Have you ever been a part of a team or work group that is unwilling to address the "elephant in the room" issues? In other words, no one wants to tackle the big issues for fear of having the team implode. So, the team dances around the big important issue(s) and handles the smaller ones to avoid any type of conflict. If you are a leader, how can you promote tackling the "elephant in the room" issues and have honest dialogue? How do you promote honest dialogue if you are a team member? Great questions for this week's newsletter.

Happy elephant hunting,

Sophia's production team had been meeting for a year and they were making great progress in reducing waste while meeting production deadlines. A team member, Margaret, was given an assignment months ago to research ways the team could be more "green" or environmentally conscious in its production processes. Three months passed and Margaret still has not reported back to the team and Sophia continues to accept her excuses. As the team is prepared to meet again, this lack of follow through by Margaret is affecting the team's ability to move forward and yet no one wants to bring up the issue for fear of confronting Margaret and Sophia.

This tendency to ignore big elephant issues for fear of conflict is common in today's workplace. Here are a sample of other "big elephant" issues that often go untouched:

• The boss is incompetent
• The purpose of the team is no longer clear
• A few dominant members are taking over the team
• The company is losing money and may soon be out of business
• A division of the company may be sold or closed
• The leader created a plan and is no longer following it

This list can go on but essentially it boils down to big issues that are assumed to be too volatile to touch so the team continues to ignore them in hopes they will go away or fade into the background.

Often times the team may reveal through member's nonverbal behaviors that something is wrong: Examples include:

• No one answers questions asked by the leader and co-workers or there are long pauses before answering
• Sideways glances of members as if they know something the leader doesn't
• Low energy in the group with the leader doing all or most of the talking

What can you do as a team leader or member if you see these nonverbal signs or you know there are big issues the team is avoiding?

• If you are the leader, make certain you are doing a process check monthly or once a quarter that looks at how the team is performing. You may also do this when you sense there is an issue that no one is talking about. You will need to do this anonymously through an online survey or paper survey after a meeting.

Three essential questions of a process check:

• What are we doing well? What is missing? If you had a magic wand and could change anything what would you change first and why?

• If you are a team member, you will want to encourage the use of this process check often, especially when you know there are big issues. You may offer to create an online or paper survey making certain the responses are anonymous.

Team feedback can be hard to hear, but if the team wants to be effective, it must create a system of "checking in" on itself to see how it is doing. The next step as a leader is to follow through with what the process check reveals. When your team answers the "magic wand" question, you essentially have a road map on what issues to handle first.

Question for You:

Does your team or leader often ignore the big issues in the room by handling less important problems to feel productive?

Action for You:

As a leader or member, become aware of the signs that a team is holding back and introduce a process check or evaluation to uncover why. Make certain this evaluation of the team's performance is anonymous and that action will be taken immediately based on the evaluation results.

"Courage means to keep working a relationship, to continue seeking solutions to difficult problems, and to stay focused during stressful periods."