Q&A Hero

Question

Blues Services, a large print publishing house, added two new employees to one of its work group teams (Blue Lightning) last year to replace a retiree and a promotion. The Blue Lightning team was responsible for global marketing and advertising for several monthly print pieces: a travel journal, an eco-tourism monthly, a food and restaurant guide with recipes, and an in-flight magazine for a well-known commercial air carrier. Pat, a 40-something Hispanic female, headed the team and had primary responsibility for the travel journal. Dave, a 60ish white male, had primary responsibility for the food and restaurant guide and general long-term account management. Amanda, a new college graduate with marketing major, was hired to replace Clyde, the retiree who was responsible for the in-flight magazine. Nathan, an ex-army sergeant who did much of his college work while on active duty, had responsibility for the eco-tourism monthly. Pat had called a staff meeting to work on team productivity. Numbers were down from a year ago. Expenses were doubled. Pat had talked to the senior human resources consultant, Toby, before the meeting about this team intervention. She told Toby, "I can't believe Nate is only two years older than Amanda. He is so reliable and responsible. They both have great technical skills. Remember? We didn't have to train either one of them at all in any of the computer support. Mobiles, tablets, spreadsheets, they knew all of it. Amanda is like my high school aged daughter in so many ways! She talks all day on the phone or to someone. She does her work while she talks and it has to be checked and fixed most of the time. On the days she is out of the office, more work gets done more smoothly. I let her travel as much as possible, but it is eating up my budget." Toby commented, "You have to keep this team intact, as I recall. You can't replace Amanda?" Pat shook her head. "We are it. Thank you for agreeing to facilitate our session. We have to change something. What are you going to do?" Toby said, "I'll do a deliberate team intervention. We should get a long way this afternoon. I assume Dave is the same steady contributor he has always been for you." Pat nodded, "See you at 1:30."
Pat and Dave waited in the conference room for the younger employees. Pat looked at her watch and said, "I can't believe Nate is only two years older than Amanda." Dave commented, "It's that military thing. Grows them up quick." Pat shrugged, "Maybe, but neither one of them is here and we are supposed to start in 1 minute." Dave looked at his watch and said, "I'll buy you coffee if Amanda shows up first. You buy for me if it's Nate." Pat laughed, "I'll buy you coffee, but no deal" just as the door swung open and Nate slid into a seat. "Hey, did you see those playoffs! I was down at Clancy's and caught the slow elevator back. Just barely on time! What's going on, Ma'am? Sir?" He put his notebook down and pulled out the budget reports and goals statements that had been requested for the meeting. Dave asked Nate about the game and started telling him about an earlier year's series that he had witnessed in person. Nate said, "So that's how you did the terrific Sports, bars, stars, and restaurants in Baltimore' series! That was so great. My mom's sister sent me magazines every month I was in country. All the guys loved that one." Pat interjected, "That was great work, Dave. We got national recognition for that." The two men continued to chat and Pat continued to look at her watch. At 1:10, she buzzed her secretary to find Amanda. Ten minutes later, Amanda walked into the room, frowning, "I so forgot about the meeting today. Why didn't anyone remind me? I was working really hard at getting frequent traveler miles from the airline to use for my vacation next year. Then, Sandy (Pat's secretary) interrupted me to come up here. Will this take long? I have a massage scheduled at 5:30 across town and the last time I was late, Paul took someone else in front of me! Can you believe that?" Pat began talking. "I have asked Toby, the consultant who works with groups to spend the afternoon with us. He will be here shortly. As you have seen from the projections and reports from last year, Blue Lightning is no longer in first place in the Blue Team rankings. Our production figures have slipped significantly. Our expenses are nearly double what they were last year. Customer complaints about our lack of concern are an embarrassment. We are in this together. 30 percent of our regular income and 50 percent of our bonuses come from our combined efforts. We have to figure out how to stop double efforts on some clients and missing others altogether. When we call the same person on the same day with approximately the same questions or information, we look disorganized and unprofessional. Travel expenses show we are going to the same cities on consecutive weeks to do the same business. Don't we share account information with each other? All of these products have similar client demographics, similar market niches, and similar competitive profiles. We have to share. We have to figure this out together. Now, we have to change something. Now. any questions before Toby arrives?" Amanda fished through her purse, "Oh, Pat, I nearly forgot! Daddy (the CEO of Blues Services) said Thanks' for that report you rushed to him yesterday. What projections and reports?" Nate flashed her the packet of information. She said, "Oh, that looked too boring and too historical for me to look through. Tell me what I need to know." Nate ignored her as he checked the scores on his mobile. Amanda gave him a pitying look and said, "You men, concerned about ball game scores at work! How just, un. . ." Pat smiled bleakly and said, "Hello, Toby, I think you know everyone here." Toby shook hands all around, except with Amanda who was busy putting on the hand lotion she had finally found in her purse. Toby started, "Thanks for taking the time to complete the questionnaires I sent you. I think Blue Lightning has a lot going for it, and some areas to work on. I will show you what you told me, and then we will work on this together." Toby's first slide showed four stick figures with "What we think about _____" arrayed around them. Figure 1 had curly hair and a big smile and data that indicated that the rest of the team thought Figure 1 did not show up for meetings on time, did not contribute a fair share to the group workload, did not receive feedback well, did encourage innovation among team members, and was fun and energetic. Figure 2, with a flattop haircut, was surrounded by data that indicated Figure 2 showed up on time, prepared work assignments on time, showed respect for all group members, and did not change his or her opinion easily, even when appropriate. Figures 3 and 4 provided similar information. Toby also had results combined from the four Blue Lightning members in response to questions such as "How satisfied are you that your ideas are heard by the team?" "How well does the team resolve differences of opinion? How well does the team follow its own ground rules?" Please refer to this scenario for the following question.
Which part of the high-performance team scorecard triggered Pat's request for an intervention?

A. Production output

B. Member satisfaction

C. Capacity for cooperation

D. Customer input

E. Peer evaluations