Ops Insights #035 Stop the Internal Drama
January 25, 2024 | Read Time: 3 minutes | Written by Jenny Kleintop
As I enter the room, I immediately feel the tension around the table. I squeeze by one individual typing away on her computer while I grab the last seat in the middle. On my right, more individuals were typing away at their computers, and on my left, a few were on their computers, and others were on their phones. No one was talking to anyone, heads down plugging away, but a sense of uncomfortable tension was in the air. First red flag.
They introduced themselves: leader, gift officer, gift officer, annual giving, annual giving, gift officer, and events. A brief pause as I turned my head to the right as introductions continued: data, ops, gift processor, ops. Suddenly, I realized the frontline team members were on my left, and all the data and ops team members were on the right. Nothing felt like they were a “team.” Second red flag.
The conversation started, and it was mostly me asking questions and getting very short responses. People would talk over each other and in negative tones. There was lots of finger-pointing at the “other side,” and no one was taking ownership of what was going wrong. There was a lot going wrong. On a few occasions, I thought some individuals would reach across the table and duke it out. What have I walked into? Third red flag.
Fast forward 6 months, and they had come a long way. It took a ton of team-building work and restoring a sense of trust, ownership, and mutual respect. There were many individual, small group, and team sessions, but we started to build a bridge. An open, honest conversation about how they got there and what needed to happen to turn things around. Then we worked continuously at it. It was another 6 months until they really were fully healed, but it happened.
As we looked back with the leader at where they were and how far they had come, we couldn’t help but say, “let’s not get to that point again.”
It’s often the little things that go on - comments that are ignored, behavior that is tolerated, and teamwork that is non-existent.
Here are a few ways to turn that ship around:
➡ Assess – How do team members interact (or not interact)? You can observe and see how team members interact, even in the virtual world.
➡ Admit - Recognize and admit that you must do something before it is too late.
➡Act - Get tools, techniques, and strategies to help you do it. If you have other departments, such as HR, that can help, lean on them. If not, lean on external resources. It’s a short-term investment that will have a long-term benefit. The key is finding someone who can understand both sides and eliminate the gap. Then, put a plan in place and act on that plan.
The internal drama will lead to burnout fast, and burnout leads to people leaving. Instead, assess, admit, and act.
You’ve got this!
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