Team
I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about team lately.
I’ve seen a few great examples.
I’ve seen more that weren’t.
In all cases, what members of a team want seems very simple – purpose, communications, inclusion, appreciation.
It seems like what they want is exactly what they need.
Purpose is easy. Everyone wants a clear and compelling reason for the work they are doing which should guide the day to day activities of the organization.
Communications seems easy too, but we know it’s not. Every team member wants an intimate interchange of thoughts, which means both inbound to them and outbound from them.
Inclusion seems the easiest yet…involving each team member in assessing, planning, and responding to the issues that affect the company. And yet it’s not.
And it’s all wrapped in appreciation. It’s at the beginning with recognition of the potential contributions of each member of the team, and it’s at the end of every special moment with thanks for the part each team member played in reaching the success achieved.
Sadly, most leaders, even though all four of these seem so easy, will feel like they do just enough of all four to make it ok, even when they don’t.
Even more sadly, when leaders do recognize they come up short on any of the four, they don’t care enough to develop themselves in the areas they know they are weak or even just hire others to bolster the known weaknesses.
I wonder what leaders would do if every team member was able to rate the leader and that rating would then be used to determine total compensation.Â
It works the other way around. The leader gets to rate the team members and affect total compensation.
Maybe we should do both, or just switch for a year.
I wonder what would change.
I wonder if anything would change.