Episode #386: Effective Teamwork is No Accident During COVID-19

Working from home can easily become working apart. Japan is a group oriented society and now the group has been flung to the winds, while people are at home working in isolation. Ronin were masterless samurai and for many Japanese white collar workers they can feel they have been tossed from the castle. Japan is a curious mixture of discipline, conscientiousness and also escapism. The staff’s job description is of vital interest to employees, because it defines the scope of responsibility. Their main interest is to avoid all mistakes and problems and small targetism is definitely in vogue here. Collective responsibility is preferred. We are all responsible, so that no single individual is responsible.

What many companies have found during Covid-19 is how low is the productivity of certain individuals. Unprotected by the group and having to stand on their own two feet, they stumble. Innovation, out of scope responsibility, flexibility are not hallmarks of the office worker in Japan. Plunging them into isolation doesn’t trigger any changes for the better. They are in retreat now and hunkering down, trying to keep out of the limelight. Actually, we need them to step up to overcome a difficult business situation, but there is little appetite for that.

The responsibility for this mess is with the leaders. When the ship is going down, we don’t take a vote on the course of action. The leaders spring into action and start firing off orders and making sure the coordination is happening, wherever it needs to happen. The energy involved with this effort is enormous and difficult to sustain across the many months of Covid-19. Nevertheless, it has to be done and leaders have to step up to the plate and lead.

Micro management is not the greatest tactical weapon in the leader’s armoury, but in times of crisis like now, it has a strong contribution to make. The key thing is to manage the culture. A British “keep calm and carry on” idea is not the recipe needed for leaders. Instead over communication and massive efforts in coordination are key. This is when you find out that your leaders are poor communicators. They have no idea how to engage the team and how to motivate others to want to succeed.

Regular meetings everyday must be held to make sure everyone knows what is going on and so that people feel included. A common schedule of the key activities needs to be created across all departments, because otherwise, coordination becomes a nightmare. Even with a common schedule, there will still be struggles to keep it uniform and updated. This means super vigilance on the leader’s part for divergence from what is supposed to be happening. The team never see that big picture to the same extent, so for them the coordination issue is basically a curious irrelevancy. They are hunkering down to focus on their little bit in isolation, not trying to work as a “one company” unit. The leader must drive this hard to make sure it happens.

Telling people one thing once never works. The drum beat on the key points has to be constant no matter how boring it is to keep relating them. Checking up on things that are supposed to be happening is annoying. People should be responsible to do their bit, but they are not, so make those phone calls and keep double checking.

The only way to get things to work is to make it happen. In this teleworking environment, controls are loosened off and the leader can be cut adrift from what is really going on. The antidote is concentrating on the 20% of things which represent the 80% of results. We cannot do everything, but we can make sure the most important things get done. If we take the Pareto Principle even further we know that 4% of inputs produces 64% of outputs. Watch that 4% like a hawk.

If leaders communicate much more than normal, assemble a One Truth document that tracks what is supposed to be happening and make sure the integrity of this document is maintained, they will be on the right track. Additionally, identify the 4% which represents the 64% of results and keep everyone focused there.