LOTS of conversation this week around team building! I’m doing some work with a small business that wants to figure out how to work with the right contractors, partners and ultimately hire the right employees – no small feat if you ask me. 😊 Plus, I’ve been talking to IAW about relaunching the Orlando chapter as it has been dormant for the last two years without giving back to its members and the community. Both led to some interesting and cool conversations about building teams!
Team building through chemistry
The conversation that is sticking with me the most is the chat I had with the IAW Chapter President of Atlanta. I asked her the top 3 things that she felt were needed to relaunch a chapter and she gave me these nuggets:
- Communication: Ask the members what they want and find out what went wrong. Make the time to chat with folks 1:1 and really LISTEN to what they need, why they joined and how you can help them.
- Team to Delegate: Look for people that have similar values and are motivated to reach the collective goals – those of the members, the organization and the community. Delegate authority and responsibility to the chapter leaders to reach these goals through folks that are already showing up because they care.
- Leadership: Help others in the organization reach their aspirations by serving them and teaching them to lead. Reward those around you with praise for stepping up and trusting them when they may not yet trust themselves.
What wonderful advice for building a team and a community through chemistry!!
Why teams fall apart
On the flip side, declaring a group to be a team doesn’t automatically make it functional. All too often, teams fall apart. Why does that happen? What are the missing pieces? Here are some common causes of team downfalls:
Are you missing some of these? If so, it might be time to take stock and plug the holes so your team can get down to business. 😉
What ‘good’ looks like
Brene Brown nails the heart of teaming by explaining the ‘rumble’ approach – having a real conversation even when that’s a hard thing to do:
‘A rumble is a discussion, conversation or meeting defined by a commitment to lean into vulnerability, to stay curious and generous, to stick with the messy middle of problem identification and solving, to take a break and circle back when necessary, to be fearless in owning our parts, and as psychologist Harriet Lerner teaches, to listen with the same passion with which we want to be heard.’
Besides being a massively long run-on sentence, it really presents what ‘good’ looks like when a team is truly humming. Plus, it gets to the key in the lock for successful teaming — trust.
We know when we’ve been part of a winning team and we know when we haven’t. Here’s the thing. What do we do about the latter? I suppose it depends which side of the fence you’re on. As a manager and leader, it’s your responsibility to pay attention and make it right. If you can’t change the people, change the people. That’s provided you’re not the problem. 😊 If you’re the team member and your message has fallen on deaf ears, it might be time for you to make a change.
What’s your experience with building teams?
Let’s have a conversation about team building, just you and me! You can schedule a time here. There is no cost. This is not a sales call masquerading as a strategy call. I just want to support you. The topic is up to you.
