Effective relations with
Contractors require
strong communication
skills and a shared sense
of mission
OFFER OPPORTUNITIES
OVERCOME OBSTACLES
ACHIEVE AGREEMENT
NMA LeaderLab
DEADLINE DILEMMA
Figure out how to deal with a
Contractor team and get their help in a
time-critical situation while addressing
contractual restrictions and personal
reluctances…
LeaderLab CEU Code 05005LL
.1 CEU
NMA…
THE Leadership Development Organization
2210 Arbor Blvd.
Dayton, OH 45349
937-294-0421
Web Site: http://www.nma1.org
Find a win-win answer!
Copyright © 2006, by National Management Association, Dayton, OH
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NMA LeaderLab
Scenario
LL #5
DEADLINE DILEMMA
Theme
“Give and Take”
Scenario:
It’s Friday afternoon at 5:00 p.m. Your small proposal team is about to wrap up its WIDGET proposal which
must be sent to reproduction before midnight; and all members of the team but you, the LEADER, are getting
ready to leave for their front-row seats at the final NBA Championship game – a once-in-a-lifetime reward for
their hard work on the proposal. Suddenly there’s a phone call from your boss…he has found a fatal error in
your proposal that must be fixed before midnight, or your proposal will fail and your company could lose
several million dollars.
Challenge:
All of your proposal team members except you are contracted workers, whose contract with your company
does not permit paid overtime work. In addition, every one of them has been looking forward to this game for
months, and has absolutely no interest in doing ANYTHING ELSE. You cannot fix the proposal without all
their help, so you must convince them to stay and help. You can’t not pay them for their help per the contract
with their employer. Any changes made on the proposal, will have to be approved by the Contractor, so the
contractor will need to be easily persuaded to make those changes. You have 20 minutes to do so before
their van leaves for the ball game…so you must ACT FAST!
Operations:
Before beginning, your team must unanimously select its LEADER and OBSERVER (one of the Contract
Employees who does not otherwise participate in the discussion). You will need to come up with an
approach which overcomes the proposal team members objections and can be sold to the Contractor later,
so GET TO WORK!
Reports:
Each team LEADER will be allocated 3 minutes to brief his or her results including the agreement, if one was
reached. The team OBSERVER will then have 2 minutes to summarize the process used to arrive at
agreement or continued disagreement. There will be a hard cutoff at the end of five minutes.
Evaluation:
The facilitator will take the last 5 minutes to comment on each team’s results. Teams which reach an
acceptable agreement will stay to work the proposal, and teams which do not will leave for the ball game to
celebrate.
NMA…THE Leadership Development Organization, Dayton, Ohio
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NMA LeaderLab
Prizes
TBD
NMA…THE Leadership Development Organization, Dayton, Ohio
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NMA LeaderLab
Lessons
• DISCUSS THE IMPORTANCE of this proposal for your company
and personal future
• “Stress your shared survival….”
• ASK YOUR TEAM what we can do to meet the deadline.
• “Explore all options….”
• DEVELOP A SOLUTION which compensates team members for
their sacrifice (pay and NBA play)
• “Restore all lost benefits….”
• AGREE ON RESULTANT STEPS and confirm their buy-in
• “Document all results….”
Things to consider in your work environment!
NMA…THE Leadership Development Organization, Dayton, Ohio
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NMA LeaderLab
Facilitator Hints
Assign each team a number (Team 1-5), then go through the LL instructions and make sure all teams
adhere to the designated time allocation for each LL section. After taking reports from each of the teams,
follow the script below to provide feedback. Use the box below to take notes on each team.
TEAM #
STEP 1
STEP 2
STEP 3
STEP 4
1
2
3
4
5
Thank each team for their participation and inputs; hopefully this exercise helped them generate ideas
for overcoming obstacles.
Begin with the teams that completed their assignment and reached an agreement, and comment on
the associated conditions and process. Next, discuss the problems encountered by the other teams
and relate these to real work situations.
Finally, go over the LeaderLab lessons which cover one proven approach to employee buy-in, and
award prizes.
NMA…THE Leadership Development Organization, Dayton, Ohio
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LeaderLab Evaluation Form
Your comments and suggestions are very important to us. Please take a few moments to reflect on your
experiences at the LeaderLab. Your input will help us to continue to provide professional quality services
and maximize learning during the future LeaderLabs.
PLEASE CHECK THE APPROPRIATE BOX
1.
The overall LeaderLab program
2.
Appropriate use of the materials that made learning easy and enjoyable
3.
Opportunity to exchange experiences and ideas with others
4.
Length of LeaderLab relative to its objectives and meeting your needs
5.
Applicability to your responsibilities, needs, and roles at home, work, and
elsewhere
6.
What is the most important thing you learned during the LeaderLab?
7.
Which part of the LeaderLab was of MOST VALUE to you? Why?
8.
Which part of the LeaderLab was of LEAST VALUE to you? Why?
9.
What suggestions for improvement do you have for future LeaderLabs?
Excellent
Good
Fair
Poor
Check one ─
Yes
No
Did the facilitator(s)…
Keep the sessions “moving and interesting”?
Speak at a level that could be easily heard and understood by everyone?
Keep the discussions constructive, crisp, and well controlled?
Practice “good facilitation skills”?
NMA…THE Leadership Development Organization, Dayton, Ohio
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