5 minute read
The Secrets to a Highly Effective Onsite Team
By Hamlet Vazquez, MCAM-HR
Nothing is more rewarding for an onsite manager than growing a staff team of disparate individuals into a cohesive whole working together for the benefit of the association. At the same time, nothing is more challenging. The larger the team and the greater the disparities, the more difficult it is to achieve this cohesiveness. For example, how do you help a 65-year-old Nicaraguan native who grew up working the fields and a 32-year-old Brooklyn, New York native with widely different backgrounds work together as a team as they serve the residents? What steps can an onsite manager take to help achieve a highly effective onsite team that residents rave about?
The glue that holds all relationship together- including the relationship between the leader and the led-is trust, and trust is based on integrity.
- Brian Tracy
It Begins with Trust
As with everything related to management, it starts with trust. The individual team members need to trust the leader –without this trust, anything you do will be suspect at best. The following story illustrates this concept.
When I first arrived at the property I currently manage, they were still using an old-style punch time clock for keeping track of hours, and the manager had not been taking into account over-time laws when paying overtime, so if someone worked an extra shift, they were automatically paid 8 hours of overtime even if they had not worked 40 hours that week or had only worked 7 or less hours that shift. The manager did not want to bother with calculating actual overtime hours worked and just paid the whole shift as overtime. When we started using a digital time clock that automatically kept track of when it was actually earned, the staff started noticing that they were no longer getting paid as much overtime as under the previous manager. Instead of letting this erode trust in their new manager, I took this as an opportunity to build trust and asked the board for permission to pay the staff overtime pay for any extra shifts worked even if it did not require overtime pay. The board unanimously approved, and trust was not only restored but even increased as the staff saw a tangible way in which I had taken steps to help ensure their well-being. Building trust is the first stepping-stone toward building a highly effective onsite team.
Being forward-looking—envisioning exciting possibilities and enlisting others in a shared view of the future—is the attribute that most distinguishes leaders from non-leaders.
- James M. Kouzes and Barry Posner
Promote a Shared Vision
Once trust is established and maintained, the next step is for the staff to share a vision of providing excellent service to the residents and guests. The key concept here is ‘shared.’ Unless you were able to hand-pick your onsite team and hire only those who valued excellence, you will need to work at developing a shared vision of excellence with the team that was handed to you. That 65-year-old Nicaraguan or 32-year-old Brooklyn native may or may not value excellence. So, how do you help instill that value?
First and foremost, you must model the vision. Are staff meetings run with excellence? When you address property wide issues do you model excellence, or is your work lackluster? Your staff are looking at how you behave much more closely than you might imagine.
Second, you need to talk up this vision of excellence. During staff meetings share stories of this vision being carried out by staff members. Make it the standard that is highlighted and praised. Over time, you and the residents will begin to see the fruits of this shared vision of excellence.
I've always believed that a lot of the troubles in the world would disappear if we were talking to each other instead of about each other.
-Ronald Reagan
Navigating Conflict
After you have established trust and developed a shared vision of excellence, nothing can jeopardize that more than conflict between team members. Conflict between team members must, therefore, be addressed and not ignored. This can get messy. Set aside enough time for each side to express their frustration with the other. The first goal is to bring about clarity of the issue since so much of interpersonal conflict is borne out of misunderstanding and misinterpretation of the other’s words, actions and even motives.
After the first goal is achieved, the second goal is to reconcile the parties involved. This sometimes happens at the same time as the first goal of bringing about clarity. In situations where clarity does not bring about a resolution or where it even makes things worse, you, as the leader, will need to bring about reconciliation by finding common ground between the individuals. Ultimately, the goal is for the individuals to see that they are working toward the common goal of serving the residents. A reminder of this common goal is often all that is needed to put aside differences.
Remember to Celebrate the Team
As you work towards maintaining the team’s trust in you, model and highlight excellence, and deal with conflict, don’t forget to continuously celebrate the team as a whole. This can be done formally at staff meetings by telling stories of when team members worked well together or came to the aid of one another or by rewarding excellent behavior. Whatever form your celebrations take, don’t forget to include food! After all, what team member does not enjoy a good meal?
