Cultivating Effective Teams with Chemistry

Part 2: Four Ingredients to an Effective Team...

By: Gregg Gregory, CSP

Well it happened again. The United States international basketball team lost to Greece and did not seem to be playing for the gold medal. By the way, there were zero NBA superstars on the Greece team.

One Washington DC sportscaster put it this way; “An effective team of average players can beat a group of superstars almost anytime.”

This illustrates what I was referring to in the previous article when Herb Brooks said in the movie Miracle; "All star teams fail because they rely solely on the individual's talent; the Soviets win because they take that talent and use it inside of a system that's designed for the betterment of the team." (To read this article click here.)

Now this is just another example of teamwork in sports and I know it is easy to see the win/lose in sports. What about in your industry or organization, how easy is it to see the win/lose? I am guessing quite difficult.

Of course you are saying what win/lose in my organization? How about the battle of the end of the month production (not just in manufacturing or sales either) or the new change initiative that just came down from management? Let's not forget the new office move and who is doing what.

Every recipe has a few ingredients that can be modified for flavor and a few ingredients that cannot be changed. An effective team is no different. There are four very distinct ingredients that every team must possess in order to become really effective. They are:

1. A feeling of contribution
2. A sense of community spirit
3. The ability to grow
4. The capability to have an influence on other members

Let's look at each of these ingredients separately. First the feeling of contribution simply means that the person on the team feels as though he or she is making a worthwhile contribution to the efforts of the overall team. This sometimes gets overlooked when a brainstorming session is taking place and a new member makes a suggestion that a seasoned team member knows was attempted a few years ago, and this person makes the comment of "We tried that before and it didn't work". The new person now feels as though he or she is not able to contribute and thus he or she becomes somewhat of an outsider to the rest of the team.

What needs to take place here is that all members need to feel as though they are contributing and this can only occur when everyone from the management team down through every member, validates everyone else's contributions. When this occurs on a team the members will be committed to the entire team as a whole.

The Spirit of Community happens to be my personal favorite. When each member possesses the spirit of community they become committed to each member on the team. Example; ask someone who lives on a dead end street or cul-de-sac if they know each and every person on the street by their first name. In most cases the answer is no. Now ask the same person if they know the cars their neighbors drive. Don't be shocked by the answer being yes. The follow up question then is, what do you do when a strange car comes down your street? When they say they pay closer attention to the strange cars this means they are showing community spirit to their neighbors.

Now how does this translate to work? If Bob calls in sick and the community spirit is present, then other team members will say things like: "Bob is not here let's pitch in". On the other hand if the spirit is not present then team members will say things like, "Bob's not here, don't expect me to do any of his work". Here there is a feeling of one-ness and not team spirit.

Number three on the list is the ability to grow. The instant you cut a rose from the bush the rose begins to die. My life's philosophy has been: if you're not growing you're dying, and that could not be any less true today. Whenever I take a training session for my business my father (he is 89 years old today) says to me, "Boy don't you know it all yet?" My answer is of course not, and neither do you or any member of your team.

Several months back I wrote an article on the "10 little words that kept me on track over the last 32 years". (To read this article click here) In the article I said how I knew I was responsible for everything I did in life and if I wanted something it was up to me and only me. With that in mind not everyone has that mentality and sometimes others need our help.

In work many people think that it is up to the company to help us grow and nothing could be further from the truth. You know and I know it is up to each one of us. On the other hand others need a little push in the right direction and this is where you come in. Do not be afraid to share ideas and you knowledge with others to help them grow. If you are the team's leader the benefits are enormous. If you are not the official team leader then you can reap powerful benefits along the way. You see when a person is growing he or she is going to be committed to the person who helps him or her grow.

Unfortunately many still believe that the other person is out to "backstab" them and take their job. This is a selfish and insecure way of thinking. Reality shows us that when you assist others to grow and trust them they will be committed to you for a long time to come.

The last ingredient is the ability to have influence with others. In simple words it means that to have influence you need to be comfortable to communicate with those in your immediate circle, as well as those outside your comfort zone. This means how comfortable are you in communicating the head of your organization?

Yes there is a direct correlation between influence and self esteem. When a person has little or no influence in speaking with the upper chain of command most likely he or she has low self esteem. And of course the reverse is true.

How do you raise a person's self esteem? The simplest way is to tell them how good they are doing and if they have a good idea you implement it and be sure to give them 110% credit. When they develop a better self esteem the level influence rises and they become committed to themselves.

Now watch the circle - - - A person makes a contribution and is committed to the whole of the team. That same person has the spirit of community which commits them to each member of the team. Now they are growing and are committed to the person on the team who helps them grow (imagine you are the person doing this one) and when the influence goes up they want to contribute more and thus a powerful positive cycle is developed.

Teamwork is more that just getting a group of people together and giving them a common goal or objective. There is a lot of work that goes into any team development and yes-- it is a science.

 

Gregg Gregory is an award-winning speaker, sales trainer, and executive coach who delights audiences, electrifies managers and leaders, and transforms teams. Gregg Gregory is the recipient of the coveted CSP designation from the National Speakers Association, in recognition of his accomplishments in speaking and training.

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