1. Your company is rolling out a new initiative for existing customers and the direction to your department leaves a lot of room for creativity in the implementation. At the next meeting, how does your team react? They wait to see what their specific task is and how you need them to do it. Some team members propose ideas and are quickly silenced by other team members. The team members collaborate to come up with 2-3 ideas that they want to try and have structured ways to implement. The team members throw in a few ideas but have no suggestions on how to execute their plans. 2. You receive approval to add another member to your team. How do members of your team act during the hiring process? They refer their peers as potential candidates. They become anxious about how the new employee will alter the existing dynamics of the team. They express relief that someone can help with the workload. They actively promote the job listing to their network and are excited to have a new member join the team. 3. Your team just finished a big project and has some unexpected downtime. Do they: Start researching a new project Take a few days off Sit at the desk and wait for the next assignment Use the opportunity to complete professional development 4. A big project deadline is looming and it looks like a few people will need to come in over the weekend. Do you: Send an email to ask for volunteers. You can always count on a few people to show up. Assign specific people. Maybe you can rotate who has to work overtime next month? Wait until the last minute and offer extra incentives to the people who reluctantly agree to come in. Post a sign-up sheet. 5. You are the replacement for a favorite team lead. How do you introduce yourself to your new team? You hold a group meeting the day before the transition and schedule 1:1 sessions with each member for the first week. You bring donuts to the team meeting. You hide in your office and send emails as needed. You say hello at the group meeting and mention and open door policy. 6. Due to a decrease in profit margins, the company is increasing the goals and decreasing performance bonuses. How do you break the news? You create a 3-minute video that spends the first two minutes praising recent team accomplishments under your leadership and one minute on the bad news; then you email it to all team members. You tell those closest to you about the changes and let the rest of the team hear about it through the grapevine. You call a special meeting to share the news and invite questions; then offer specific days/times to anyone who would like to discuss how the new policies may specifically affect them. You share the news during your team’s regularly scheduled meeting and invite questions. 7. There’s a rumor that your department will have layoffs next month. How does your team react? A few team members come to you directly to ask what’s going on. You hear the team worriedly talking in the breakroom. They are looking for ways to add value to the team. They are complaining about how much extra work they do over their peers. Time is Up! Time's up
