A better way is to bring them together and come up with solutions as a team. That way they have more “skin in the game” and can own the solution in addition to owning the problem and will have more of a tendency to want to carry the solution to implementation.

Your NOT going to get the help you need if people don't want to do it. People hate change and if they are Not willing to change it is very hard for them to accept you.

Hello,

You have to coordinate them as a team, and suggest them how much it is needed for the organization and what would be the benefits that you will get from it, it is hard to convince, but it is part of your job and you have to do it.



Regards,
sarah_9

This is a common problem. I think the first thing to do is to not take it personally. The team there clearly has a culture established and its going to take some time before getting everyone on board. I think the central problem is trust. That is not to say that you are not trustworthy, Im sure you are. However, the team is not familiar with you and you cant expect someone to give their trust to a new manager right from the start. I think the key would be to focus getting one person on board first by giving that one person a chance at situational leadership. That is to say, if you have a special project, allow someone else to take the lead. When you say, I trust you, that trust is generally reciprocated. Bottom line- its going to take time. To read more about my thoughts on leadership please visit my blog on http://powerofteamwork.wordpress.com/

Hey good day to you. From what I see here you’ve gotten pretty good advice, if I could add one thing, it would be to get a hold of a book called "Developing the leader within you" by john Maxwell. This book is loaded with ideas of how to get people onboard with your ideas. Let me know how it works for you.

That sounds like a really good book. Thanks for sharing your thoughts. Here is a direct link if anyone is interested -- Developing the Leader Within You