CMI

Interview with the Author

2012-02-07T02:00:00.000-06:00

An interview with Bruce Hodes, the author of the new book, Front Line Heroes

Interviewer: What is your book title?

Bruce Hodes (Author): Front Line Heroes: How to Battle the Business Tsunami by Developing Performance Oriented Cultures

I: Did you consider any other titles for your book?
A: Books as Compost or Business Compost/Fertilizer

I: Why did you decide to write a book?
A: I realized that this was the next thing to take on. As I was developing my career I found that I could make a difference and contribute. The business climate is terrible and it impacts businesses. There are opportunities for businesses and ways to impact the face of media, so I wanted to write about them to help people.

I: Who/what were your sources of inspiration?
A:My ability to make a difference and my clients. They are the ones that asked the right questions and gave me the ideas.

I: What do you hope to achieve by writing and publishing your book?
A: Well, I hope people read it, but I really hope that they use it as a tool and get inspired to make create safe and straight forward cultures in their workplace.

I: How long did it take to write your book?
A:1.5-2 years

I: Who designed the cover?
A:Writers of the Round Table

I: Who is your publisher?
A:Writers of Round Table

I: Why did you choose to write this particular book?
A:Tried and true ideas on growing/focusing organization

I: What was the hardest part about writing this book?
A:Sticking to it. The promise to the writing group and the publishers helped me out with that.

I: Did you learn anything from writing this book and what was it?
A:I can write and I might even like it a little! But publishing is easier than I thought and the resources were outstanding. I also learned that people gain from knowledge from what my book has to say.

Front Line Heroes

2012-01-31T02:30:00.000-06:00

Front Line Heroes: How to Battle the Business Tsunami by Developing Performance Oriented Cultures by Bruce Hodes is going to be available so soon! Read the back cover below.

It is possible to develop and grow powerful organizations in challenging times—it just takes courage, determination, and actionable techniques that work. In Front Line Heroes, Bruce Hodes offers executives and business leaders advice culled from 30 years of coaching privately held companies ranging from $5 million to $100 million in size. With humor, real-world examples, and step-by-step guides, the book explains:

• How to make mission, values, and BHAGS relevant to daily organizational life

• 7 essential rules for effective strategic planning

• How to transform groups into high-performance teams

• 4 organizational enigmas and the missing link that solves them

• How to eliminate mediocrity from employee performance—for good

If you are ready to stop playing victim to the times, Front Line Heroes will arm you with the tools you need to achieve sustainable business growth.

For more information visit our website here.
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Enigma #4

2012-01-24T02:00:00.000-06:00

How do you make the core values of the organization relevant to day-to-day employee behavior? The core values often sound great. They are lofty and inspirational. The leadership team typically feels exhilarated at their creation. However, then comes a failure of performance. The values somehow do not make the difference they were designed to make.

As improbable as this sound for most employees within organizations, core values are seldom relevant. They are not accessible or usable. (Read more about this phenomenon in “Posters, Plaques, Horse Manure, and Resignation.”) Regarding coaching for useful behavior, there is no real solid footing except the manager’s point of view, and this can be a problem. Managers and employees need a place they can stand that will guide their behavior and attitude in working with others. Managers and team leaders need a view and convictions from which they can coach attitude and behaviors. When properly positioned, the organizational core values can do this. They can provide a template from which employee behavior can be measured and viewed. But, alas the issue is how do we get to that point? Therein lays Enigma #4.

To learn more about aligning core values, click here.

Enigma #3

2012-01-17T02:00:00.000-06:00

Everyone hates the annual review process (except you, Mr. or Mrs. Perfect Executive). No one likes feeling judged, to start. Employees find the whole thing meaningless. Managers, at best, find it flawed and, most often, not well executed. So the third enigma is this: how do you make the annual performance appraisal more than something that is disliked and disrespected?

One organization I know of did not set its yearly goals until more than halfway through the year. (I’m sure this is shocking behavior to you.) Then the leadership team started the appraisal process based on the goals they’d just created—after which, they argued about goal consistency (or lack thereof) between departments. Talk about a process that was UN–motivating. It was the perfect storm for organizational resignation.

This appraisal morass is a big deal. I have listened to lots of whining and complaining about how appraisals are done and how they are utilized. The biggest issue I see is with the appraisal review system is that it takes place after the fact, the appraisal occurs after the work season ends and the year is over. It is not a coaching and development system that can allow for improvement and performance enhancement. It is all about rating past performance and, as such, is missing the point.
As for the answer to how to make the process understood and valued, read on—but first, Aare you ready for the fourth enigma? This one has especially plagued and vexed me throughout my long bloodsucking consulting years.

For an alternative to the appraisal review system, click here.

Enigma #2

2012-01-10T02:00:00.000-06:00

As a busy manager and business leader, how do you make time to coach and develop your employees and direct reports? How do you find time to meet with them and discuss their progress on yearly goals? How do you know that your employee’s actions will directly (and positively) impact the initiatives that have been outlined in the strategic plan? How do you even you know if they’re engaged with the strategic plan?

Many of us intuitively know that we need to meet with employees from time to time to provide real coaching and receive feedback. We also know we should eat less if we want to shed extra pounds; yet, we are a nation of obese people. So much for the power of knowing . . . I have found with our clients that many of these recommended monthly or quarterly coaching meetings just never happen. While meetings may occur, they tend to be more about fire fighting and problem solving. Granted, these types of meetings are required to keep a company viable, I have witnessed organizations in which employees never get any type of formal coaching or feedback around their performance. .

Here’s what you, as a manager and leader, need to understand: no feedback equals no performance improvement. How does the baby go from crawling to walking? As the baby engages in walking, the floor gives feedback: thud—not that way. Thud—not that way. Oh—now you have it. (Notice no thud.) Older kids master the bike or skateboard or rollerblades through the same process of feedback; eventually, they end up doing more tricks and falling less often. Are you making the connection here? Humans learn, grow, and develop through failing and feedback. It’s part of the process.

One senior manager proudly told me that in 20 years, he had never been reviewed. None of his bosses had ever made the time to sit down with him and talk about what he spends his work life doing. Though this executive took it as a compliment, it is sad. His work matters and he does some things amazingly well and other things not so well. Feedback would allow him to grow and develop.

In another organization I worked with, people were—at best—reviewed once a year for salary and bonus-setting purposes. There was no formal feedback process. This is absolutely unsettling. In the same company, managers bemoaned that they should be coaching and talking with employees about their performance, but they never got around to it. This is even more unsettling. Yet, This is the norm in many organizations, and it does not have to be. For this to change, development and training need to be viewed as equally important as fighting fires. (There is more on this in the chapter “The Coach’s Handbook.”) If these things matter to the organization, managers will make time for coaching and feedback. It’s a simple, sobering fact: we do what truly matters to us.

Now, assuming development and training do matter to your organization (as they should), Execution management calls for four to six progress meetings a year. If there are no meetings, you have no execution management. Keynelink, the software my company uses, supports this system by scheduling and confirming meetings. If meetings are not finalized, managers are notified through email. Voila—you have structure. While not a guarantee, it helps busy managers and employees to have this kind of automatic support.

For more information about KeyneLink, click here.

Enigma #1

2011-12-20T02:00:00.000-06:00

A company and its leadership team can spend a lot of time and effort creating a strategic plan. They may even spend money on the process and bring in a bloodsucker like me to facilitate. Creating the plan, however, is the easy part. Implementation and execution is the real challenge.

So, once you have a plan, how do you ensure follow-through and implementation? How do you support real action throughout the year and prevent the unintended syndrome that results from a beautiful plan in a beautiful binder sitting with all the other similar binders in the CEOs office?

My breakthrough came when we came across the execution management philosophy called the Keyne Methodology. We support the execution management methodology by utilizing software called Keynelink.

This is all a simple philosophy and approach to execution management. After a leadership team has created the strategic plan and corporate initiatives this is the approach to apply towards ensuring execution by the entire company and follow through. Another way of expressing this is that this is the way to truly ensure that a company is focused on, executing and aligned to the strategic plan. More to come on this later.

For more information about KeyneLink, please click here.

Holiday Team Building Party

2011-12-13T02:00:00.000-06:00

The holidays are generally a time filled with festivities, good cheer and even better food. Unfortunately today’s rough economic climate brings more and more cutbacks in the workplace. Don’t let your end of year celebrations and holiday parties “make the cut.” Instead, save money with CMI’s Holiday Team Building Party. This is the perfect time to let your guards down, bond with your co-workers, celebrate 2011 accomplishments and toast to 2012.

Overview
CMI’s customized team building party will boost your employees’ morale and spur their motivation for the upcoming year. CMI’s Holiday Team Building Party includes business simulations, built around team games, which use the participating group as a model. With the help of a facilitator the group explores ways they could better work together by viewing, discussing and assessing their own behavior regarding teams and teamwork. CMI will also incorporate aspects of your traditional holiday party into your Holiday Team Building Party. CMI’s Holiday Team Building Party will help you build productive teams, which in turn, brings about success for your company.

Outcomes

Learn about stages of team development and the leadership style needed in each stage
Tools and techniques to measure teams for high performance
Build productive work teams
Spur employee motivation
Boost employee morale
Have fun!

For more information about CMI's Holiday Team Building Party, click here.

The Missing Link: Addressing the Four Enigmas

2011-12-06T02:00:00.000-06:00

When it comes to building high-performance organizations, I have long been haunted and vexed by four enigmas. (God, I love the sound of the word enigmas.) Can you even imagine me “vexed” or visualize me as haunted? Imagine my cheeks are hollow and that I dream dark dreams. My eyes flit hither and yonder, and in the middle of the night I pace in my sweat-soaked white nightshirt.

Now that you have the visual, I’ll explain the cause. For the most part, what has eluded me is a process that supports the implementation of the strategic plan. A lot of time and energy goes into yearly planning, but keeping a leadership team and an entire company focused on execution becomes the challenge given the day-to-day fires. This issue breaks down into four enigmas that, until recently, my work has not been able to solve. However—fortunately for you, dear reader—a recent breakthrough has allowed me to uncover components that, together, make up the previously missing link needed to solve the four enigmas. I just alluded to the title of this chapter – nice……..

For more information, contact us at info@cmiteamwork.com

The Seventh Rule of Planning

2011-11-15T02:00:00.000-06:00

Rule number siete is by far the coolest. This reglo says, “It is critical that the team be disciplined and does the work.” Remember the saying “garbage in, garbage out.” It is important that the leadership team does complete work. In this endeavor it is better to do less with better quality than to do a lot with mediocrity.

Some companies have heck of a time getting out of the fire fighting stage. Some never do get out of the fire fighting stage. I have seen that sometimes members of the leadership team are addicted to fire fighting. Now that is hot. Another way of saying this is that they are addicted to the way things are and not to the way that the company could be.

To really participate in a good breakthrough planning/guessing process, the planning team has to take time and give it time. Real thinking and dialogue has to exist. Once you have done the plan, then you need to make sure that it is acted upon. Monthly meetings of one to three hours and spending time on objectives and action plans will ensure focus.

Then, once a quarter go off site and meet preferably with a “bald headed” coach. The “bald head” makes the coach smarter and buffer. Really. At the session review, the group will look at what happened in the quarter and then focus on what needs to happen in the next quarter. This will keep the everyone aligned on what needs to take place to push the company forward.

Well there you have it: seven rules that will support you in having a successful planning process. Put another way, it is the plan to good strategic guessing. Use or lose it. Using these rules and you will cause a bright business future. When you get to that bright business future let them know that the Brucie sent you.

Let us know what you think. Write to us at info@cmiteamwork.com

The Sixth Rule of Planning

2011-11-08T02:00:00.000-06:00

El fantastico numero sies is that the planning group has to be able to actually work and create together. For good productive work to be done, there can be no pretense here. The group has to be able to implement the plan. They have to perform together.

This has to be much more than “plays well in the sandbox” kind of behavior. The planning group needs to be creative, generative and able to move quickly to implement change. They have got to be collaborators, problem solvers and be change agents within their organization.

Implementation is the key to planning success. This is not about producing a document that is pretty and will sit on a shelf. This is about implementing actions and activities that will steer the company in a healthy and profitable direction.

Committed action is key to the success of the planning endeavor. Part of the process is to focus the leadership team on becoming a high performance team. This is done by experiential exercises and measuring for high performance team behavior.

A company running with a high-performance team has many advantages over its competition. I have a particular client in mind. This company has done a remarkable job of growing in very challenging business conditions. I have seen them change marketplaces and customers.

Recently, this company had growth at 60% and they continue to hire and retain great people. Part of how they have done this is by having a fun committee and by paying attention to whether or not their people enjoy their work and being at the company.

There is trust in this planning team. People can speak their minds. This communication is taken as straight communication about the business and not taken personally. They are playing a business game of growing a great company. This team is not engaged in petty issues, nor are they interested in who gets along with and agrees with whom.

Their corporate culture is not a smelly, gossipy political environment. This type of focus gives their leadership team a great advantage when competing against other business leadership teams that are rife with gossip, mistrust and miscommunication.

For more information about CMI's planning process visit our website: www.cmiteamwork.com

The fifth rule of planning

2011-11-01T02:00:00.000-05:00

The incredible rule number five is facing the brutal facts that confront your company. This is a distinction that is given to us by Jim Collins in his book Good to Great. It means honestly confront the issues that confront your organization and truly dealing with them. Do not deny them or sugar coat them. Deal with them in an intelligent way.

Your planning team can do this by defining critical issues facing the growth of the company. These are issues that will be, or presently are, confronting the company.

“Examples puleeeees!” you demand. Coming right up.

How is the organization going to transition from our old CD-ROM technology to the new “streaming” technology? How are we going to fund this transition?
What new products are we bringing out in the next year?
How are we going to grow 20% per year for the next three years?
What improvement do we need to make in the plant for us to reduce costs by 10%?

Typically these types of critical issues are addressed through the writing of a white paper. “What is that?” you ask. “Good question!” I respond and if you had not brought it up I simply could not have continued to write this book, so thanks for the question.

A white paper is a three- to five-page paper that addresses the critical issue. It is written between planning sessions by the members of the leadership group that are best suited to address the problem. This group can also have members outside of the planning team who have useful knowledge and thinking to contribute .

The paper should deal directly with the issues. It is, with research and analysis, the “answer” submitted by the group. The entire planning team will read the paper prior to the subsequent session and then debate it during the session. Problem solving ensues. Everyone is invited to bring their feedback, questions and concerns to the next session. This is where the critical issues are dealt with and a direction is hammered out.

For more information about CMI visit our website: www.cmiteamwork.com

The fourth rule of planning

2011-10-25T02:00:00.000-05:00

By far my favorite rule is el grandote numero quarto. Start big by creating a vision of the future of the company. Then narrow the focus as you get back to present and address what to do immediately and how to implement.

Establish where you want to be in the next five years. As the Bible says, “without vision the people perish” The Bible does not say that you have got to attain the vision. It is saying that people need one to live into. This is critical. When you have a vision you are creating a future for the company that the employees can live into and fulfill on.

It is important that the breakthrough guessing/planning process allows for dreaming, visioning and looking at what is needed for a bright future to be realized. Typically we do this by asking the group to go three to five years into the future and recording the results on a flip chart.

The following questions need to be asked to arrive at a future vision. If you were already standing in 2016, what would the world look like? What are the important trends affecting your industry? What is your industry dealing with and what does it look like? Once a futuristic scenario has been developed, the group then looks at what they would like the organization’s image to be.

The planning team then asks what customers are saying about the organization. Why are customers loyal in 2016? What goods, services and new products have you brought forth? The team speculates on how big the organization is and how many employees are there.

This part of planning can be used to run growth scenarios. Have at least one for aggressive, medium, sluggish and no growth. Play with the numbers and have some fun with what could be. The planning team should get familiar with the possible territories and futures.

For more information about CMI's planning process visit our website: www.cmiteamwork.com

The third rule of planning

2011-10-18T02:00:00.000-05:00

For the third amazing rule, it is important that you complete the previous year. For 2012, a powerful completion processes will allow you to put 2011 behind you. This is important for the organization to distinguish that indeed there was a 2011 and what happened during that year.

At the very first session of the planning process, the past goes into the past. How we typically do this is that information about 2011 goes up on flip charts. The group puts items into a number of categories such as “breakdowns for the year, breakthroughs, fiascoes, disappointments, accomplishments,” and the like.

One of the great aspects of this exercise is that employees get to review all the work that got done during the past 12 months. It also brings completion to the year. One season completes and the next season opens up. I love this metaphor. Excuse me while I get a little weepy. What aspects of 2011 are we talking into 2012? What aspects are we leaving behind ? It’s all included on the flip charts.

As a grand finale, participants stand up and say farewell to 2011. Tears flow, not. Hugs and sobbing ensues, not. The planning team then greets 2012 with cheers, hand-clapping, hurrahs and gales of laughter. Very emotional this is, not. However it is worthwhile and useful. Now everyone sits ready for the future, to begin anew. Game 2012–2016 on.

For more information about CMI's planning process visit our website: www.cmiteamwork.com

The Second Rule of Planning

2011-10-11T02:00:00.000-05:00

The second golden rule of planning is to, “make sure the design of the planning is one that will get you a good result. I am not a believer of leadership teams locking themselves in a room at a resort for two to three days. This type of planning may be sprinkled with some golfing, gambling or other type of “fun” stuff. From this design, a strategic plan is supposedly born and created.

The problem with this design is that it curtails critical thinking. This process begins to smell of “plan in binder” syndrome. Poke me in the eye with a hot stick. If you do all your planning during one session you risk just doing more of what you are doing in the present. There is no opportunity for research or involving others within the organization who are not at the planning session.

Here is what to do. The process should take place over two to three months and take three to four days. It is predicated on white papers and dialogue. Listening and understanding are critical. Better research ensures better debate and thinking. “What is a white paper?” you ask hysterically. “Hang tough,” I say. That is covered in rule five.

For more information about CMI's planning process visit our website: www.cmiteamwork.com

The first rule of planning

2011-10-04T02:00:00.000-05:00

The first rule is “always pick the right team for planning.” This poses the question of who should be part of the planning team. This is an important question. It is important that planning team members are people who are committed to, and can add value to the conversation about the growth of the company.

The only exception is if there is a key employee or manager you want to develop. If you want them to better understand the strategic issues facing the company, then it might make sense for them to be a part of the process.

In addition you can have members of the planning team who are outside of the leadership group. These could be sales people and other key employees. It important that you vet them and ensure that they are of the quality and stature that is required for being a part of the planning group. It is also important that they are all getting their jobs done and are employees of stellar standing within the company.

A number of times over the years I have seen the wrong leaders and key employees involved in planning and their participation actually hurt the effort. Pray give us an example you ask? Ok, well there was Jason who in the middle of the year abruptly left the company.

After an investigation it became apparent that Jason was not returning customer’s calls. In fact, lots of work around Jason’s customers was not getting done. Yet we spent a lot of time in planning on improving customer service. Jason had actually taken on being a Champion in and working on improving customer service. Then we got to see what he was actually doing—talk about a buzz killer. It was enough to make me want to use that aforementioned pointed stick.

How did this happen? What allowed Jason to be on the team that was led to this dark place? Clearly there was a lack of supervision. His manager was not providing oversight. What was really going on you ask? This could be the subject for an article or book and that is for another time.

Then there was an HR manager at a manufacturing plant who took employees into her office and gossiped about managers. A number of times she would run out of the planning session crying. Again a buzz killer. Then she left. Thank GOD and music please!

After her departure, the CEO added Lucinda to the team. She was young, energetic, knowledgeable and clearly had a vision of what the company could be. Her role was completely different than the first HR manager. Lucinda’s addition to the planning team was constructive and positive.

So, the message here is pick wisely and selectively. Members of the planning team must be able to maintain complete confidentiality and be fully engaged in the growth and well being of the company. Select the employees who are passionate about growing the company, developing an extraordinary organization and being the CEO’s partner in accomplishing those things. Don’t have people be part of the planning process only because of their position or accept mediocrity.

For more information about CMI's planning process visit our website: www.cmiteamwork.com

2011-09-27T02:00:00.000-05:00

In my thirty years of conducting planning processes, I have never seen a healthy company maintain long-term growth without ongoing planning. Planning is about growing and improving your company. At best, when you don’t plan you get maintenance of the status quo. At worst, you ignore problems and challenges that significantly damage or destroy your organization.

The time has come to present a streamlined list of CMI’s most critical rules for planning. There are only 120 of them. As you can see, we have really pared them down. So, music please! What?OK! OK! Simmer down! Take it easy! (You get overwhelmed so easily.) Next week we will go with just seven rules for successful strategic guessing/planning. Is that better?

For more information about CMI's planning process visit our website: www.cmiteamwork.com

Who Plans on an Annual Basis?

2011-09-20T02:00:00.000-05:00

It always shocks me how many businesses do not formally plan. Recently, at a conference, I asked a group of CEOs, “Who plans on an annual basis?” Only a quarter of them raised their hands. I was shocked. In addition, when pressed on why they did not plan they said they were too busy fighting fires to have time for that.

They then complained about low growth, no profits and blamed the economy for their problems. I felt better at that point with their clearly powerful and insightful analysis. Clearly they were Dunderheads. These CEOs did not make the connection that planning helps you deal with the economy and the issues that challenge your business. I am getting my pointed stick dipped in organic monkey dung to deal with these guys. It is organic dung because they are CEOs after all.

It is true. Many small- to mid-sized companies do not plan formally, just as many adults do not exercise. Yet we know exercise is good for you. It helps you live an improved quality of life. Routine exercise allows your body to maintain its health and vitality. Strategic breakthrough business guessing/planning works for businesses in much the same way as exercise does for the individual. It does not guarantee health, but exercise certainly dramatically increases the likelihood of having it.

For more information about CMI and Business Planning visit our Website: http://www.cmiteamwork.com.

There Are No Mistakes

2011-09-13T09:00:00.000-05:00

A principal that I live by is that everything that happens in organization happens by design. The same applies in stupid games. It is like this: Don’t plan and pay the price. Don’t listen and pay the price. Argue and fight and pay the price. Collaborate and problem solve, move the ball. Solve the problem and be successful. The Axiom of ‘garbage in, garbage out’ is abundantly clear in the land of stupid games. If you put quality into the preparation and planning of the stupid game you will get quality results out.

One last thought: as a Chinese engineer in Beijing exclaimed in a emotional manner, “These are not Stupid Games! These are good games!”

Yes indeed.

For more information about CMI's team building events click here.

Plan to Plan

2011-08-30T09:00:00.000-05:00

Planning and great execution make the difference both in stupid games and in the real world of business. Over and over our clients demonstrate the power of what Dwight Eisenhower said: “In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable.” Stupid games give us direct access to this lesson. In some of the games, like in life, you can run and gun and still be successful. But with the stupid game ‘The Cube,’ if you run at that puppy it will eat you up and spit you out.

Picture, if you will, that a PVC cube glares down at the group daring them to come forward and accumulate 26 points. The Cube is big and white, made of gleaming PVC pipe perched on top of a bucket like something from Millennium Park. Any slight push or graze by the group as they attempt to pass through the cube sends it tumbling to the ground. The consequence for that failure is that you lose all your points and the group must begin all over again.

Groups must plan in order to be successful at the Cube. Everyone needs to know when they are going and what they are going to do. Even if they don’t follow the exact plan, the discipline of planning supports the group’s success. That is an invaluable lesson when lived. Group planning works.

For more information about CMI's business planning process click here.

Can You Hear Me?

2011-08-23T09:00:00.002-05:00

Listening is what will make the difference. Once a group is listening, anyone can lead. Once ‘listening’ is present, understanding and problem solving occur naturally. People can focus and work together. Prior to this there is reaction and yelling. Listening, the power of listening is one of the lessons I have seen groups get from utilizing stupid games.

Another lesson that groups learn from stupid games is the value of practice. For many groups it is a revelation to discover that to improve a group’s performance will take conversations, learning and practice. When people realize that practice is necessary while playing a stupid game, the drama suddenly ends and people relax. They get that it is ok to make mistakes and learn from them. That is what happens when you ‘practice.’ We learn that we can be safe with each other.

Learning about failure is still another lesson that can be learned in stupid-game land. There is failure and then there is failure. Whenever humans learn and develop, there is failure. There are failures from not doing something that needs to be done as well as from doing the wrong thing. The problem is that there are real consequences for failures during real business.

I have seen corporate groups play the same game over and over again and yet still get value from them. The standards can change, the parameters can change, what people learn can change, and it still is all training and development.

In business, when a group alienates a customer there are consequences. With a stupid game when the group alienates the customer (who is really the bozo facilitator pretending to be a customer) there is learning and development. This goes back to the games as a practice field that is safe and in which members of the group can learn and develop. There are no long-term consequences on the practice field.

For more information about CMI's team building events click here.

Why Do Any of This?

2011-08-16T09:07:00.001-05:00

Groups, if they are going to perform together, need to practice together. That is obvious. The Army and Marines get it and call it ‘boot camp.’ Theater and dance groups get it and they call it ‘rehearsal.’ Sports teams get it and they call it ‘practice.’ Business groups don’t get it and for the most part don’t do anything. Typically business groups have low group performance. Do we see a pattern here?

So that is where the stupid games come in. They start to look like they are not so stupid. They let groups take a look at their own behavior in order to discover how they can improve their performance. The notion is simple: a group solves problems the way it does because the people are the same. A group’s ‘group dynamics’ are the group’s dynamics. This is true whether it is in the stupid game or back at the ‘ranch.’

The major difference is if the group back at the ranch does not perform well there are consequences internally and with customers. If the group does not perform well at the stupid game, it is a big-time opportunity to learn. There are no consequences in the stupid game except learning, having fun and laughing at yourself.

So what do groups learn? Here are the some of the lessons I have seen groups of people learn over and over again. Again, there is a game called The Tent Pole. Using just their index fingers, the group is to lower the tent pole down to the ground. At no time are you to lose contact with the pole. The fingers are all under the tent pole trying to maintain contact. The pole goes up instead of down. People scream and yell at each other. Blame is heaped on some poor scoundrel. It’s all great fun.

One of the things that people typically say as an excuse for their lack of performance is that no one was appointed the leader and that is why chaos occurred. That is often the obvious and agreed upon excuse. But is that true? In reality, people are deaf to what is really missing which is listening. No one is listening when this exercise starts.

For more information about CMI's team building events click here.

So, Back to This Article

2011-08-02T09:03:00.001-05:00

Let’s establish that these games and team-building exercises really are stupid. One can argue (and I do) that all games are stupid. For a red-blooded ‘American Male’ to say this (AKA me) could be seen as heresy here in Chicago, land of ’da Bears, Bulls and Cubs. We love our animals here in the Midwest. I could go somewhere with that comment, however won’t.

Give me a break about football. What really happens? You are playing the game and on the line. Then you catch a ball. Everyone over 200 pounds leaps up and pounces on you. So that’s fun? Or take baseball. A small ball is thrown at over 90 MPH directly at you. Then, you attempt to hit this ball with a stick. These games are defined as ‘really fun’ in our culture. You’re kidding, right?

So stupid team-building games are just as stupid as regular games. So ok, having a marble rolled down a PVC pipe into a cup and then to celebrate victory—that has to be as stupid as football or baseball. Or get a group of people over a fake ‘river’ by walking on blue squishy things that belong in a health club. Celebrating that as a wildly successful phenomenon, if you complete it in under ten minutes, is insane. That is what we do: marble in pipes and blue squishy things as stepping stones. Stupid games all.

For more information about CMI's team building click here.

Time for Tent Poles

2011-07-26T09:00:00.007-05:00

Here’s a case in point. Last Monday I was working with a beloved client who is focused on improving customer service. They’d done research on their company and found their customer service was below the industry average. This is clearly unacceptable. They are putting lots of focus and attention on improving their relationship with their customers. Three task forces were formed and on Monday we were gathering to hear what actions they were recommending to improve how their customers feel about them.

To start the session, we began with the classic tent-pole exercise. They have played this before so the participants were very confident that they would be successful at this. I said that the marketplace had changed so do not be fooled by these tent poles because they were super duper and different than before. I also said I was the customer and what they had to do for me was lower this tent pole to the ground while balancing it on their index finger. They could never lose contact with it. They had three minutes to do this. From my point of view, as the customer, faster was better.

Activity starts, The pole goes up instead of down, fingers lose contact, people yell and blame gets attributed to someone. That is how it typically goes. Then the group calms down and gets focused and some organization occurs. Finally, everyone focuses on getting the task done but no one talks to me, the customer.

As the customer, I am for the most part, left out of the loop. At this point, I am in the corner crying. I am sobbing quietly to myself while sucking my thumb because I, the customer, am being totally ignored. I am the customer after all.

After the stupid game, we talked about good customer service and paying attention to customer needs. During the debriefing, we talked about what happened and how the customer could have been more involved. We also talked about how this mirrors things that are actually happening right now within the organization. There are invariably similarities between what happens during the games and what happens in the business. As a result of playing stupid games, groups suddenly have insights about what’s missing. These are things they couldn't see before.

I asked, “When you saw that you were going to be late, did you ever tell the customer?”

“No,” they said.

“Does that ever happen back at the office?” I asked. “Does the customer always get notified of late arrivals and deliveries?”

“No,” they said

Now they are starting to get it. There are those kinds of looks—at me and then towards each other. Then I said, “If you can fix that problem here and keep the customer in the loop, our experience is that back at your business you will also find ways to keep your customers better informed.” This is the point of the stupid games and why they work.

For more information about CMI's team building programs click here.

Why Stupid Games?

2011-07-19T09:00:00.006-05:00

Before we get to why ‘Stupid Games,’ let’s define what a Stupid Game is. A Stupid Game is any team-building activity that can be used to teach business principles and ideas. I don’t want to admit this: I am not good at these games, nor do I particularly like them. However, I want to be truthful given our relationship. How is that for being vulnerable? Can I have a hug?

Stupid Games are invaluable in teaching business groups that are interested in improving performance and doing that in a way that produces results. For the past twenty years, we have used experiential learning as a modality for teaching and developing our clients. Calling what we do ‘experiential education’ is what an academic would call it. For us, they are ‘stupid games’ and they are useful because they give groups a practice field where they can develop their skills and improve their performance.
For more information about CMI team building visit our website by clicking here.

Sailing True to North

2011-07-13T10:04:00.001-05:00

There you have it: simple yet powerful ways to create the foundational material of your organization including a discussion of the dark side of these endeavors, as well as lots of encouragement and examples of what positives can happen when this is done in a real and authentic way.

So, stay in the light and honor what you come up with. Let the written Reason for Being, Values and BHAGs be your organization’s “true north.” With this foundation you will be able to find your way in these challenging and chaotic business waters.

Happy sailing and let us know how you are doing.

For more about CMI and Bruce Hodes click here.