How can I get more teamwork out of my team? How can I help my team be more passionate and care? Have you ever asked yourself these questions?
Teamwork is not something that happens because you bring together the best talent to create a team. It also doesn’t happen because you simply set a goal. No one would argue that those things don’t help, but they aren’t the end all and be all of teamwork.
Effective teams as Patrick Lencioni highlights in his best-selling book “The Five Dysfunctions of a Team,” (the best team development book on the market in my opinion) are based on Trust, Healthy Conflict, Commitment, Accountability and Results.
Each of these functions does indeed lead to more collaborative and unified teams. I have witnessed it with a number of team development workshops I have done.
Here are three things you can personally do now as a leader to improve teamwork and energy and build on these five important functions.
1. Discover Team Member’s Strengths. Do you know the strengths of each member of your team? Do you clearly understand how each team member adds value to your team?
If you don’t, it’s time you find out soon. If you do, then it’s time you tell them. The truth is, unless told so, most members on a team don’t know. And the more regular you are at telling each of them, the better. But make sure you are specific to how he or she positively contributes to the team.
As you regularly communicate the strengths each member of the team brings you should see meaningful participation in meetings increase as well as each participant’s confidence increasing.
2. Be Passionate. Passionate teams are led by passionate leaders. If you aren’t “feeling it” as a leader, how can you expect your team to feel it?
Passion is contagious. As long as you are genuinely excited about what your team can do and you are having successes, your team will be passionate too. It is easy to lead when people buy-in to your excited vision for the team.
3. Celebrate. Nothing feels better for a team when they are rewarded and recognized for their efforts together. Look at any Super Bowl Victor, NBA Finals Winner or World Cup Champion – what do they have in common? Team energy. It is fun to win and that feeling is reinforced with grand celebrations by players, owners, coaches and fans.
Celebrate every victory. When an important milestone is successfully achieved, celebrate. Don’t wait until the project is complete. Create team energy early and often. Be creative with your celebrations, you don’t need a big party to help everyone feel good about the team.
Invite the team into the boardroom, cafeteria or wherever and serve cake inscribed with what you are celebrating. Get into the office early and put a few balloons on each team members desk with a card or note. It doesn’t take a lot of effort, just a little thought.
The best teamwork happens with great energy. To create that energy doesn’t take a lot of time for you as a leader, but the effect is amazing.
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Question: What have you done as a leader to increase energy on your teams?
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