As we begin the New Year, I’m guessing that you have also spent some time in reflection about this past year – What a ride it has been! Have you thought about how far you have come? What is the same or different about your work-life and company? What are the lessons learned that you will carry into 2012?
This year I will continue to be in service of my calling and extend my reach to the number of people that I serve through team building, coaching and leadership development. One of the most important daily practices that I do and coach is gratitude and appreciation. The more we are grateful, the more things TO BE appreciative and grateful for flow into our lives. That being said, I would like to say THANK YOU for supporting me and Vida Aventura over the past 5 years.
As a token of appreciation, I would like to extend a gift to you. To receive a free eBook on Experience Based Team Building click here and write “Team Building” in the subject line. If you are curious how team building activities would help to build teamwork within your team, check out the video below
Collaboration: To work jointly with others or together especially in an intellectual endeavor.
It is safe to say that most jobs involve collaborating with peers. I have a friend that works in a national sports organization managing their partnerships. Her job consists of collaborating with all departments in the organization to fulfill the contractual obligations of the partnerships. Without the ability to collaborate with team members, she would fail and the company would lose all of its partners. Needless to say, she practices such skills on a regular basis and is reliant on her peers to do the same.
One of the common themes to my coaching and team building events is helping my clients fine-tune their collaboration skills and give them the tools they need to be intentional and purposeful when doing so. It is easy to see the power of team work when the group comes together in a team building activity; the same holds true in the workplace.
That begs the question: when it comes to collaboration, where do you begin?
1. SHIFT – shift your team’s mindset. A way to cultivate a mindset directed toward collaboration and continuous improvement is to simply ask, “How can I make this better?” When a company truly collaborates and provides the best product or service by improving the processes that produce them, they create efficiencies in producing the desired end result and organizations are more effective.
2. OWN IT – own your stake in the project and overall goal. Don’t rely on others to change the process; start the process and always seek opportunities to improve it. It is a team effort and by encouraging people to collaborate, efficiencies are created for the group and all involved can work smarter, harder, and have better results. Take ownership and know that your contribution has an effect on the bottom line.
“Being in a band is always a compromise. Provided that the balance is good, what you lose in compromise, you gain by collaboration” – Mike Rutherford
We’ve all heard the tried and true expression of “there is no ‘I’ in team.” When there are team members in an organization who do not appreciate or understand the contribution, importance and value of their work and their colleagues work, there can be disconnect with the team. When there is disconnect with a team, the entire effectiveness of the business suffers.
There is more to being a good team member than wearing a corporate logo, stamping it on a t-shirt, or putting up posters about success and teamwork. When a team works well together there is a shared understanding of and commitment to, the goals of the organization. So, how do you get the team members to work together and connect their team dots in a meaningful, productive way?
Keep communicating!
One way to encourage a shared team focus at all levels of an organization is by making sure that the goals and the vision of the company are clear and reiterated frequently. Assuming that your team knows is a big mistake.
Two; make sure that each individual knows HOW what they do fits into the goals of the organization. When polled, most employees can’t answer how what they do impacts the vision of the company. If employees don’t know their impact or how they are being measured it’s difficult to hold them accountable to results.
Three; invest in training and development. A sports team is really only as good as each individual. That’s why training and development is crucial. When organizations use effective training and development techniques, then connecting the dots in a more productive, effective way is easy.
Business owners and managers need to make sure that their team members understand the goals of the company; are clear about how they personally contribute and impact the results; and invest in training and development of their people. These three simple steps will make employees feel more respected and valued for their contributions.
Most people tend to forget that the most important team member on any team is themselves. When you commit to a plan of personal growth and development for yourself – you are benefiting everyone. Here are five things you can do as an individual which will make your team even stronger.
1. Find out what everyone’s vision, including your own, is for the team.
2. Measure team effectiveness.
3. Use good communication.
4. Work to make a good plan.
5. Stand up for each other!
When you “begin with the end in mind,” you are all using your imagination to create the best, most successful, productive, cohesive and innovative team you desire! Some components to consider are what the team’s priorities, values, and desired results are, how does your organization’s values, priorities and desired results work with these concepts, and how will you determine your productivity towards these goals? All of these considerations give value to your work as a team.
When you and your team set measurable, obtainable goals; it’s easy to see where and why you are being successful. Some of the most effective ways to check achievement of team goals is with personal, individual interviews, simple measurements (i.e. “on a scale of 1 to 10, how effective is this team?”), and using unbiased assessment tools such as surveys.
By using good communication with your team and knowing yourself well enough to know what you want to communicate, you can all collaborate better. Remember that we all receive information differently and have different styles of understanding new ideas – some people need to see it, some need to hear it, etc. If you bear in mind that what works for you may not necessarily work for all of your team members, your team communication will be effective.
When your team has a plan for turning its vision into reality, then you know you’re all on the right path. By creating goals which support everyone in going to the next level – goals which work with everyone’s individual strengths – then, your team will easily be able to measure and obtain the desired outcomes.
And, finally, stand up for each other. Remind each other of the vision you are attempting to reach and whether you see yourself as “the leader” of the entire team or “a leader in the team” you can contribute and take a stand for team improvement. It can be as simple as boosting rapport by going to lunch together or engaging in a fun “out of the box” activity or even having a formal team-building event.
The whole is truly greater than the sum of its parts – so the parts need to be their best. When you invest energy, time and financial resources in improving yourself as a team member – the whole team benefits.
Poor Communication? Individuals Working in Silos? No Camaraderie? Lack of Engagement? – Check out the Video Below
A few common challenges that companies face with their teams include poor communication, individuals working independently in silos, employees that have no camaraderie and a lack engagement. Hearing those challenges again and again prompted me to create the video above.
If you’ve thought about team building but you are not sure if it would benefit your team, check out what a few Vida Aventura clients have to say about their experience and how it’s impacted their bottom line.
In the prior post I dove into how culture, vision and inspiration are key leadership attributes. In this final post I will highlight passion and being a life-long learner and team player.
Passion – Passion has been defined as intensity, drive, overmastering feeling or conviction and emotions distinct from reason. I have a business mentor who says if you light a man on fire and send him running down the street, others will follow. Passion is contagious. It is the fuel that leads leaders.
My teammate, Michael Sapper says that his passion in adventure racing comes from the experience of racing. Of knowing he can do it. And, it resonates so deeply in him that he thrives on getting others involved in the sport.
Life-long learner – Great leaders have mentors and are life-long learners. They are aware of the tendency to fall into a comfort zone and get complacent. They know that the knowledge, skills, gifts and talents that got them to where they are will not get them to where they want to go. They are constantly learning, stretching and growing.
Adventure racers look for the same – for opportunities to explore what is beyond their last challenge. Like leaders they ask, “how much farther can I go?”
And, finally the last leadership characteristic is being a Team Player – One of the biggest dynamics in adventure racing is TEAM dynamics – every race offers opportunities to discover and explore the complexity of working with others. Team dynamics is critical to the success of the racers and the race. It only takes one teammate with a poor attitude to bring the entire team down and in some cases cause a non-finish in a race. Teammates that are flexible, have a great attitude, and look out for their team are the best to work and race with.
The top companies to work for in America are, not surprisingly, big investors in their most valuable resource…their people. Leaders know how to lead and inspire teams, they are also team players who have an attitude of WE versus ME.
And while not everyone can relate to leadership in a racing arena, we all know how it feels to work with others, especially in an organization. It takes a tribe that sticks together to make great things happen. It takes great leadership abilities to make that tribe thrive.
What are the attributes of being a leader that you’ve experienced being on a team or working in a team environment?
In my previous post I discussed how relevant team sports are in reference to leadership. I mentioned that great team players have integrity and edify their teammates. These attributes are present in great leaders. In this post I will dive into culture, vision and inspiration.
Culture – Life is meant to be enjoyed. It is meant to be fun. Great leaders appreciate this. And, adventure racers thrive on it. If you are not creating an atmosphere your employees ENJOY being, chances are, they are not thriving and neither is your organization…at least not for the long-term.
Employees leave jobs not because of the job, but usually the leader behind the job. Give a lot, laugh a lot. Create a space and culture that is fun and your team will WANT to work with you versus feel like that HAVE to.
Vision – Having a strong and compelling WHY – a reason – a dream – is what compels us to do the things that we know we should do. It takes vision to get MOVING. When my team races we always race with a few clear objectives that we all agree on: to stay safe, race hard, and finish. That almost always lands us in the top of the field.
Having a clear vision and purpose is what separates great leaders from good leaders. They have a clear vision and work to achieve it and others rally to be a part of achieving that vision.
Inspiration – Motivation is about making you do something. Inspiration is about being led are called to act. As a leader you can have a vision all day long, but unless you can inspire others to enroll in your vision, it’s dead. Yes, I said it. Dead.
Training for a 24-36 race has taught me about being inspired. When it’s 5 degrees outside at 5 in the morning and you know that you have to get training miles in for your next event, you find out very quickly just how enrolled and invested in the race, your goals and your team.
Motivation will only get you so far. Great leaders lead and inspire their teams to act.
In part 3 of the series, I’ll dive into passion, being a life-long learner and teamwork.
It has been said that words alone don’t teach but experiences do.
While racing in a 24 hour adventure race in Southern Indiana last year, I had A LOT of time to contemplate how team sports (specifically, adventure racing) can teach you a lot about the attributes of being a good leader.
If you’ve ever had the experience of participating on a team or training with a group for an event, you know that sports provide a training ground to practice and cultivate leadership abilities. They provide the opportunity to play with integrity; edify your teammates; create a culture that people want to be a part of; inspire others to a common vision; motivate others to perform beyond their limiting beliefs; fuel passion; be a life-long learner and team player.
In this first post of three I will talk about integrity and edification.
Integrity – Integrity is the cornerstone of leadership. In multi-sport team racing you are as strong /fast as your slowest/weakest teammate during any given element of the race. It’s imperative that the team is held together by mutual trust and the well-being of each person is of high consideration.
Good leaders recognize the importance of personal and professional integrity and they walk their talk.
Edification – Great leaders and great adventure racers always uplift, inspire and build up their teammates. Imagine being sleep deprived and pushing your body beyond what you imagine is physically possible. As if that is not challenging enough, imagine having a team member that is making negative comments about your performance.
It doesn’t serve a team to focus solely on what’s not going well and it doesn’t work in leadership either.To reach ultimate success in your organization, lifting people up and recognizing them is one of the surest ways to help them to shine brighter and do amazing things for themselves and the company.
Although these are not the only things required for great leaders (I will cover more in the next message), this is a great start when it comes to what I’ve experienced working in a team and working with teams.
Are you considering a team building event with your team and you are unsure of the value? The above video includes return on investment statistics and client testimonials/success stories on the power of activity and experience-based team building.
When I facilitate teambuilding retreats, one of the questions I ask individuals on the team is whether or not it is within their comfort zone to receive support. By in large, most high performance individuals rate themselves low. It’s either a big stretch for them or they simply don’t. They operate from a way of being that “if it is to be, it’s up to me.” That’s not a bad thing, let’s face it, in many of cases that serves us well.
However, there are two problems here:
1. In order for a team or an organization to grow, to be high performing, to become world class… the individuals on that team need to learn to not only be supported but to ask for support … then receive it. No one, not any one of us can do it all on our own. Fair statement?
2. Second, and a little more personal, if you are the one who is ALWAYS giving, I believe that makes you a taker. Why? Because you are “taking” from the people around you. You are robbing them the opportunity to feel the satisfaction, the joy and the fulfillment of giving to you. In addition, professionally, allowing and releasing of control can foster valuable development for colleagues and team members. It’s called mentorship.
Be a giver – give the people in your work and life the opportunity to give to you and support you. I believe that receiving AND allowing yourself TO BE SUPPORTED is equally important to giving. It’s important to get uncomfortable and stretch into unfamiliar territory in order to grow personally and professionally. Your team and the people in your life are counting on it.
So if you are a giver, support and be supported. Receive. Don’t be a taker.
