“A boat doesn’t go forward if each person is rowing their own way.” Swahili Proverb
In one of my small businesses the other day, I teamed up two people. Their roles are different – one an office manager, the other a salesperson. They will depend on each other though, to succeed individually. The company will depend on them and their teamwork to achieve success. When I hired them as individuals, I made a people-centric leadership investment to know them on a deeper level. Knowing them helps me to lead them more effectively. Teaming them required me to take this investment further. I scheduled a meeting with the three of us to form this teamwork foundation.
I had practice doing this. I had been burned by not making this investment with previous teams resulting in poor communication, conflict, and dysfunction. I had succeeded, preventing conflict and fostering teamwork when I did. Pairing two people without establishing a foundation of self-awareness, role guidance, and team building exercises is a recipe for failure. Obviously, people are different. What if Jack talks a lot and Maria likes her quiet and gets overwhelmed easy? What if Megan is a non-conformist and Alex colors in-between the lines? What if impatient Adam is teamed with patient Paul? The questions go on. You likely have individual job descriptions created but what do individuals really need from each other? How do individuals and their roles complement each other? How does each person prefer to communicate? My goal was to change question marks into periods – to gain clarity and generate better ‘teamwork’ which happens to be one of our non-negotiable company values. We had a very busy week trying to jam appointments and other tasks in before Friday, but nothing was getting in the way of this meeting. Their teaming had just begun, and it had to be on a proper footing. Here is how I approached it.
I offered my intent emphasizing the purpose of the relationship – to foster a positive workplace culture and increase revenue. I gave them key tasks for teamwork – to communicate effectively, support each other, and manage conflict. End state I described as the two of them complimenting each other and supporting each other to establish trust, communicate well, and achieve revenue goals. Along with intent I gave them my vision for their teamwork – an office manager and salesperson who communicated well, supported each other and managed conflict, all to help us focus on customer relationships, first-rate performance, and revenue goal achievement. I offered my help, but I challenged them to solve problems at their level first. To help, I gave priorities or glass balls not to be dropped – lead conversion for sales and cashflow for office management were among the top ones. I told them they would clash. They both had egos and strong beliefs, and these would ultimately collide but that they owed it to the greater team to resolve conflict and reach consensus.
I started with a self-awareness and communication survey. I use the Forté Institute’s® Communication Intelligence Survey and Assessment in my leadership coaching as a criterion for knowing and understanding another person. Forté helps an individual and their leader examine strengths such as dominance, introversion or extroversion, patience, conformity, logic style, stamina, and goal achievement. It measures how strong an individual is in each of these categories and, importantly, how these strengths affect their communication and influence of others. I often state in leadership development, “know thyself before you lead others.” The same holds true for people who will work together. There are other self-awareness surveys you can use but invest some time in this as a leadership and teambuilding exercise…
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