These Below The Line tendencies not only make people and teams ineffective, but they can also lead to deadly mistakes that have great ramifications on people and the business. We classify those mistakes into two categories. A Type 1 error is a mistake that is made that you can recover from. A Type 2 error is a mistake that is made that you cannot recover from. Avoid Type 1 and never let Type 2 happen. Both of these types of errors are more likely to occur when an individual, team or organization languishes Below The Line, impeding the team's ability to establish trust and work effectively together.
The lack of teamwork, trust and collaboration between people, departments and others we count on to help us will be...
- 44% say "A major impediment to achieving our strategic priorities as an organization."
- 35% say "The reason we do not achieve our R2, if that were to happen."
- 21% say "It is not a major issue needing to be prioritized in the organization today."
Our own studies show that 79% of the executives we polled identified teamwork and trust as a major organizational challenge that, if not corrected, could cause a Type 2 error. In fact, 35% said that the lack of teamwork, trust and collaboration between people, departments and others we count on to help us would be the reason the organization did not achieve their key results, if that were to happen.
These issues of teamwork and trust are further emphasized with another major poll that found that one in four working Americans describe their workplace as a dictatorship with only half feeling that their boss treats subordinates well. Employee satisfaction is at an all-time low at 45%. Indeed, teamwork and trust are challenges in today's workplace.
Partners In Leadership has over two decades of experience in helping leaders build strong, collaborative teams that are focused on achieving results. The best teambuilding results come as leaders and teams work to create positive individual and organizational accountability around achieving specific business objectives. Accountability, done correctly, instills trust in working relationships. Trust between individuals or within a team is largely an outcome of people holding one another accountable in a positive, principled way. When people effectively communicate with one another about what they are accountable to achieve and then follow-up in a positive way, the levels of trust dramatically improve. When the Accountability Connection® that people share is compromised by ineffective methods or faulty approaches, then trust is the first thing to go. The Partners In Leadership training helps leaders establish a foundation of accountability that fosters trust and builds effective teams.
The following are client applications of the Partners In Leadership training that illustrate our powerful approach to building trust and teams:
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The Story: Olsten Staffing Services is known as the leading provider of strategic, cost-effective staffing solutions to business, industry and government and they have been doing it for over 60 years. Olsten Staffing Services experienced what many organizations encounter: staff working in silos, low trust levels and little collaboration. After implementing the Self Track™ Training (the first organization to do training at Olsten ever), and identifying their Key Results, they began to better communicate and recognize each other. Signe Godfrey, CEO and President said, they "are light years ahead of where (they) ever imagined they would be. Their culture has turned around 180-degrees and become more open and honest creating an environment of trust." Not only have they improved company morale and teamwork by applying the Accountability Training,® but they have increased their business. Godfrey says, "Everyone seems to be engaged in their work."
Better Place to Work...
The Result: 180-degree turnaround on trust
The Story: Olsten Staffing Services is known as the leading provider of strategic, cost-effective staffing solutions to business, industry and government and they have been doing it for over 60 years. Olsten Staffing Services experienced what many organizations encounter: staff working in silos, low trust levels and little collaboration. After implementing the Self Track™ Training (the first organization to do training at Olsten ever), and identifying their Key Results, they began to better communicate and recognize each other. Signe Godfrey, CEO and President said, they "are light years ahead of where (they) ever imagined they would be. Their culture has turned around 180-degrees and become more open and honest creating an environment of trust." Not only have they improved company morale and teamwork by applying the Accountability Training,® but they have increased their business. Godfrey says, "Everyone seems to be engaged in their work."
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The Story: The U.S. Army knows how to do it. Major Daniel Thompson, of the U.S. Army's 325th Combat Support Hospital. recounts his experience using the principles and practices that he learned from the Self Track™ Training to enlist his unit in a "life or death" cause. With a deployment in Tikrit, Iraq, Daniel was the officer in charge of the emergency department, which consisted of fourteen combat medics and six registered nurses. When his team arrived in theater, Daniel recognized that they needed to change the team process for taking care of trauma patients. He writes, "This went over like a lead balloon initially, because it gave the appearance of taking care away from the medics and giving it to some of the nurses. The previous unit had a medic-dominant system that set my relatively inexperienced medics up for failure." To address this, Daniel implemented The Oz Principle Accountability Training® and assigned the nurses to perform the primary and secondary assessments, with the physician serving as team leader. "This was uncomfortable for some of my Registered Nurses because it put a lot more responsibility in their hands. Historically, physicians would perform this function; however, in this environment the physicians were often less experienced in trauma care than were the nurses."
As Daniel thoroughly trained his staff in the new system, telling and retelling his story about providing better care for wounded soldiers, he decided to lead by example and take the first few patients himself. He knew he was taking a big personal risk with the as yet unproven approach. However, that simple act clearly demonstrated to everyone his belief in this new approach and his example of getting the team to collaborate and function in a better way. As the new approach proved its value, one case at a time, Daniel made sure they celebrated each success. In due course, he wrote, "The doubters started to come around." Celebrating the little successes while modeling the new process helped others see that it really was achieving the results they were looking for. The light came on for the whole team, and, from that point on, they all embraced and advocated the new approach, often with stories of their own.
The results were gratifying. Daniel's unit won recognition throughout the theater as a polished "pit crew" that saved lives. Team members invested their hearts and minds and passionately looked for other ways to improve the process. They brought ideas to Daniel, 90 percent of which were implemented. In recognition of his work to make his unit the highest-performing team at the hospital, Daniel was awarded the Bronze Star. More important than that honor, Daniel notes, "Many lives were saved because of our ability to adapt to change and maintain a focus on constant improvement." And the celebrations did not stop there. When the army ultimately introduced many of the processes developed by his team throughout the theater, hundreds of wounded soldiers received the best care the army could provide.
Bringing It All Together in the Heat of the Battle
The Results: Transforming triage in the battle theatre
The Story: The U.S. Army knows how to do it. Major Daniel Thompson, of the U.S. Army's 325th Combat Support Hospital. recounts his experience using the principles and practices that he learned from the Self Track™ Training to enlist his unit in a "life or death" cause. With a deployment in Tikrit, Iraq, Daniel was the officer in charge of the emergency department, which consisted of fourteen combat medics and six registered nurses. When his team arrived in theater, Daniel recognized that they needed to change the team process for taking care of trauma patients. He writes, "This went over like a lead balloon initially, because it gave the appearance of taking care away from the medics and giving it to some of the nurses. The previous unit had a medic-dominant system that set my relatively inexperienced medics up for failure." To address this, Daniel implemented The Oz Principle Accountability Training® and assigned the nurses to perform the primary and secondary assessments, with the physician serving as team leader. "This was uncomfortable for some of my Registered Nurses because it put a lot more responsibility in their hands. Historically, physicians would perform this function; however, in this environment the physicians were often less experienced in trauma care than were the nurses."
As Daniel thoroughly trained his staff in the new system, telling and retelling his story about providing better care for wounded soldiers, he decided to lead by example and take the first few patients himself. He knew he was taking a big personal risk with the as yet unproven approach. However, that simple act clearly demonstrated to everyone his belief in this new approach and his example of getting the team to collaborate and function in a better way. As the new approach proved its value, one case at a time, Daniel made sure they celebrated each success. In due course, he wrote, "The doubters started to come around." Celebrating the little successes while modeling the new process helped others see that it really was achieving the results they were looking for. The light came on for the whole team, and, from that point on, they all embraced and advocated the new approach, often with stories of their own.
The results were gratifying. Daniel's unit won recognition throughout the theater as a polished "pit crew" that saved lives. Team members invested their hearts and minds and passionately looked for other ways to improve the process. They brought ideas to Daniel, 90 percent of which were implemented. In recognition of his work to make his unit the highest-performing team at the hospital, Daniel was awarded the Bronze Star. More important than that honor, Daniel notes, "Many lives were saved because of our ability to adapt to change and maintain a focus on constant improvement." And the celebrations did not stop there. When the army ultimately introduced many of the processes developed by his team throughout the theater, hundreds of wounded soldiers received the best care the army could provide.
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The Story: "A major Fortune 100 organization that we will call "ADH," manufactured and marketed a medication that addressed a medical condition afflicting a relatively small population of patients. While not a blockbuster profit-producer, the drug had been on the market for many years, but business conditions convinced ADH to stop manufacturing it. One father, whose daughter depended on the drug to stabilize her condition, went to refill the girl's prescription, only to find it back-ordered. He did not know that ADH was in the process of selling out its supply of the drug before announcing that it would cease production altogether. However, the fact that he could not obtain the drug right away prompted the worried father to write a letter to ADH's president explaining his distress. The president asked "Bill," a senior ADH executive, to look into it.
As Bill diligently delved into the situation, he discovered that not only did consumers not know that the drug would soon be discontinued, but neither did all but a few of ADH's own employees. Digging further, he learned that a widely available generic drug could effectively replace ADH's product, a fact he shared with the worried father. Grateful for this information, the father went to his local pharmacy only to learn that some of the inactive ingredients in the generic differed from ADH's formula and that the generic would not, according to a dietician and the pharmacy of a university medical center, provide an acceptable substitution.
That news did not deter Bill, who took the initiative to contact the manufacturer of the generic, who informed him that the generic alternative would, in fact, make a perfectly suitable alternative. Once again Bill called the father and explained the science to him. Then he called the university pharmacy to explain it to them as well. Bill then made sure ADH put together a letter for distribution to doctors throughout the nation that detailed the suitability of the generic drug as a replacement.
We like this story for several reasons. First, it underscores the importance of a rock-solid commitment to getting to the truth and developing trust between customers and companies. It also shows how this value of truthfulness not only helped people solve a problem in the short run, but also benefited the organization in the long run. A less accountable person in a less accountable culture might have simply gone to the father and said, "We are discontinuing the product, so you will need to work with your doctor to find a suitable solution." Instead, Bill represented everything the company would want him to represent--he pursued the path of truthfulness and resourcefulness, building a bond of trust that is irreplaceable in the pharmaceutical industry.
Putting the Customer First
The Result: Building a bond of trust with the customer.
The Story: "A major Fortune 100 organization that we will call "ADH," manufactured and marketed a medication that addressed a medical condition afflicting a relatively small population of patients. While not a blockbuster profit-producer, the drug had been on the market for many years, but business conditions convinced ADH to stop manufacturing it. One father, whose daughter depended on the drug to stabilize her condition, went to refill the girl's prescription, only to find it back-ordered. He did not know that ADH was in the process of selling out its supply of the drug before announcing that it would cease production altogether. However, the fact that he could not obtain the drug right away prompted the worried father to write a letter to ADH's president explaining his distress. The president asked "Bill," a senior ADH executive, to look into it.
As Bill diligently delved into the situation, he discovered that not only did consumers not know that the drug would soon be discontinued, but neither did all but a few of ADH's own employees. Digging further, he learned that a widely available generic drug could effectively replace ADH's product, a fact he shared with the worried father. Grateful for this information, the father went to his local pharmacy only to learn that some of the inactive ingredients in the generic differed from ADH's formula and that the generic would not, according to a dietician and the pharmacy of a university medical center, provide an acceptable substitution.
That news did not deter Bill, who took the initiative to contact the manufacturer of the generic, who informed him that the generic alternative would, in fact, make a perfectly suitable alternative. Once again Bill called the father and explained the science to him. Then he called the university pharmacy to explain it to them as well. Bill then made sure ADH put together a letter for distribution to doctors throughout the nation that detailed the suitability of the generic drug as a replacement.
We like this story for several reasons. First, it underscores the importance of a rock-solid commitment to getting to the truth and developing trust between customers and companies. It also shows how this value of truthfulness not only helped people solve a problem in the short run, but also benefited the organization in the long run. A less accountable person in a less accountable culture might have simply gone to the father and said, "We are discontinuing the product, so you will need to work with your doctor to find a suitable solution." Instead, Bill represented everything the company would want him to represent--he pursued the path of truthfulness and resourcefulness, building a bond of trust that is irreplaceable in the pharmaceutical industry.
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The Story: In one unionized plant of the world's leading aluminum fabricator, management looked to implementing the Culture Track™ Training to help them address the issue that, throughout the mill, no one seemed to want to accept ownership for solving problems. If something went wrong, people generally kept to themselves, not wanting to share any information that might get a fellow worker in trouble. The culture embodied two unwritten rules: "Do your job and keep your nose down" and "Mind your own business and do what you are told to do." Management wanted to change that environment. Using the Culture Track Training, they began working to create a Culture of Accountability,® beginning with management itself and working all the way down to the unionized plant floor.
Management began engaging people throughout the plant, including the union leaders, by defining the cultural shifts needed to eliminate the problems that were blocking the road to results. With the shifts well defined, we helped them shape a set of Cultural Beliefs that would guide the way people thought about how to do their jobs differently. Applying The Results Pyramid,® described in the Culture Track Training they created new experiences for one another that reinforced and supported the Cultural Beliefs® and the associated actions needed to produce results.
The new culture faced its first real test when they experienced an explosion that destroyed a key manufacturing system, causing $39 million in damages to the plant and nearly shutting down production all together. While they did get the system back up and running, they could not achieve the system's former throughput in the mill, a number they sorely needed to hit. The plant manager, "Fred," did something he would never have dreamed of doing in the old culture; he went straight to the union laborers closest to the work to get their input. One of the hourly operators piped up: "The first thing I want to ask you is this; is there a rule against laptops in the plant?" The question surprised Fred, who asked why the operator wanted to know that. In response, he pulled out the drawer of the desk at his workstation and displayed several Excel spreadsheets full of figures on downtime, utilization, and other technical aspects of the system. He said that he had been doing some calculations at home and would like to bring his laptop into the plant to continue his analysis. He said that he could prove his theory that the vibration sensor was causing the machine to shut off prematurely, thus producing the lower throughput number. "I know what it feels like when the mill vibrates," he said, "and I don't think it is vibrating. I think the vibration sensor is bad."
Fred told us that before the culture change, this operator would have "sat in a chair, waiting for the machine to reset once it tripped." The operator would never have considered himself the least bit responsible for figuring out what was going wrong. However, in the new team-centric culture, the operator had taken the initiative to tell the maintenance people about his analysis. Unfortunately, maintenance had dismissed the theory because they never encountered bad sensors before. Now, having alerted Fred to the situation, the operator won trust and approval to confirm his theory. He brought in his laptop, continued running the numbers, and was vindicated when the plant's engineers verified his numbers and his conclusion that overly sensitive sensors were unnecessarily shutting down the machine.
The old culture kept laborers on the shop floor-a motivated, trained, and accountable workforce-from taking initiative. The new culture inspired trust, ownership, teamwork and personal investment in finding solutions. Amazingly, after fixing the sensors, this mill hit a higher throughput number than all seven of the company's mills combined had ever reached prior to the explosion. In this case, removing the culture as an obstacle was just the right solution to overcome unmet expectations.
Management and Front-line Union Workers Teaming Together
The Results: Through dramatically improved teamwork and trust, this mill hit a higher throughput number than all seven of the company's mills combined
The Story: In one unionized plant of the world's leading aluminum fabricator, management looked to implementing the Culture Track™ Training to help them address the issue that, throughout the mill, no one seemed to want to accept ownership for solving problems. If something went wrong, people generally kept to themselves, not wanting to share any information that might get a fellow worker in trouble. The culture embodied two unwritten rules: "Do your job and keep your nose down" and "Mind your own business and do what you are told to do." Management wanted to change that environment. Using the Culture Track Training, they began working to create a Culture of Accountability,® beginning with management itself and working all the way down to the unionized plant floor.
Management began engaging people throughout the plant, including the union leaders, by defining the cultural shifts needed to eliminate the problems that were blocking the road to results. With the shifts well defined, we helped them shape a set of Cultural Beliefs that would guide the way people thought about how to do their jobs differently. Applying The Results Pyramid,® described in the Culture Track Training they created new experiences for one another that reinforced and supported the Cultural Beliefs® and the associated actions needed to produce results.
The new culture faced its first real test when they experienced an explosion that destroyed a key manufacturing system, causing $39 million in damages to the plant and nearly shutting down production all together. While they did get the system back up and running, they could not achieve the system's former throughput in the mill, a number they sorely needed to hit. The plant manager, "Fred," did something he would never have dreamed of doing in the old culture; he went straight to the union laborers closest to the work to get their input. One of the hourly operators piped up: "The first thing I want to ask you is this; is there a rule against laptops in the plant?" The question surprised Fred, who asked why the operator wanted to know that. In response, he pulled out the drawer of the desk at his workstation and displayed several Excel spreadsheets full of figures on downtime, utilization, and other technical aspects of the system. He said that he had been doing some calculations at home and would like to bring his laptop into the plant to continue his analysis. He said that he could prove his theory that the vibration sensor was causing the machine to shut off prematurely, thus producing the lower throughput number. "I know what it feels like when the mill vibrates," he said, "and I don't think it is vibrating. I think the vibration sensor is bad."
Fred told us that before the culture change, this operator would have "sat in a chair, waiting for the machine to reset once it tripped." The operator would never have considered himself the least bit responsible for figuring out what was going wrong. However, in the new team-centric culture, the operator had taken the initiative to tell the maintenance people about his analysis. Unfortunately, maintenance had dismissed the theory because they never encountered bad sensors before. Now, having alerted Fred to the situation, the operator won trust and approval to confirm his theory. He brought in his laptop, continued running the numbers, and was vindicated when the plant's engineers verified his numbers and his conclusion that overly sensitive sensors were unnecessarily shutting down the machine.
The old culture kept laborers on the shop floor-a motivated, trained, and accountable workforce-from taking initiative. The new culture inspired trust, ownership, teamwork and personal investment in finding solutions. Amazingly, after fixing the sensors, this mill hit a higher throughput number than all seven of the company's mills combined had ever reached prior to the explosion. In this case, removing the culture as an obstacle was just the right solution to overcome unmet expectations.
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The Story: Mike Eagle, as President of IVAC corporation, a medical instruments company that is now a part of Carefusion, implemented the Self Track™ and Culture Track™ throughout the company to create a collaborative culture of teamwork and trust that produced results. The company developed a new Model 570 set of instruments, composed of seventy different pieces of equipment, and promised Sparrow Hospital in Lansing, Michigan, one of IVAC's first customers for the new product, delivery before Christmas. One day, late in the year, Mike learned that the delivery could not take place as promised because the new Model 570 instruments required last minute changes in their printed circuit boards...
Determined to keep IVAC's commitment and to solve this problem, he asked the team what else IVAC people could do to hit the target date. After intense discussion, a possible solution emerged. Could a concerted effort from an ad hoc project team close the gap? Some said, "Maybe." Mike said, "Yes!" Immediately he assembled the new team with representatives from product development, instrument operations, engineering, quality assurance, and shipping, urging them to invest every brain cell in effecting the circuit board changes within a week. Just one week later, the Model 570 instruments were ready for shipping.
But then a new obstacle arose: Due to heavy holiday orders, all commercial shipping services were already overbooked. Once again, Mike asked the team, "What else can we do?" And the answer came, "There is nothing else we can do short of renting a Learjet to get this product there on time." They didn't miss a beat. "So we rent a Learjet!" Astonished at Mike's get-it-done attitude, the team enthusiastically went to work. The shipping department raced to rent a Lear jet and reconfigure its interior to accommodate the Model 570. Then, at the last minute, it turned out that the company had miscalculated the size of the order. Even with the reconfigured jet interior, all the boxes simply would not fit. Unwilling to accept defeat so close to the goal line, freight packers opened each box and repacked all seventy different instruments. Finally, at 3:00 P.M. on December 17, the Learjet left the San Diego airport for Lansing, Michigan.
In anticipation of any further problems and intent upon doing whatever else it took to get the result, a product manager from IVAC accompanied the flight. Everyone on the team was engaged in ensuring the result. A few hours later, the jet arrived in Wichita, Kansas, for refueling. While taxiing down the runway to take off again, the pilot detected a broken altimeter. Able to fly but a short distance at low altitude, the pilot took the aircraft two hundred miles to Lincoln, Nebraska, where the product manager got on the telephone with the company's Traffic Coordination Department to track down the faulty altimeter part, a task quite out of the ordinary for this department. After five hours of intense communications with airlines and manufacturers, the part was secured, flown to the airport, and installed in the jet. At 3:30 A.M. on December 18, the shipment left Lincoln for Lansing, where it arrived at 5:45 A.M. Meanwhile, IVAC's in-service and training personnel, who were scheduled to instruct the people at Sparrow Hospital in the use of the new Model 570 instruments, had gotten stuck in a snowstorm in Chicago and had traveled all night by car to arrive at the hospital on time the next morning. At 7:30 A.M. the following day IVAC unveiled the Model 570 instruments at Sparrow Hospital on time, as expected, and commenced with its service and training operations.
So We Rent A Learjet!
The Results: On time delivery to a key client despite relentless setbacks.
The Story: Mike Eagle, as President of IVAC corporation, a medical instruments company that is now a part of Carefusion, implemented the Self Track™ and Culture Track™ throughout the company to create a collaborative culture of teamwork and trust that produced results. The company developed a new Model 570 set of instruments, composed of seventy different pieces of equipment, and promised Sparrow Hospital in Lansing, Michigan, one of IVAC's first customers for the new product, delivery before Christmas. One day, late in the year, Mike learned that the delivery could not take place as promised because the new Model 570 instruments required last minute changes in their printed circuit boards...
Determined to keep IVAC's commitment and to solve this problem, he asked the team what else IVAC people could do to hit the target date. After intense discussion, a possible solution emerged. Could a concerted effort from an ad hoc project team close the gap? Some said, "Maybe." Mike said, "Yes!" Immediately he assembled the new team with representatives from product development, instrument operations, engineering, quality assurance, and shipping, urging them to invest every brain cell in effecting the circuit board changes within a week. Just one week later, the Model 570 instruments were ready for shipping.
But then a new obstacle arose: Due to heavy holiday orders, all commercial shipping services were already overbooked. Once again, Mike asked the team, "What else can we do?" And the answer came, "There is nothing else we can do short of renting a Learjet to get this product there on time." They didn't miss a beat. "So we rent a Learjet!" Astonished at Mike's get-it-done attitude, the team enthusiastically went to work. The shipping department raced to rent a Lear jet and reconfigure its interior to accommodate the Model 570. Then, at the last minute, it turned out that the company had miscalculated the size of the order. Even with the reconfigured jet interior, all the boxes simply would not fit. Unwilling to accept defeat so close to the goal line, freight packers opened each box and repacked all seventy different instruments. Finally, at 3:00 P.M. on December 17, the Learjet left the San Diego airport for Lansing, Michigan.
In anticipation of any further problems and intent upon doing whatever else it took to get the result, a product manager from IVAC accompanied the flight. Everyone on the team was engaged in ensuring the result. A few hours later, the jet arrived in Wichita, Kansas, for refueling. While taxiing down the runway to take off again, the pilot detected a broken altimeter. Able to fly but a short distance at low altitude, the pilot took the aircraft two hundred miles to Lincoln, Nebraska, where the product manager got on the telephone with the company's Traffic Coordination Department to track down the faulty altimeter part, a task quite out of the ordinary for this department. After five hours of intense communications with airlines and manufacturers, the part was secured, flown to the airport, and installed in the jet. At 3:30 A.M. on December 18, the shipment left Lincoln for Lansing, where it arrived at 5:45 A.M. Meanwhile, IVAC's in-service and training personnel, who were scheduled to instruct the people at Sparrow Hospital in the use of the new Model 570 instruments, had gotten stuck in a snowstorm in Chicago and had traveled all night by car to arrive at the hospital on time the next morning. At 7:30 A.M. the following day IVAC unveiled the Model 570 instruments at Sparrow Hospital on time, as expected, and commenced with its service and training operations.
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The Story: The Sony VAIO Service Organization set an ambitious goal to improve customer satisfaction scores by 15% over the prior year. They assembled team members from all functions and levels to work on achieving this and trained them in the Self Track™ Training. Although the goal had been communicated numerous times in meetings and assemblies, it wasn't until they got everyone together in the context of the Accountability Training® and had a thorough discussion about what this goal really meant and what would be required to achieve it that the team fully realized just how challenging it would be. The focus of the Self Track Training was to create an environment where people took collaborated and took true personal ownership for the customer satisfaction result.
As the team dug into every aspect and implication of the goal, the Vice President of the group, Steven Nickel, said, "The room got very quiet." Once the team fully internalized the challenge, however, it became much easier to make significant progress on a daily basis. Their weekly Key Performance Initiatives meetings came to life as members from all areas, many of whom had never spoken up in these meetings before, now shared improvement ideas and took ownership to implement them. The outcome of this approach helped them not only achieve, but exceed the goal they had set! For these efforts and results the VAIO Service team was awarded the Chief Operating Officer Award from Sony Electronics that year.
According to Nickel, "I learned the equivalent of several volumes of business books from this experience. At the top of the list is getting aligned around the result throughout the entire organization. This doesn't come from slide shows or speeches. It comes from engaging everyone on the team to get clear on what success looks like and what we need to do to achieve it"
At your service, in a major way...
The Results: Exceeding an ambitious customer service score by over 15%
The Story: The Sony VAIO Service Organization set an ambitious goal to improve customer satisfaction scores by 15% over the prior year. They assembled team members from all functions and levels to work on achieving this and trained them in the Self Track™ Training. Although the goal had been communicated numerous times in meetings and assemblies, it wasn't until they got everyone together in the context of the Accountability Training® and had a thorough discussion about what this goal really meant and what would be required to achieve it that the team fully realized just how challenging it would be. The focus of the Self Track Training was to create an environment where people took collaborated and took true personal ownership for the customer satisfaction result.
As the team dug into every aspect and implication of the goal, the Vice President of the group, Steven Nickel, said, "The room got very quiet." Once the team fully internalized the challenge, however, it became much easier to make significant progress on a daily basis. Their weekly Key Performance Initiatives meetings came to life as members from all areas, many of whom had never spoken up in these meetings before, now shared improvement ideas and took ownership to implement them. The outcome of this approach helped them not only achieve, but exceed the goal they had set! For these efforts and results the VAIO Service team was awarded the Chief Operating Officer Award from Sony Electronics that year.
According to Nickel, "I learned the equivalent of several volumes of business books from this experience. At the top of the list is getting aligned around the result throughout the entire organization. This doesn't come from slide shows or speeches. It comes from engaging everyone on the team to get clear on what success looks like and what we need to do to achieve it"
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The Story: This client is one of the world's leading international oil and gas companies, providing its customers with fuel for transportation, energy for heat and light, retail services and petrochemicals products for everyday items. They employ over 80,000 people operating in over 80 countries worldwide.
The client had two plants that hadn't worked closely in the past, and now needed to work together to execute a plant shut down and make sure there were no environmental impacts. It seemed an overwhelming task to everyone involved because time constraints were tight. Competition between shifts and plants is common, but add to that the pressures of a flawless shutdown and things can get intense. Getting everyone aligned and working together was key.
Using the principles of Accountability from the Self Track™ Training, the two teams got together and started planning. A synergy was created and there was a shared ownership and accountability of the whole problem. The teams helped each other recognize when they had dropped Below The Line® and then do what was necessary to come back Above The Line® and solve the problem. During the execution phase, the teams worked so well together that people close to the work remarked that you couldn't tell who worked on which team. Operators from one plant suggested ways to implement changes to solve environmental issues and vice a versa.
As a result, the teams were extremely successful and had a perfect shutdown. They were able to complete the shut down on time and with no safety violations, without putting anything into the environment, keeping costs under control, satisfying customers and engaging employees. Prior to implementing the Self Track Training, OSHA reported a rate of over 8. Today, it is under point 7. In the OSHA rating system, this was a huge improvement. Now, when you walk through their organization, people take pride in their ability to take ownership and get things done.
Bringing it all together to deliver...
The Results: Flawless Execution of a plant shutdown.
The Story: This client is one of the world's leading international oil and gas companies, providing its customers with fuel for transportation, energy for heat and light, retail services and petrochemicals products for everyday items. They employ over 80,000 people operating in over 80 countries worldwide.
The client had two plants that hadn't worked closely in the past, and now needed to work together to execute a plant shut down and make sure there were no environmental impacts. It seemed an overwhelming task to everyone involved because time constraints were tight. Competition between shifts and plants is common, but add to that the pressures of a flawless shutdown and things can get intense. Getting everyone aligned and working together was key.
Using the principles of Accountability from the Self Track™ Training, the two teams got together and started planning. A synergy was created and there was a shared ownership and accountability of the whole problem. The teams helped each other recognize when they had dropped Below The Line® and then do what was necessary to come back Above The Line® and solve the problem. During the execution phase, the teams worked so well together that people close to the work remarked that you couldn't tell who worked on which team. Operators from one plant suggested ways to implement changes to solve environmental issues and vice a versa.
As a result, the teams were extremely successful and had a perfect shutdown. They were able to complete the shut down on time and with no safety violations, without putting anything into the environment, keeping costs under control, satisfying customers and engaging employees. Prior to implementing the Self Track Training, OSHA reported a rate of over 8. Today, it is under point 7. In the OSHA rating system, this was a huge improvement. Now, when you walk through their organization, people take pride in their ability to take ownership and get things done.
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The Story: American Youth Soccer Organization (AYSO) has more than 50,000 teams, over 250,000 volunteers, and more than 650,000 players. They have revolutionized youth sports with its "Everyone Plays®" and "Balanced Teams" philosophies. Volunteers play a primary role within AYSO. They provide support, training and resources to AYSO Regions. So when the volunteers aren't thriving it affects the level of success for the entire organization. Volunteers were not feeling a part of the team and believed that they were "just volunteer's." Enrollment numbers were declining and the Association needed to make an immediate change to stop the trend. They started researching companies to transform the way the volunteers worked together; creating a better experience for the parents whom in turn they believed would foster an increase in enrollment. AYSO hired a company to work with their volunteers, but were highly disappointed. Due to their unfortunate experience, they were hesitant to bring in another company.
As the enrollment numbers continued to decline, although still skeptical they could find someone they could really make a difference, they reached out to Partners In Leadership. Implementing the Self Track™ Training with their volunteer organization, they began to see an immediate difference. Volunteers started to shift the way they interacted with each other and the parents of their team members. The volunteers began working as a team and trusting the AYSO leadership. This positive shift led to an increase in enrollment and player retention without compromising the AYSO philosophies and commitment to enriching children's lives.
AYSO Scores...
The Results: Increase in enrollment and player retention
The Story: American Youth Soccer Organization (AYSO) has more than 50,000 teams, over 250,000 volunteers, and more than 650,000 players. They have revolutionized youth sports with its "Everyone Plays®" and "Balanced Teams" philosophies. Volunteers play a primary role within AYSO. They provide support, training and resources to AYSO Regions. So when the volunteers aren't thriving it affects the level of success for the entire organization. Volunteers were not feeling a part of the team and believed that they were "just volunteer's." Enrollment numbers were declining and the Association needed to make an immediate change to stop the trend. They started researching companies to transform the way the volunteers worked together; creating a better experience for the parents whom in turn they believed would foster an increase in enrollment. AYSO hired a company to work with their volunteers, but were highly disappointed. Due to their unfortunate experience, they were hesitant to bring in another company.
As the enrollment numbers continued to decline, although still skeptical they could find someone they could really make a difference, they reached out to Partners In Leadership. Implementing the Self Track™ Training with their volunteer organization, they began to see an immediate difference. Volunteers started to shift the way they interacted with each other and the parents of their team members. The volunteers began working as a team and trusting the AYSO leadership. This positive shift led to an increase in enrollment and player retention without compromising the AYSO philosophies and commitment to enriching children's lives.
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The Story: Lockheed Martin, the largest military contractor in the world, is the largest provider of IT services, systems integration, and training to the U.S. Government The Greenville, South Carolina site engaged Partners In Leadership and implemented the Self Track™ Training and the Culture Track™ Training to help them execute on achieving their key results of refurbishing 240 C130 airplanes and 24 P3 Submarine Reconnaissance planes, which represented a 20% increase in work requirements over the previous year. Not only were they able to successfully execute on this aggressive initiative, they did it while hitting their Zero Defects objective. Bob Owen, Senior VP and Site General Manager said: "We saw a notable culture change with an obvious increase in motivation, professionalism and knowledge of processes. There was a visible display of the employees' dedication and commitment with an importance of understanding and following procedures and processes, and a recognized increase in teamwork, cross-functional communication and management's commitment to process improvement and customer satisfaction. Evidence supported significant improvement as a result of Project Odyssey."
Zero Defects and On-time Delivery
The Results: Refurbished 240 C130 Airplanes, 24 P3 Submarine Reconnaissance Planes, Zero Defects
The Story: Lockheed Martin, the largest military contractor in the world, is the largest provider of IT services, systems integration, and training to the U.S. Government The Greenville, South Carolina site engaged Partners In Leadership and implemented the Self Track™ Training and the Culture Track™ Training to help them execute on achieving their key results of refurbishing 240 C130 airplanes and 24 P3 Submarine Reconnaissance planes, which represented a 20% increase in work requirements over the previous year. Not only were they able to successfully execute on this aggressive initiative, they did it while hitting their Zero Defects objective. Bob Owen, Senior VP and Site General Manager said: "We saw a notable culture change with an obvious increase in motivation, professionalism and knowledge of processes. There was a visible display of the employees' dedication and commitment with an importance of understanding and following procedures and processes, and a recognized increase in teamwork, cross-functional communication and management's commitment to process improvement and customer satisfaction. Evidence supported significant improvement as a result of Project Odyssey."
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The Story: Indianapolis Neighborhood Housing Partnership (INHP) is a nonprofit organization providing education and support through the home-buying process. Moira Carlstedt, President, wrote: "Since the entire INHP staff participated in (The Self Track™ Training) in November, we have experienced many incidents of Above The Line Behavior, hundreds of Focused Feedback sessions, the completion of our first 90-Day Plan, and two impact surveys. I am writing to give you an indication of the impact The Oz Principle has had at INHP. The most obvious impact is that every staff member knows INHP's five primary goals and they understand their individual and collective responsibility to accomplish them. Also, when we identify and analyze opportunities or challenges it is within the framework of the Steps To Accountability;® See It, Own It, Solve It, and Do It which is becoming ingrained in our culture. Finally, the Focused Feedback sessions have become an enormously powerful communications and problem solving tool. We have embraced the application of the 16 Accountability Best Practices format for conducting the sessions. As a result of the sessions, people have commented that they (a) have a better understanding of the perspectives of others, (b) are more receptive to hearing and offering their observations concerning challenges or negative situations, (c) understand how to align their work with INHP's primary goals, (d) frequently inquire and hear others inquire as to how staff members can help each other overcome challenges, (e) have significantly increased their understanding and appreciation of the work of others, and (f) stay focused on accomplishing the company goals. We have made great strides in a short time and we are committed to adhering to The Oz Principle in the future."
Non-Profit Teams Up to Focus on Results
The Results: Greater collaboration and trust within the organization.
The Story: Indianapolis Neighborhood Housing Partnership (INHP) is a nonprofit organization providing education and support through the home-buying process. Moira Carlstedt, President, wrote: "Since the entire INHP staff participated in (The Self Track™ Training) in November, we have experienced many incidents of Above The Line Behavior, hundreds of Focused Feedback sessions, the completion of our first 90-Day Plan, and two impact surveys. I am writing to give you an indication of the impact The Oz Principle has had at INHP. The most obvious impact is that every staff member knows INHP's five primary goals and they understand their individual and collective responsibility to accomplish them. Also, when we identify and analyze opportunities or challenges it is within the framework of the Steps To Accountability;® See It, Own It, Solve It, and Do It which is becoming ingrained in our culture. Finally, the Focused Feedback sessions have become an enormously powerful communications and problem solving tool. We have embraced the application of the 16 Accountability Best Practices format for conducting the sessions. As a result of the sessions, people have commented that they (a) have a better understanding of the perspectives of others, (b) are more receptive to hearing and offering their observations concerning challenges or negative situations, (c) understand how to align their work with INHP's primary goals, (d) frequently inquire and hear others inquire as to how staff members can help each other overcome challenges, (e) have significantly increased their understanding and appreciation of the work of others, and (f) stay focused on accomplishing the company goals. We have made great strides in a short time and we are committed to adhering to The Oz Principle in the future."
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The Story: In the words of Alan Dinner, Vice President, Quality Eli Lilly and Company: "The Corporate Quality Assurance GMP Division at Eli Lilly and Company first contacted Partners In Leadership in the summer to discuss possibilities for a PIL intervention for specific cultural issues in the Division. During the course of the summer, PIL conducted a series of surveys and interviews culminating in a 3 day session (The Culture Track™ Training) including all staff members in September. A follow-up session was held in April the following year. The feedback from both management and staff confirm my feeling that this intervention has been successful in enabling the Division to overcome barriers and focus on strategies that are key to our continued progress. The following are my observations of some specific examples of progress made as a direct result of the Partners In Leadership program:
During the follow-up session in April, the staff groups listed the following as progress made:
"I would like to express my appreciation for your insight into our issues and for the impact that you have had on this Division. Of course, we still have challenges, but we are better able to address these challenges with the baseline of our Cultural Beliefs and with the tools we have learned for feedback and communication. Although we do enjoy occasionally going Below The Line, we are all working hard to remain Above The Line in most of our efforts and to just DO IT!"
Building a Better Team
The Results: Improved communication and increased level of trust
The Story: In the words of Alan Dinner, Vice President, Quality Eli Lilly and Company: "The Corporate Quality Assurance GMP Division at Eli Lilly and Company first contacted Partners In Leadership in the summer to discuss possibilities for a PIL intervention for specific cultural issues in the Division. During the course of the summer, PIL conducted a series of surveys and interviews culminating in a 3 day session (The Culture Track™ Training) including all staff members in September. A follow-up session was held in April the following year. The feedback from both management and staff confirm my feeling that this intervention has been successful in enabling the Division to overcome barriers and focus on strategies that are key to our continued progress. The following are my observations of some specific examples of progress made as a direct result of the Partners In Leadership program:
- Roles and responsibilities in the management group have been clarified
- Improved communication between staff groups and between staff and management
- Increased level of trust between staff groups enabling better, more productive working relationships based on the Quality Assurance Cultural Beliefs® developed during the PIL session
During the follow-up session in April, the staff groups listed the following as progress made:
- Better alignment with corporate directives Progress on Globalization initiative
- More comfortable giving and receiving feedback, less tension in work groups
- Working more pro-actively
"I would like to express my appreciation for your insight into our issues and for the impact that you have had on this Division. Of course, we still have challenges, but we are better able to address these challenges with the baseline of our Cultural Beliefs and with the tools we have learned for feedback and communication. Although we do enjoy occasionally going Below The Line, we are all working hard to remain Above The Line in most of our efforts and to just DO IT!"
