Tag:

Teamwork

The Five Dysfunctions of a Team

by Ron Potter April 28, 2022

As I continue the review of some of the books I’ve read through the years, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni seemed like a natural fit after looking at Peter Senge’s The Fifth Discipline.

Lencioni pictures a nice pyramid with the following elements:

Absence of Trust (as the base)
Fear of Conflict
Lack of Commitment
Avoidance of Accountability
Division of Company Results

Absence of Trust

This comes from the unwillingness to be vulnerable and not genuinely open within the team. This makes it impossible to build the foundation of trust.

The absence of trust comes from several issues but I believe the main one is a lack of being open about our belief system. It’s good to hold strong belief systems. But it’s important to remember that each of us is unique based on history and experiences. While holding too strong beliefs, it’s also important that we be open to exposing our ideas and beliefs to others on the team for scrutiny and building a shared belief system.

I have three siblings. We grew up in the same household with the same parents. However, speaking to each other as adults it became clear that we each have very different memories and belief systems. Think about that for a minute. Today’s society assumes that if we’re in a particular category then we all must think alike and have the same belief systems.

Oh, you’re a white person who grew up in rural America, therefore you must have these belief systems! Not true! Yes, I am white and, yes, I did grow up in rural America, but as I just explained that even with those similarities I don’t have the same belief system as my siblings who grew up in the same household with the same parents. Don’t let people (or for that matter yourself) be put into a category just because we have some broad-based backgrounds.

Fear of Conflict

The failure of building trust in a team can be damaging because it sets the tone for fear of conflict.

Teams that lack trust are incapable of engaging in an unfiltered and passionate debate of ideas. Instead, they resort to veiled discussions and guarded comments about people, never allowing their own belief systems to be questioned.

Lack of Commitment

Without healthy conflict, it’s impossible to reach team commitment. If we lack trust because of fear of conflict, it’s impossible to expose our ideas and beliefs to passionate and open debate. Team members may sign-up as being committed to an idea or position during the meeting but as soon as they walk out of the room and are questioned by someone who knew they believed something else going into the meeting they may say something like “I don’t necessarily agree with the team goal but I’ll support it until a conflict arises between the team goal and my true beliefs.” This is not commitment, it’s compliance. True commitment must be in place for a team to move forward together.

Avoidance of Accountability

This most often happens when team members are fearful to call out other members whose actions don’t align with their supposed commitment. Not holding each other accountable to the team commitment will quickly break down the trust and commitment of the team. Being a leadership team means you’ll need to make difficult decisions. Without the accountability to the difficult decision, you’re not really a team, just a group of people trying to lead on your own belief system without the commitment of a team with you.

Cohesive Teams

Cohesive teams:

Trust one another
Engage in unfiltered conflict about ideas (not people)
Commit to decisions and plans of action
Hold each other accountable for the commitment
Focus on the achievement of team results

0 comments

Are You the Person You Mean To Be?

by Ron Potter May 6, 2021

I have worked with hundreds of leaders through the years. My experience and belief is that none of them had bad intentions.

360 Feedback

I’ve used several well-regarded instruments for collecting and analyzing feedback from the people they work with. Typically the assessments include surveys of:

Self
Direct Reports
Peers
Boss

This gives us a full “360” view of their style.

Self Assessment

Each of the four assessments can be categorized into three general areas:

Very high overall assessment
Neutral or “middle of the road” assessment
Very low or undervalued assessment

High self-assessment

When the self-assessment is very high, I find that it is driven by ego and lack of self-awareness. Large egos are often driven by fear of failure, low self-assessment, or very low self-awareness. I have found that this low self-awareness happens because they believe their intentions and actions are at the highest level. They only want the best for others, the project, or the team.

Neutral self-assessment

This “middle of the road” assessment is often driven by a belief that they have very good intentions but they aren’t the “smartest person in the room” and they are very open to others’ ideas and constantly striving for unity based on respect.

Low self-assessment

This one may actually concern me the most. It is often driven by low self-respect and low self-esteem and is the toughest issue to deal with. It is often driven by long-standing, historical issues of neglect, abuse, and lack of self-worth. These are psychological issues that I believe are beyond a business consultant.

Direct Report Assessments

Direct Reports can also fall into the three general areas of high, neutral, and low. While the self-assessment is driven mostly by intentions, the Direct Reports often assess actions. The comparison of self- and direct reports will often be the clearest indicator of Intentions vs Actions.

Peer Assessments

While most leaders will work hard at being a good leader to their team (either intentionally or in action) they don’t feel the same need to be a good team member. They can believe that peers should know their job and do their job. It’s not their job as a team member to help and direct them but only to praise or criticize.

Boss Assessment

Often people are described as “managing up well.” This means they will always attempt to look good in front of the boss and always do what is being asked. Sometimes they’re referred to as “yes men”. Having a good score from the boss is not a bad thing. In fact, it’s a good thing. But only if there are also good scores from peers and direct reports.

Feedback

The point of these exercises is to know if our actions are matching our intentions. I said at the beginning of this blog that I don’t believe leaders have bad intentions. However, even with good intentions, I’ve worked with several leaders who have bad actions that don’t align with those good intentions.

Work hard at getting accurate feedback. This can be done with formal assessments like we just discussed. Or better yet, if the people around you feel comfortable giving you straight feedback. You’ll become a better leader and team member if you respect and appreciate the feedback you’re getting.

0 comments

Blog Team

Overused Teamwork

by Ron Potter July 9, 2020

Team Leadership Culture: Teams first. I’m a big fan of teamwork. However, when it creates an overcommitted organization and conflicting priorities it is counterproductive.

The foundation of this post was inspired by a Harvard Business Review article, The OverCommitted Organization, written by Heidi K. Gardner and Mark Mortensen.

The Overcommitted Organization

In the article, they talk about the dysfunction that can happen when people are assigned to too many teams at the same time. They break it down to the following pros and cons:

PROS: By assigning people to multiple teams at once, organizations make efficient use of time and brainpower. They also do a better job of solving complex problems and sharing knowledge across groups.

CONS: Competing priorities and other conflicts can make it hard for teams with overlapping membership to stay on track. Group cohesion often suffers. And people who belong to many teams at once may experience burnout, which hurts engagement and performance.

Increased Pros or decreased Cons

So now we face the question: Is it worth increasing the PROS at the expense of decreasing the CONS?

My answer is a clear NO! Look in more detail at the expense of the CONS.

Difficult to stay on track.
We have looked at the cost of distraction many times in this blog. Our social media and instant communication can and will negatively affect productivity.
In fact, we can become so distracted on a regular basis that it reduces the brain’s ability to concentrate and think deeply. These are two features that we need more today than ever!
Group cohesion often suffers.
Without group cohesion, there is no team! Teams that tell each other the truth with respect and fully commit to team goals (regardless of personal or department goals) is at the core of great organizations. Group cohesion is essential!
Burnout.
People who experience burnout experience reduced energy, brainpower, commitment, drive, and many other aspects that make them top performers and good team members. Avoid burnout!

PROS

In my mind and experience, the list of pros is actually cons.

Efficient use of time
It’s been proven that the only people capable of multi-tasking are highly trained fighter pilots. And even these highly trained individuals are not capable of transferring the multi-tasking beyond the cockpit when their life depends upon it.
Brainpower
It’s also been proven that teams function better when multiple brains are open about a problem or situation. However, using “one” brain across multiple teams does not increase multiple team’s “brainpower.”
Solving Complex Problems
Complex problems are solved with deep thinking and moving in and out of team subgroups. Complex problems are not solved by having one brain on many teams. In fact that leads to burnout and reduces the ability to solve complex problems.

The Overcommitted Organization

Don’t misunderstand, I’m not opposing what Gardner and Mortensen are stating in their article. In fact, they use experience and solid research to prove their points. And, they reach the same conclusion that I did.

One paragraph right near the middle of their article says

Launch the team well to establish trust and familiarity. When fully dedicated to one team, people learn about their teammates’ outside lives—family, hobbies, life events, and the like. More important, it forges strong bonds and interpersonal trust, which team members need in order to seek and offer constructive feedback, introduces one another to valuable network connections, and rely on one another’s technical expertise. (Italics are mine)

This is a powerful conclusion that reinforces everything I have learned and experienced. Teams that establish trust and have an environment of constructive feedback are the most beneficial.

0 comments

Blog Culture

We’re not in Kansas anymore

by Ron Potter April 16, 2020

I’ve just started reading a book titled Epidemics and Society. This book makes the point that epidemics have done more to shape society and the course of human history than wars. This book was written before our current battle with COVID-19 was even on the radar.

What will our Future Look Like?

During this time of self-containment, I’ve had many thoughts about what our future will look like when we finally emerge for the worldwide pandemic. My thoughts have taken me from movie theaters to the workplace and topics in between. We’re not in Kansas anymore!

Video Connected Teams

One of the things that I believe will happen during this time is employers and employees will realize that much can be accomplished over the Internet. While we’ve been moving this way already, this forced telecommuting may help us finally pull the trigger to use technology more broadly.

All of the collaboration software such as Microsoft Teams, WebEx for Teams, Zoom, and others are seeing this as an opportunity to push their technology farther and faster then they would have before we left Kansas. We’re not in Kansas anymore!

Art of Teamwork

We’ve heard “Art of Teamwork” used to show that collaboration is needed as much as simply getting things done by groups of people. In other words, there is an Art to building great teams with collaboration platforms.

A few years ago, a small group of my colleagues gathered to talk about creating an app that would help leaders form better teams. We believe it’s more than simply adding the “art” of great teams.

We called our app GPS4Leaders (You can see more on our webpage). In doing so, we were expressing that teams, like a good GPS system, is more than just functioning well at the moment.

Think about what a GPS system does for you:

Clearly identifies where you are now.
Helps you locate your desired destination.
Maps out the best route to reach that desired destination.

Where are you now?

Knowing where you are now means knowing who you are as a team. GPS4Leaders uses four modules to help you assess your team and guide you toward the desired future.

GPS4Leaders is made up of four modules:

Interact (available now)
Teams (available now)
Leadership (coming next)
Culture (in the near future)

Knowing where you are now requires the first two modules.

Interact helps the team identify who they are as individuals and what the make-up of the team looks like when you put all the pieces together. This is accomplished by a self-assessment looking at personality types. You can think of these similar to the familiar DICS or Myers-Briggs. We’re not trying to build the best assessment; we’re trying to make whatever assessment you use more visible and useful.

Teams looks at the dynamics within the team. GPS4Teams has two assessments built-in. But again, we’re not trying to become the best assessment in the world. Our goal is to help you assess how your doing so that you know where you are now and your progress toward a better future team.

Leadership will be built in the near future. This will allow teams to assess their leaders. It will provide the same advantages as Team but be focused on the leader.

Culture will be coming in the future. This will look at the company as a whole and determine the extent to which leaders and leadership teams are being successful in pushing positive behavior throughout the organization.

We’re not in Kansas anymore

Just like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, we are now in a very different place. The rules and patterns of our old way of working together have disappeared. How are we to function now?

Please visit our website today and experience how this new app will help you navigate this brave new world.

0 comments

Blog Culture

Consequences

by Ron Potter March 2, 2020

Great Teams and Great Cultures require Consequences

I was talking with a colleague this week about lasting cultures. He mentioned that the Mayo brothers died over 80 years ago but the culture they built is still in place. Meanwhile, we’ve been associated with several companies where the culture deteriorated quickly.

One of the reasons for a lasting culture is clear and immediate consequences when team rules and cultural norms are violated. And it doesn’t matter who violates the rule.

Immediate Consequences

I graduated from Michigan and was a fan of the Fab Five. When Michigan hired Juwan Howard as the new basketball coach last year, I was thrilled. Juwan also seemed to be thrilled to tears that he was “coming home” to Michigan.

But, it wasn’t long before his first test as a new college coach would come front and center.

Star player violates the team code

The Big Ten schedule was not yet a month old in his first year as a coach when something happened. Michigan’s star point guard violated team rules. After a hot start to the season, Michigan was now struggling and needed all of the players more than ever.

Coach Howard didn’t hesitate, he suspended the Star Player.

No delay
No leniency
No privileges

Coach Howard said the player had been suspended for “violation of team policies. We have team rules and unfortunately he broke one of them.”

It didn’t make any difference that the team desperately needed it’s starting point guard right now. He broke team rules and he was suspended!

Team and Corporate Rules

Do you have team rules? Is everyone aware of those rules?

More importantly, does everyone know the consequences of violating those rules? Will anyone and everyone be punished according to those consequences regardless of who they are, what position they hold, or how “indispensable” they are?

Are there consequences to breaking the rules, team or culture?

Without the consequence of rule violation, no team or culture will sustain itself.

Know what the rules are! Know what the consequences are!

Rules must be clear. Teams and cultures must be committed to those rules. Without them, teams and cultures will never last!

0 comments

Blog Culture Culture Series

Culture – Consistency: Summary

by Ron Potter January 9, 2020

Consistency

Image result for Image of give me a lever long enough

The last quadrant of the Denison Culture survey is Consistency, “Does your system create leverage?”

We first introduced the mechanical image of leverage when we introduced the “fulcrum” of Consistency. Most people have seen or heard the quote from Archimedes when he said: “Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world.” As a side note, he also said “Eureka!” which meant “I’ve got it” or “I’ve found it.” Leverage is what he found.

In the post about Coordination and Integration we talked about the lever and how that looks different in each part of the organization.

Together these two create “Leverage!”

The three sections of the Consistency Quadrant talk about achieving leverage.

Consistency is about Results

Dan Denison and his team at Denison Consulting may disagree with me, but in my mind, this quadrant is about results.

My belief is that if you’ve worked hard at each of the other three quadrants of Mission, Adaptability and Involvement, the results are great Consistency.

Take a look at some of the words within the individual questions related to each of the three segments:

practice what they preach
a distinct set of practices
a clear and consistent set of values
accountability
win-win solutions
we reach agreement, even on difficult issues
clear agreement about the right way
share common perspectives
coordinate across the organization
good alignment

These issues are results. The organization has and develops leverage. It creates a highly productive culture.

Should you set and live by a clear set of core values? Yes.
Should you work hard at reaching agreement across the organization? Yes.
Should you coordinate and integrate across and between divisions of the organization? Yes.

But, if you try to accomplish these things without first establishing Mission, Adaptability and Involvement, they won’t amount to much. There is no foundational work. The structure will crumble without the needed foundation.

What is Culture?

We introduced the Culture Series many months ago with this start:

A dictionary definition says “the set of shared attitudes, values, goals, and practices that characterizes an organization.”

Exciting environments come from leaders and teams developing people to face difficulties and obstacles in innovative thoughtful ways that utilize the skills and experiences present.

Productive environments exist when teams learn how to elegantly use the resources they have to get the most out of an organization in a simple way.

Why Build a Great Culture?

I’ll go back to the name of my company, Team Leadership Culture (TLC). These are not distinct issues that you face and corrected one at a time. Great companies and great leaders are always working on all of these issues.

One of the biggest mistakes that I see leaders make is to assume they’re high-level managers. One of the more difficult transitions is to shift from being a great manager to a great leader.

Great Managers

Work in relatively stable environments
Have long-term views and line-of-sight
Usually have clearly defined direction and strategy
And because of these issues, have a limited need to re-direct themselves or those who work for them.

Great Leaders

Spend the bulk of their time on vision
Develop and lead teams that manage more of the detail
Constantly scan the environment both internally and externally to spot the need for change early
Tend to be more risk-takers and have a higher tolerance for risk.

Great leaders and leadership teams create great cultures. Cultures outlast leaders and teams. This applies to both good and bad cultures. Make sure you and your team are focused on a great culture. It’s the only thing that lasts.

0 comments

Blog Culture Culture Series

Culture – Involvement: Team Orientation

by Ron Potter November 7, 2019

The Team Orientation of Involvement contains several wonderful elements.

Cooperation is Encouraged
People are not isolated pieces
Teamwork is used over Hierarchy
People see the relationship between their work and the work of the team (teams)

Problem Solving

I think one of the first things that get in the way team orientation is that corporate leaders and members are problem solvers. Don’t get me wrong, problem-solving is a wonderful skill and is the reason why most people get promoted in organizations. But it can also be the first thing that gets in the way of good team orientation.

Email Overload

As a consultant, I was often asked how to reduce the amount of email that was a burden to everyone. I always looked at three things:

Why was the email sent?
What was the response?
Who was cc:d on the email?

Why was the email sent?

The answer to this question was always something like:

I gave this person an assignment and they were looking for an answer or a solution.

What was the response?

The answer to this question was almost always – I sent them the answer or solution.

Who was cc:d?

The answer to this one always seemed a little more cynical. It would go something like – Everybody and their brother

Immediately eliminate 40% of email

The solution to almost all overload email is accountability. This incorporates questions one and two.

I would suggest to the leader that they stop reading email with the intent to respond. And start asking themselves the question “Why am I receiving this email?”

Because corporate leaders are good problem solvers, their immediate (non-thinking) response is to figure out the problem and send the answer. However, if they look at every email with the first question being, “Why am I receiving this email?” their response becomes different than providing a solution.

Why am I receiving this email?

Some of the responses I’ve heard from the Leader:

I don’t have the right expertise on the team
The person sending the email doesn’t like the answer their getting from the team
The person doesn’t want to be held accountable for the solution. Now they have an email to prove that I gave the solution, not them.

This last answer is hardly ever seen by the leader (they’re problem solvers. They feel good about themselves for giving answers). But it’s the reason many emails are generated. It’s an easy way to get the monkey off their back and onto the back of the leader. And the leader seldom notices.

Answer with a different response

I suggest that the leader answer the email with a simple question, “Why are you sending me this email?”

40% of email will cease!

This response sends the message “I’m not accepting the monkey”. Figure it out. It’s why I gave you the job. Come to me with solutions, not questions.

Notice that this one response touches three and maybe all four of the Team Oriented Culture elements.

Cooperation is Encouraged – It encourages the individual to work with their peers. Cooperate. Engage!
People are not isolated pieces – It’s not just one person solving a problem (or their boss solving it for them). Again, they need to engage with the team and peers.
Teamwork is used over Hierarchy – I’m starting to sound like a broken record here but it’s not a top-down solution.
People see the relationship between their work and the work of the team – Decisions are not made in isolation. It’s not just the boss who sees the big picture. The individual must understand it as well to provide a workable solution.

I used the example of email but it can be any electronic media. In fact, texting adds a sense of urgency that makes the leader feel they must give a solution rapidly.

But, it can also apply to one-on-one meetings and even happen in team meetings.

Solution or Team Orientation

This idea that the leader should also be the problem solver is at the heart of most of these team orientation issues. It’s a tough habit to break. Don’t just solve the problem,

Encouraged cooperation
Make sure everyone functions as part of the whole, not just individual pieces
Don’t perpetuate the hierarchy, build the team
Make sure everyone understands how their actions and solutions impact the team

Create a team orientation, you’ll get better involvement.

0 comments

Blog Team Team Series

Team Elements – Commitment: Decision Process

by Ron Potter June 27, 2019

Understanding and using the right process is one key to decision making. It also helps assure that you’ll reach full commitment to the decision rather than compliance.

There have been a number of decision types identified but one simple list includes:

Unilateral
Consultative
Consensus
Unanimous

Unanimous

Leave that to the courtroom. It doesn’t really happen in a corporate environment.

Unilateral

This decision type has the advantages of speed, simplicity, and clarity. However, it will waste a groups intelligence, invites resistance and lowers motivation. It should be used when speed and time are paramount and there is a real danger in not making a decision immediately. It can also be used when one person or team’s decision has little effect or impact on another person or team.

But the real cost of Unilateral decisions occurs with wasted time because of lack of clarity. I have observed team time wasted by putting a “unilateral” decision on the agenda for a team meeting. Unilateral decisions should be made and then the rest of the team informed. Informing is more effective through other means (memos, emails, reports, etc) than making it a topic of a team meeting. Once a decision hits the agenda, it is assumed or at least treated as if it is up for questioning, discussion or debate. If a decision is unilateral, do not put it on the agenda!

Consensus

After observing and working with leadership teams for thirty years, I am convinced that business teams never make consensus decisions. They may talk as if it was a consensus decision but most decisions are unilateral or consultative. Don’t kid yourself.

There may be one or two decisions that must be made by consensus because they are so crucial to the future health and well being of the corporation but you cannot run a business by consensus.

Consultative

Almost all decisions are or should be consultative. However, one major key to consultative decisions is that there is a clear decision owner. I have seen hours wasted in team meetings trying to make a decision when the real issue that is being sorted out is who really owns the decision. Unfortunately, that issue is either ignored or never stated out loud. Consultative decisions must have a clear decision owner. Sort that out first before you continue with the decision-making process.

The second most important aspect of good consultative decisions is a clear process. The consultative decision leader or a good facilitator must help the team through a good process that includes more listening than talking. One of the best processes to learn is the concept of Prudence.

Prudence

Prudence is one of those ancient words that doesn’t get much use today and most people would tell me that it doesn’t fit in today’s modern business world. However, listen to the definition of Prudence:

“The perfected ability to make right decisions.”

As a leadership team, your goal is to perfect your ability to make “right” decisions! Learn to follow the process of Prudence.

The Prudence process is described as Deliberate, Decide, Do.

Deliberate well. Most teams either don’t do it well or skimp on the deliberation process in order to get to a quick decision.
Decide but be sure to use the proper decision type.
Do. Execution of the decision will be much crisper, clearer and faster if the first two steps are properly followed.

Debate, Discuss, Dialogue

Deliberation can be in the form of debate, discussion or dialogue. Let’s take a quick look at each:

Debate. If you’ve ever been on a debate team you know that the goal is to win. Often debaters are asked to take a position that they themselves don’t believe is true but the goal of winning remains. Debate creates winners and losers. Commitment will not be achieved when a portion of the team feels like they lost.
Discussion. The idea of discussion may sound more civilized but the root word for discussion is the same root word for percussion. In other words, he who can beat his drum the loudest will win the discussion. Once again, discussion creates winners and losers.
Dialogue. Dialogue is part of the Socratic method. The Greek origins are “through discourse or talk.” The Unabridged Dictionary says to “elicit a clear and consistent expression.”

Dialogue begins with eliciting, questioning, listening. Everyone must be heard and understood. (See my short book review of On Dialogue by David Bohm).

If you do a great job of deliberation, using dialogue, decisions will be made easier. A decision will not only be made easier, but there will also be a full commitment to the decisions that are reached. This happens even if individuals were opposed to the decision in the first place. Dialogue works through those differences and allows teams to get beyond compliance with full commitment.

Once full commitment has been achieved, decision execution happens. No revisiting. No dragging of feet. No sabotage. Just clean, crisp execution.

Get to full commitment by identifying your decision type and using a good process to reach commitment!

0 comments

Blog Team Team Series

Team Elements – Commitment: Building Trust

by Ron Potter June 13, 2019

Building Commitment from Unity is the last element of our TREC to build a great team. Remember that TREC is our acronym for:

Trust
Respect
Elegance
Commitment

Building Commitment requires the following three pieces:

Trust in Purpose, Leader, and Team Colleagues
Diverse Points of View
Good Process

Purpose

Building Trust in the purpose of the team can sometimes be difficult. Often team members don’t feel they have any power to set the purpose of the team or even tweak it slightly. It seems to be dictated from on high.

It’s important to note that you always have a choice.

You can go along with the purpose even if you don’t believe it.
You can decide that the purpose of the team doesn’t align with your personal values or direction and make a move.
You can be a part of building a team that’s open to the discussion about the purpose of the team to help align it with personal and corporate goals.

Going Along

Going along, even when you don’t believe in the goal can be a dangerous route. Going along will make it difficult getting out of bed in the morning and headed out to a job you don’t believe in. Not speaking up when you don’t agree with the purpose and direction has been directly linked to some of the more horrific events in life. Be very careful about making this choice, it will affect your well being and may affect the well being of others.

Make a Move

Making a move can also be a difficult decision. The need for security plays a big part in our lives and making a move means leaving what we know, even if we’re uncomfortable and moving into the unknown. The unknown is always scary. However, I have seen this play out in my life and the lives of many of the people I’ve worked with through the years. If you need to make that move, make it! Dealing with the scariness of the unknown is much better in the end that living with the consequences of staying in a place that isn’t right for you.

Build a Great Team

Being part of a great team gives us much better options in life. Building a great team starts with being able to speak the truth with each other.

All good teams start difficult discussions by being open to everyone’s beliefs and assumptions about the topic. When we understand that we’re not necessarily speaking a “truth” but only our beliefs and assumptions based on our unique lifetime of experiences, it’s easier to state a position that may be very different from the expected purpose.

By starting with beliefs and assumptions, teams can often reach a unique solution that everyone sees as positive and leads to team commitment. However, keep in mind that this process may lead you back to options one or two, going along or making a move. I don’t believe going along is ever a good option but if it leads to the need to make a move, it will be much easier to accomplish and will happen with the support of many team members which will make the decision much easier to make and execute.

Trusted Leader

Having a trusted leader for the team is also key to developing commitment. There are eight great attributes of trusted leaders but the first and most powerful one is Humility. It almost seems like a paradox or dichotomy but humble leaders are very confident and have great self-esteem. They just don’t wield either one of them like a sword. They remain very open to listening and learning from anyone and any circumstance. Research confirms time and time again, that the number one reason people leave a position is because of their boss. If you’re the leader, develop into a trusted leader. If you’re a team member, mentor your boss (mentors are not simply the older person).

Trusted Colleagues

Trusted colleagues possess two great qualities: They are truthful and they are respectful. This combination of truth and respect can be found throughout history and has a great biblical foundation. This series of Team Building started with those two attributes, truth, and respect!

Committed

Teams must be committed to the purpose, the leader, and their colleagues in order to build great teams. When you see it in action, there’s nothing quite like it. And, there’s nothing more thrilling than being a part of it. If you’re not experiencing that kind of joy in your life, figure out why you or others are not committed to the purpose, leader, and members of your team. Today!

0 comments

Blog Team Team Series

Team Elements: Progress

by Ron Potter June 6, 2019

We just wrapped up the Elegance Summary for building great teams.

You may recall that we started with Aristotle’s Level Four Happiness. He described this level as being the highest form of happiness that every human being innately desires. The words he used were Truth, Love, Beauty, and Unity. There was also a fifth word in the middle. That word is Purpose. I haven’t spent a lot of time on Purpose because my assumption is that business teams know their purpose. But, if there is not a purpose for the team or the understanding of the purpose is not aligned across the team, this must be fixed first before the other elements of great teams can be effective.

TREC

I’ve altered Aristotle’s terms of Truth, Love, Beauty, and Unity to Truth, Respect, Elegance, and Commitment. The reason for the change is to use language better suited to the business environment and to put together an acronym that may help you remember the list more easily.

Truth is Truth

The word truth doesn’t need to be changed. Truth is truth. Sort of. Each of us builds our truth based on experiences, environment, history, beliefs and others. It’s important that a team share their beliefs and assumptions so that truth is understood.

Love is Respect

I had one business leader tell me not to use the word love in their meeting. They were tough-minded business people and the emotion of love did not come into their decision making. The love that Aristotle was talking about was the Greek word agape. It has nothing to do with emotion, it is related to respect and how you treat others.

Beauty is Elegance

Beauty may be the hardest one to understand in a business context. In the business world aesthetic’s are not the main issue although companies like Apple have proved that devices that are beautiful also have business appeal. But here I’m talking about simple, elegant, efficient, unambiguous business practices. Does your business run elegantly?

TREK is TREC

An acronym to help you remember. We all know the word TREK. The definition is “a long arduous journey.” Building a great team is a long arduous journey. It doesn’t happen overnight and you’re always striving to reach your destination. I hope TREC will help you remember that it’s a journey and that it’s made up of Truth, Respect, Elegance, and Commitment.

Unity is Commitment

Our next several blog posts will be about building unity on a team. Real unity! Not just nodding of heads and not just compliance, but a deep commitment to a unified path and direction. You won’t build a team without the first three, Truth, Respect, and Elegance but without deep Commitment, the team won’t accomplish the goals of the purpose. Unity and Commitment take hard work, even as part of a long, arduous journey.

Request

I have a request to make. Most of you have been on this blog journey with me right from the start several years ago. I appreciate and cherish the fact that you’re still here reading and commenting. My goal all along was to build a community of readers where we could share concepts together.

My request to you is to share this resource with others. Whether they be colleagues, friends, family, someone you’re mentoring or even a broadcast resource that you use. Would you help spread the word and share these blogs with others? While our numbers have increased at a steady pace since the beginning, I would like to see them increase at a higher rate.

Thank you so much. I appreciate you being with me on this TREC.

Ron

0 comments

Blog Team Team Series

Team Elements – Elegance: Role Clarification

by Ron Potter May 16, 2019

This will be our last blog post on the Elegance section of TREC: Truth, Respect, Elegance, and Commitment. We’ll summarize these three elements in our next blog as you begin to see the entire journey to great team development.

This post, a subtopic of Elegance, is about Role Clarification but I want to start with one of those statements that seem to have gone viral in corporate speak.

Stay in your Swim Lane

If you’ve been in the corporate world over the last several years, you’ve probably heard this term. I’m not sure who started this cliche but it sure wasn’t someone who knew how to build great teams. This is NOT one of my favorite sayings. Every time I hear this statement it’s in reference to someone who has:

crossed the boundary
stepped on someone else’s toes
“presumed” to know better than the “expert” how things should or should not be done

Whatever the reason for the irritation, it sends a message that everyone is supposed to do their own job and somehow that will make the team effort successful. This message reveals a couple of beliefs at the core of team building.

Build the right set of skills, do your job and everything will be just fine.
No one has the skills or experience to question the “expert.” Questioning the expert questions their competency.

There are some fallacies in those beliefs.

Skills and competencies are what will make a team and a corporation successful. WRONG!
The reason this belief exists is that most corporations depend on the measurement of skills and competencies as the measure of internal success. Promotions, pay levels, and other rewards are based on these measurements. Research and experience points to the fact the good people skills create more success than job skills and competencies. It’s just that people skills, leadership style, and team engagement are harder to measure.
Other research shows that new creative, innovative, breakthrough ideas almost always come not from the expert but from the person who has a different perspective altogether.

Orchestras and Choirs

Teams should function more like an orchestra. If you want a quick read about what that looks like, try Maestro: A Surprising Story about leading by listening by Roger Nierenberg.

I’ve been a choir member off and on for years. I just love the harmonizing of the various parts. When it all comes together in a crescendo, it just sends a chill down your spine and sometimes brings tears to your eyes. Hearing and being a part of a 12, 50 or 100 member choir as they bring their voices together is a wonderful experience.

Rehearsals

Rehearsals are very different and a great learning experience.

The leader expects each section to know their part and perform it well
The leader will often stop us to say, “This section is not working, let’s listen to each part then put it all back together again.”
Often we’re instructed to tone our section down a bit so that the overall piece can be better understood. “Basses, tone it down. The sopranos are carrying the melody at this point and you’re drowning them out. The audience can’t hear the melody.”
“Now basses, pick up the energy and the lead from the sopranos and bring it together with the same enthusiasm.”

The orchestra conductor leads us. He expects us to know our part and corrects us when we don’t do it well. But when we do it together it sounds awesome!

Business teams don’t usually function in this manner. “Stay in your swim lanes” or “Know your job assignment and do it well.” Seldom do I hear team leaders asking a section to tone it down, work at something other than your optimum rate, blend with the team, pick up on their enthusiasm and build something great together!

Build Team

Knowing our roles is important. Building a great team means bringing it all together, not just maximizing each part!

0 comments

Blog Trust Me

Holding the Hill

by Ron Potter May 6, 2019

On October 29, 1941, as the world reeled from the onslaught of the Nazi regime in Europe and faced a looming threat from Japan, Winston Churchill was asked to speak at Harrow, his old school. Near the end of his two-page speech, Churchill spoke the now famous words:

Never give in, never give in, never, never, never—in nothing, great or small, large or petty—never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense.”

Churchill had experienced many crushing setbacks throughout his life and political career, yet he refused to give up. He was a man of extreme courage and endurance.

Endurance

When leaders make decisions, seek to expand an organization’s borders, or want to execute an innovative idea or create change, they will encounter opposition and face the great temptation to conform or quit. How can they resist and stand strong? How can they acquire the bulldog will of a Winston Churchill and never give up?

Endurance is the result of two foundational character qualities: courage and perseverance. Both are required of leaders seeking the trust of others.

“Holding the hill” when under fire can be a terrifying and lonely experience. A leader will face a long list of challenges, which, if not faced and disarmed, can turn the most competent person into a faltering coward. I have grouped these pitfalls to courage into two categories: doubt and avoidance.

Defeating Doubt

This foe of courageous leadership comes in a variety of flavors.

First, there are the personal doubts

We may doubt our abilities, our judgment, our talents, and even our faith. We look at a problem and cannot find a solution. We attempt to fix it but cannot. Doubt oozes into our minds, and we are frozen into inactivity.

Then there are the doubts about our teams or others we depend upon

Have you ever worked with people who are overwhelmed, stressed out, resistant to change, burned out, not working together, complainers, rumor spreaders, backstabbers, non-communicators, whiners, stubborn hardheads, blamers, or unmotivated negative thinkers? When encountering such bad attitudes and behaviors that stall the progress of our teams, we are tempted to slide into despair, and our backbones turn to mush.

Next is doubt in the organization

We may see the company sliding down a hill to mediocre performance, abandoning the right values and a vibrant vision. It’s one thing to maintain your own personal courage in the place where you have influence. But it’s overwhelming to stand strong when the larger organization is waffling on its mission and embracing plans that seem doomed in the face of aggressive market competition. Your knees start to knock.

To endure as a leader, you will have to disarm doubt with gritty courage.

2 comments

Newer Posts

Older Posts