There are no great leaders without great teams…..and teams look and feel different now to ever before.
The weekend of 8th June was a BIG one in the gaming world. Destiny2 – The Final Shape was released and millions of people globally connected in teams of six in an effort to be the first to complete the game. And these teams were truly international teams, with each team made up of six players from around the world who had found their team-mates on-line and decided to work together to finish the game within the allotted time and win the coveted title of ‘completers’.
In most of our work teams our connections are more likely to be face to face, and the work more sustained over a longer period of time, but what our successful work teams and these ‘gamer teams’ have in common are the four essential qualities of teams.
We first talked about these qualities in 2020 when they came out of some research done that year, and as many of our clients approach peak workload in the dairy calving season, we thought it was worth a re-visit.
The role of the leader is to put others at centre stage, to allow them the scope to contribute their best, and to celebrate, applaud and support their success. Whether you have a new team, some new team members or have the same team, paying attention to these four essential qualities and thinking about how your leadership reinforces these qualities and how your work systems (meetings, SOP’s, work allocation methods and dealing with conflict) support these qualities is going to be a winner.
Great teams always have a noble cause – make sure everyone knows why you do what you do….whether it’s for the team, the community, for families or for the customer, knowing what you’re trying to achieve and why means people can find their own reasons to be motivated to be part of what you’re doing.
The performance in great teams is driven by team (not company) loyalty – it is true, people are more loyal to their teams than to their companies. After all we love our countries but we’re far more loyal to our families…! Think about how you can encourage a family-like loyalty within your business team(s), a place where everyone in the team has the confidence to innovate and perform that comes from the security of knowing the team has their back.
Great teams simplify – the three most common rules the best teams live by are some iteration of: Wow (world class in every interaction with everyone (each other, suppliers, customers), No Surprises (open communication), and Cheer (they support and cheer for each other!). Think about how these rules show up in your business.
Great teams drive engagement for the business – there’s nothing like a good atmosphere and culture to drive even further engagement amongst team members and beyond. Great teams increase engagement not only within the team but also with those they interact with both within and outside the business. We reckon if you get the first three steps right, this fourth step will follow…
So, whatever your team: work, community, sport or gaming, holding onto these four qualities is a sure way to get the best out of everyone.