Team Development: Ask Me Anything…
Recently, I’d launched a number of web-based dialogues, inviting entrepreneurs and business owners seeking insights to ask questions related to business and marketing. I would do my best to answer those queries based on my experience at the highest levels of corporate strategy and branding.
In our highest attended session to this point, we hosted over 250 excited executives and entrepreneurs, curious about how about how to activate their teams, amplify results, and foster the ultimate career experience within the walls of their companies.
Initially, we asked them: what is the team dynamic of your organization? Have you ever wondered how you can improve company culture? Are you building a team and looking to set the right tone before you scale? How are your employee retention rates? Are your employees raving fans of your culture and how often do they refer new candidates to the team?
Is company culture the missing ingredient in their businesses. Can they improve team dynamics to improve outcomes?
Let’s jump right in…
What is company culture? -George
Wow. Great opening question @George. Company culture is the combination of the energy of the workspace and how the team feels about the work itself. There are subtleties at play here and I understand if it’s hard to see the distinction between the two as they are inextricably linked.
Most top leaders can evaluate a team within moments of getting started on a shift. The ‘buzz’ in the air (or lack of it) can tell you a lot about how well prepared a team is, whether they enjoy their jobs, and if there exists a strong dedication to the shared goals or an environment of accountability.
You see @George, the team is the culture.
Do they lift each other up? Do they call each other out? Do they have the courage and freedom to make adjustments that will increase the probability of daily success? Finally, do they love the products/services offered and do they enjoy engaging with their customers or clients?
What culture is not, is a stocked fridge or foosball table in the breakroom. That’s reductive and the team knows better than that.
What can I do to help team members openly express their ideas and opinions? -Charles
Great question @Charles. If you don’t have an open culture where team members feel comfortable sharing their concerns and feedback, you’ll need to cultivate one. However, it won’t happen quickly, so be patient. The team may not trust that they can share their true thoughts without fear of reprisal, so you’ll need to show them that input is important -even helpful- and given due consideration.
Start with an anonymous suggestion box to collect the initial feedback. Share your thoughts openly with the team and be supportive. Remember that you are earning trust. They will look to see how you react to the feedback. It’s also very important that you take action on some of the feedback to legitimize the process. And don’t short-change it!
If you’re eliciting team feedback for the first time, you may need to weather some harsh critique at first. Stay calm and look for the actionable suggestions within message. Be honest and show appreciation. Eventually you will have a team that gives good, honest feedback when warranted and is more understanding when you (like anyone else) make mistakes. Good luck.
Hey Cliff, great topic! How would you generate a raving fan startup employee team? -Slavisa
Hello @Slavisa. This is a great question and an important one. There is so much to what you are asking. At the front, I would get really honest with yourself about what your goals are as a leader/employer. If your primary goals are to help each employee progress thereby helping the whole team reach its fullest potential, that will generate a different mindset than if the chief goals is only to increase revenues and decrease expenses. Let me explain why.
Today’s employment landscape is much different than the one in which our parents and grandparents worked. Employment is more transient today. Many individuals (not just Millennials) are choosing 2–5 year ‘experiences’ rather than a lifelong career devoted to one company. Fighting this trend, or taking an employee departure personally, will grind you down. From my experience, the leaders who do, tend to feel like they’ve lost a bit of control. Not at all. If you anticipate these departures, then you’ll feel less blindsided by it. At Netflix, they perform a stress test of sorts where employees are prompted to ask their managers ‘if I were looking to leave, how hard would you fight to have me stay?’ This opens a dialogue about performance or unmet expectations and both are kept engaged and accountable. So a startup should have open and honest dialogue from the outset.
To produce your raving fans, consider this:
Many employees leave because they feel that they don’t have a voice or that they stopped learning from their leaders. Always elicit feedback from the team and put it into action. Show your start up team that they have a voice.
Top performers tend to leave for a couple other reasons. First, they feel like underperformance is not corrected. They stop driving their own results and become disaffected. Second, the need more stimulus and responsibility for you. If you fail to recognize that, they may seek advancement somewhere else or be more open to recruitment efforts. Keep your team engaged and keep learning yourself.
Still, a smaller group may leave for more rewards and compensation. If you’d truly have hit a cap for that individual within your company, then you need to let them go. If you hadn’t, then you need to assess your strategy for incentives and performance based increases. As always, those increases should be accompanied by more accountability, responsibilities, and expectations. Believe me, if you fail to have that conversation, the promotion can feel hollow. Don’t underestimate the team’s desire to contribute more.
Can you give an example of Group Dynamics? -James
Sure @James. Let’s start by trying to understand that a group acts much differently than an individual does. They react, emote, and even move as a collective. The individual within the group is likely to defer to group sentiment. There is an energy or vibration that connects them at a subconscious level. Joined with the collective, the individual is more emboldened to act in a way that may seem out of character.
This is easy to see at comedy shows. If the entire audience is laughing, you are much more likely to laugh along -even at the same jokes that you wouldn’t break a smile to while by yourself. The energy of the group impacts you just as much as the comedian -perhaps more.
In an office environment, the group will build or lose momentum based on the collective by-in of the team. If, as a whole, they feel prepared and have been activated by belief or incentive they will attach a project, adapt to challenges, and advance toward completion. If they are hampered by cynicism, a lack of information or skills, or worse yet, belief in their leader, they will drag their feet and require constant motivating in order to progress.
Group dynamics impact both active and passive participants. The leaders, the impressionable, and those more easily influenced will move early and the rest may follow suit. When leveraging group dynamics, start with your ‘true believers,’ earn some buy-in from the most resistant, and watch how the rest get on board.
Do individuals/the group as a whole fight or flee? Do individuals coalesce, acquiesce, react, or join in? -Mi
In my opinion and experience @Mi, teamwork is a dynamic that is cultivated. While some individual characteristics may persist, the group will follow the example of the leader. This daily modeling will supersede any presentation about culture during the hiring process or onboarding and orientation.
That being said, if you want a team that ‘gels’ you must be very clear about that while interviewing candidates. Those looking for an individualized, ‘me-first’ environment may self-select out of the role early on. Netflix actually sends each candidate their Culture Deck to pre-filter the pool.
Again, your expectation for collaboration -if that’s your model- should be reinforced in the onboarding process. However, if your leaders don’t embody what they ask of their teams it will be very difficult to sustain any contrary ideals or behaviors.
How do participants respond to tension, expressions of feelings, acts of leadership, and differing viewpoints? -Angelica
Good questions @Angelica. Each team member may respond differently to different stimulus in different situations. Their upbringing, background, work experience and development all play a role. A leader should work to get to know each team member and how that may react under tension or any of the other stressors that you mention. We should be talking with them about it well before we attempt to put them into stressful situations.
Ask them how that respond under pressure. How they’ve been successful in the past. What their triggers are and where they’d like to learn to respond better. Then let them ask you questions. Share best practices. Be honest. If your office is stressful on the last day of each month, tell them. From this dialogue you begin to build trust and to gameplan for when the inevitable strikes.
Then put them into action and monitor their response. Praise what is deserved and correct what must be. Use this same technique for each of the situations that you’ve detailed.
Try not to rely on hierarchy or too many ‘by the book’ techniques. Top down leadership gives structure when applied correctly. However, if applied too heavy-handedly, it’s labor intense. The leader must continually assert themselves and the subordinates are required to reinforce the leader’s status.
I can’t say it enough, it takes communication and trust. Not only do you need to trust your team, but you also have to let them fail and live through those failures with them -correcting without resentment. When/if they repeat the same failures, then you need to address a larger issue.
What are you thoughts on managing introverts and extroverts in a team — do we need to treat them differently? -Shipla
Hi @Shipla. I think you need to treat every team member with a personal touch regardless of their social comfort levels. Keep in mind that the introvert looks inward when problem solving, and the extravert seeks the input and influence of others. Some introverts are measured in their approach while others are simply slow to engage. Some extraverts are impulsive while others show a comfort with risk taking that helps move ideas forward.
These dynamics can complement each other if you simply foster an environment where thoughtful and innovative solutions prevail, not the method by which you get there.
Find out how your people tick and then play to those strengths.
I hope that you’ve enjoyed reading along with this Q&A and that you’ll allow me to bend your ear for a few more going forward. I want to hear your feedback and I am eager to learn from each of you. Please don’t hesitate to reach out.
The views expressed in replies are my own, but have been influenced by years of collaboration with amazing people along with a willingness to fail and to learn.
Best,
Cliff Carey
founder, American Reserve Clothing Co. Inc.
“May your story be well-clothed and written in vibrant ink on smudged and dogeared pages.”
