Teamwork

Well, last night’s blow-up of the economic recovery plan brought to mind how important teamwork is – even in running small businesses.

Several years ago I consulted with a small business of about 50 employees with a seven person management team. The CEO, a very dominant individual, complained the departments did not co-operate with each other, and consequently schedules were missed, quality was poor, and customers were continually upset.

Investigation revealed that the engineering manager lived in a vacuum – he did not communicate well with sales and had virtually no communication with manufacturing. The folks in manufacturing would modify designs and never pass the changes back to engineering. Parts designated for one machine would be switched to another machine, delaying completion of the first machine. The problems went on and on.

I got all the managers in a room for a full day and got them talking with each other, and enabled them to understand the impact of their isolationism on the rest of the company.

Of course, a one day meeting (like a three hour conference in the white house) did not solve the problems, but it got the problems on the table and began the process of team building and co-operation.

Ultimately, the engineering manager was replaced, as was the operations director, and with continued team building exercises, the overal morale within the company was improved as was productivity and quality.

Let’s hope that the congress and administration can all begin to work together in like manner to bring a healthy solution to our present economic woes.

Will Limkemann
Limkemann Business Advisors
440-871-0976
www.neobizadvisor.com
will@limkemann.net