Coaching, Mentoring and Managing: A Coach Guidebook

6

decisions, but help the team avoid these conflicts by

working with your peers.

3. Share the reason for changes — beat the “grapevine”
   to the punch.
   The funny thing about the grapevine is how unfunny it can
   be. It encourages unfounded speculations like, “I bet this
   change is so they can cut jobs.” The first thing you know,
   the “official” word is that the company is cutting jobs.
   Panic erupts in your team! The moral: You control the
   information your people get. Be up-front and honest with
   them from the start. Ask whether they have any questions,
   and answer them. Put their minds at ease so they can focus
   on their work and not on the rumors.
   A word of caution: If you get involved with the grapevine,
   or listen to rumors, you are supporting them. No matter
   how helpful a little inside knowledge might appear, if you
   listen to gossip, then you gossip. It erodes your trust and
   credibility. Three ways to handle gossip follow.
   
   
   • Tell the person who brings it to you to go with you to
     the person involved so you can check it out.
   
   
   • If the person declines, ask if you can use her name to
     go to the person involved to check it out.
   
   
   • If the person declines, drop it. A sad truth: Bad news
     and bad situations resurface just like the postman who
     always rings twice.
   
   
   
   


4. Encourage team problem solving.

The key to getting employees to work like a team is

getting them to think like a team, with team goals ... team

communication ... team recognition. The best way to start

building this team thinking is to set goals that can be met

only through teamwork. You might set goals for

increasing group output or designing new procedures that

will make everyone’s jobs easier. As much as possible, let

the team participate in the goal-setting process.

Ask everyone to take part in a brainstorming session. As

with the problem-solving steps noted earlier, ground rules

should be a) everyone is encouraged to contribute and

Integrating the Individual and the Team

There is no limit to

how much good

you can do if you

don’t care who

gets the credit.