THE IMPORTANCE OF CORRECT PRIORITISING IN TERMS OF THE ORGANISATION, THE TEAM, AND INDIVIDUALS
I created a model some time ago called “The Priority Hierarchy” to inform first-time team leaders, but especially those who struggle for various reasons having courageous conversations with team members.
What I encountered again and again in delivering training to emerging leaders was that they would too often prioritise the feelings of the two people in difficult conversations- their own, and the recipient’s feelings. That would mean that they would prioritise the feelings of individuals first, the team’s needs second, and the needs of the business in a distant third place.
I would represent this as a triangle with the focus on individuals being prioritised at the tip (the smallest portion), the needs of the team being secondary despite taking up a larger portion of the triangle, and the needs of the business being last to be considered despite taking up the largest portion at the base of the triangle. This is an ‘Inappropriate Hierarchy’, preferring the feelings of individuals above the needs of the team and the business (see image below).
Unfortunately, this is all too often the case with many first-time leaders. I have seen so many struggle to deal with poor performance, including inappropriate behaviours and attitudes, because they are too concerned about how the individual will respond, and or how uncomfortable they feel having to address issues.
That’s why it’s so important for those team leaders who were previously a team member to understand that they must now be responsible for the broader needs of the business but also for the fact that the team is watching them and hoping or even expecting that a single team member’s underperformance will be addressed.
In order to be as effective as possible, emerging team leaders must prefer the needs of the business and their entire team over the feelings of themselves and a single team member. Teams can find it tremendously demoralising watching a fellow team member’s unacceptable behaviour or attitude be inadvertently approved of or condoned through lack of intervention by the team leader.
