Novastellar, a manufacturer and distributor of specialized communications hardware, was a success story by any measure. Started just ten years ago by a couple of bright, highly motivated entrepreneurs, it had achieved a leading position within the industry in terms of technology, quality and versatility. Many of the original 'hires' were still with the company, now playing much more significant roles than those in which they'd started.

The future looked very promising. A substantial government contract, two awards for technical excellence and recently a positive write up in a business periodical. That's when things began to go seriously wrong. Two senior level 'defections' occurred to be followed by the unexpected loss of a long-standing customer. Staff morale seemed to plummet through the floorboards.

The President was rightly concerned. In her preliminary investigation she discovered that there were several 'tell-tale' signs that had been overlooked in the euphoria of all the positive events. To begin, there were escalating production delays, an alarming increase in waste and rework, some sporadic absenteeism and frequent incidents of lateness in key departments, and a noticeable change of atmosphere in the periodic Management Meetings.

In discussions with her Department Heads about these observations she heard the same story in different versions. Each Department was struggling, against overwhelming odds, to counter the shortfalls caused by others. Upstream Departments were delivering late, inadequate and erroneous information, and downstream Departments were being obstructionist, inflexible and unreasonably demanding. So many petunias in onion patches! Who was to be blamed?

This is not the right question, although it is a frequent one. Why do teenagers become an unexpected challenge to parents, especially following an idyllic childhood? There is no blame, it's just part of the 'growth process'. Expectations and behaviors, that used to work well, have to be changed to meet changing perceptions. Single-minded drive is no longer enough to cope with all the incoming challenges. Collaboration and synergy in effort is required to meet the increasingly complex demands of a 'hungry market'. What was once tolerated, even 'cute', is now a royal pain.

The solution may lie in the area of improved teamwork, a cooperative approach to managing the issues of the moment. However, we are not speaking of the traditional strategy of imposing a team-based operating style on the relating Departments. This is comparable to using a band-aid to fix a broken leg. We referring to fundamental behavioral change, an acceptance of communal ownership of objectives, a self managed process of joint problem solving, and a willingness to share contributions without restraint in the accomplishment of a greater goal.

Absolute clarity at all levels regarding organizational goals and standards is a starting point. License to take action, an 'enabling mandate', is the second. Nothing else is required if the right attitudes prevail.

Self-managed people can combine to form self-managed teams, and given an awareness of their potential knowledge and participating styles, they can generate substantial results in less than optimal conditions and in record time.

Would you like to know more? Visit the Staying in Touch section of the Andros Website and evaluate your own potentials. Then offer it to your people as a first step towards vastly improved performance. Don't make the same error as Novastellar – learn from their experience.