Communication breakdown is a real problem. But where do leaders or team members begin when it comes to clarifying needs and addressing conflict? According to recent guest Tim Franz, the Workplace Covenant is a time-test method for merging the obligations and expectations inherent in any workplace relationship. When implemented and revisited frequently, this method results in fostering meaningful partnership at work.
GUEST AT A GLANCE
With a Ph.D. in Social & Organizational Psychology and extensive experience not only in post-secondary teaching but business consulting, Dr. Timothy Franz is an expert in helping leaders and teams communicate effectively in the workplace. He and co-author Seth Silver recently released Meaningful Partnership at Work: How The Workplace Covenant Ensures Mutual Accountability and Success Between Leaders and Teams.
A QUICK GLIMPSE INTO OUR PODCAST
🔊 Podcast: Transform Your Workplace, sponsored by Xenium HR
🎙️ Host: Brandon Laws
📋 In his own words: “The Transform Your Workplace podcast is your go-to source for the latest workplace trends, big ideas, and time-tested methods straight from the mouths of industry experts and respected thought-leaders.”
A SOLUTION TO THE PROBLEM
“Right now, people just aren’t listening.” According to Tim Franz, this is especially true of leaders in the workplace. They listen to respond instead of listening to hear, listening to understand, listening “to make sense of the feelings and ideas and issues that people are having.”
Tim Franz and Seth Silver’s book, Meaningful Partnership at Work, discusses the two-way street of frustration, where the manager has needs and desires and the team has needs and desires, but there is a breakdown in communication on both ends regarding how to fulfill them. For this common issue, Tim and Seth coined the term, “The Workplace Covenant,” which is a method that makes implicit needs and desires — on the part of both the leader and team — explicit so that all can work together, moving forward “in the same direction.”
PODCAST EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS
How It Works
“The idea is that the team leader lists their obligations to the team and their expectations of the team separately without the team. And the team, without the leader, lists their obligations to the leader and expectations of the leader. So now you’ve got these four lists, and the Workplace Covenant process is about merging these lists. So the leader goes first and talks about his or her obligations to the team. And then the team responds with their expectations. Normally, there’s 70% overlapping and the facilitator works to merge the expectations into an obligation list. The same process is repeated with the team and their obligations versus the leader’s expectations. All the team members then sign it.”
“And then this is something that can and should be used continuously in the future to give feedback, to give people guidance, to improve, to really continuously improve the workplace relationship and move towards that goal of meaningful partnership.”
Living the Covenant
“Well, the Workplace Covenant is a process, not a document. You create this initial document, but you review it in team meetings. […] So over time you get more experienced with it, but yes, it is absolutely something that needs to be posted, revisited, talked about. Those are the informal ways to do it, but there are also formal ways to do it. We recommend that teams hold a formal covenant review every three months or so.”
The Message
“From writing this book, we learned that the book was not actually about the Workplace Covenant. […] The book was about creating this level of partnership where people feel supported and can be successful. And so the underpinning, the theoretical model, is empathy, respect, trust, alignment — getting to the partnership. Now, we of course think that the Workplace Covenant is great, but it’s a medium for getting the team and the leader on the same page working together.”
Trusting the Data
“When you get people working together as partners, it leads to this state of higher performance, plenty of past research. So Seth and I had eight different teams with the managers, the team leader, and the members. And then we measured them before starting a workplace covenant process, two to three months later, four to six months later, then six to eight months later. […] The results were consistent. Across all the teams, partnership went up over time, team performance went up over time, and — to me the most important finding — conflict went down and stayed down.”
Mistakes are Inevitable
“Sometimes people drop the ball. They create this covenant as a one-shot deal thinking that’s going to solve their problems. And that’s not going to happen. It needs to be in on any efforts for continuous improvement, whether it’s working on the soft stuff or whether it’s working on your line to get better quality. The goal is to continuously assess and intervene, assess and intervene. Revisiting the covenant, working on it regularly, bringing it up in the one-on-ones informally and formally, and then doing formal reviews — that’s what will really make the difference. So if you’re going to do it once and put it in your drawer, don’t waste your time.”
LEARN MORE
Ready to foster meaningful partnerships in your workplace? Pick up a copy of Tim and Seth’s book or check out their consulting websites, silverconsultinginc.com and teambuildingprocess.com. Both Tim and Seth are active on LinkedIn, so connect with them and learn more through their posted articles, ideas, and podcasts.