Team

Update!

How many posts, announcements, launch celebrations, press releases, or community meetings have you observed during which information was shared about a new initiative or a significant organizational event? How many of these organizations continued to share relevant updates and nurture your engagement?

In my experience, people are keen to make the first announcement but struggle to find an appropriate communication cadence along the journey. It does not take much, but checking deepens connections.

Imagine boarding a long-haul international flight on which the pilots never confirm the destination, make no remarks about the flight plan, do not address abnormal flight conditions, and provide no update before landing. This might make some passengers a bit apprehensive about the journey. Perhaps we can aspire to be more like a well-regarded commercial pilot. Greet passengers, orient them, care for their safety, point out remarkable landmarks, address the unexpected, prepare them for landing, and thank them for their loyalty.

Fatigue

What tendencies appear when we are tired. As an endurance athlete, tripping or forgetting to take in fuel is more common later in an event than when we are fresh. As board members, we can be less precise in our deliberations when making decisions at the end of a long meeting. When is your team’s peak performance phase? If possible, schedule the hard part when there is a likelihood of higher engagement and better outcomes.

Planning Alone

If you plan alone, you create a first draft that embeds ideas influenced by your personal magnetic north. If you bring others into the conversation, you can add perspectives and concepts that you might not consider. When we expand the conversation, especially early in the process, we are afforded a plan that has been influenced by those who see opportunities and barriers differently.

Future Resume- Do you have one?
@yellowtuxjesse

Bring on the future resumes and know you will not get your traditional training. #hiring #coaching #onboard #fansfirst #interview #savannahbananas #fansfirst

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How do you respond if somebody asks you to share your ‘future resume’? Do you have a mindset that spends as much time crafting a future resume as you spend on a resume that captures past achievements? This is the approach employed by the Savannah Bananas baseball team when they hire new team members.

What if you try this activity with your team. Take a few minutes to draft a future resume; it may be enlightening.

Two Realities

For a few individuals, it is a misty morning. For others, it is sunny with ground fog below. Both are accurate representations generated by individuals occupying the same building.

How might we recognize that multiple realities are forged within the same space? We might report on what we see and benefit from what others notice. The collective is probably more accurate than a single viewpoint.

Boost or Hold Up?

Is it easier to give a boost to an individual who has fallen behind or hold up the team’s progress to regroup? Context matters. A cross-country running team that is scored based on the top five individual scores is better off seeking a personal best for each individual and hoping their fight and sixth and members push each other, driven by competition and the thought of not letting the rest of the team down. A cycling team can place its weakest performing member in the ideal location to benefit from the drafting effect. The team may still need to ease off the power when the drafting impact is less.

As year-end giving virtual appeals appear in our email inbox, I notice a trend. Some organizations are asking for a boost to catch up with the need that is ever-expanding. Others are requesting assistance to provide services that keep the group together. Some causes are boost-focused, while others focus on not allowing a gap to form.

What mindset is most compelling to your work?

Cowboy Songs

Cowboy songs are easier to sing when out on the trail while riding one’s favorite horse. They are more challenging to belt out when sitting in a corporate board room while wearing a suit.
A sense of place impacts our mindset and effectiveness.

Ask a team to engage in a brainstorming session or blue sky thinking after everyone has spent sixty minutes going line for line through a proposed budget, and the results might be less than remarkable. Going offsite and walking in the woods before gathering in a comfortable place to think generatively may be a more productive course of action.


How might we set ourselves up for success by putting ourselves in better locations?

No Mail

What if you travel to the mailbox every day and find it empty? What if you sent out a request for funding as a year-end appeal and have not received a response? What if you asked people to provide their insights in a brief poll on an easy-to-return postcard and none returned? What if you announced you were going out of business, and nobody responded with good wishes or an inquiry about what happened?

It is convenient to think that our efforts do not inspire them just because we have yet to hear from our fans. I spoke with a thru-hiker who completed the Appalachian Trail. He remarked on how almost everyone adopted a trail name. Some were memorable, and one, in particular, stood out. A hiker who was roughly ten days ahead of him would sign in at various huts, peaks, and significant trail junctions. An individual that my friend had never met was an enduring source of inspiration. Each time he read this forerunner’s trail name in a trail log, he was inspired to keep going. He never caught or met this backpacker, but it influenced him to reach Mt. Katahdin in Maine and to share the story years later.

Your work might be creating the draft pulling along a whole peloton of invisible followers, and your endurance keeps them active in the adventure. Even if we cannot track every view, like, ride on, and accolade, we may be the linchpin for an unofficial team.

Are Accountability and Collaboration the Essential Components of Teamwork?

Might we represent teamwork in a four panel graphic? How fundamental are accountability and collaboration to measuring the effectiveness of a team?

What if we first define the team’s core values? A set of behaviors we will not sacrifice except under extreme duress (the building is on fire). What if we commit to hold those values as the highest priority for the team, above any metric or external evaluation? Does record growth on the balance sheet outweighs complete discord among a team? Can we be a team if a single individual does the majority of the work and takes credit for each victory?

Measuring a team’s unity and alignment is challenging, it requires us to take a human-centered approach. In the spirit of Simon Sinek, if we measure the numbers, we are managing. If we care for the people, we are leading.

Do you have a definition of team? What mindset do you use to measure a team’s success and engagement?

Where Are You Going (Not Where Have You Been)?

Lovely Lake Louise (HDR)I want to know where you are going and how I can join your next adventure.  Stories of past quests are entertaining and insightful but limited.  To connect we must share the trail.  The team that stand on the summit possesses a unique connection, different than the one with those who wished us well but did not climb.  Providing fuel for the journey helps but carrying the expedition’s supplies is an even greater reward.  Present a remarkable vision for the future and I look forward to being part of the team.