Developing Performance Teams

While there can be lots of pressure to develop a team, the truth is that it's simple. Like leadership, it's not complicated, it's just difficult. If you can find the strength to be consistent and optimistic, there is a good chance you'll succeed in developing your team. That said, there are some things that will make development easier for you as a leader, and I am going to do my best to break them down in this blog.

In my best effort to make these easy to remember, I came up with the 4 G's of team development. Note: the more I come up with these the more I realize I really could use some help coming up with blog ideas, because my brain is barely making the cut, haha!

Go: The first step to team development is to go. If your team doesn't feel like you want them there, they are going to tune out. At the Global Leadership Summit this year, speaker Cynt Marshall gave a great analogy on what it looks like to include your team. Often, we think that an invitation to the event is an including effort. "We want you there!" And while this sounds inclusive, if they show up and aren't participating, are they really being included? To include your team is to say, "We want you to PLAY!" We don't just want our team there, we want them to participate. When we go to our team and invite them to take part in organizational efforts, it's important to not only include the what, but also their what. "THIS is what we are going to accomplish, and HERE is how you're going to help."

The second step to Go, is to not just go on behalf of the organization. It's easy to say the, "THIS is what we are going to accomplish and HERE is how you're going to help" because there is something in it for us as an organization. However, to create team buy-in from the go, it has to apply to things outside of organizational efforts also. If the team is going to lunch, playing a game, meeting for coffee, etc., it is your job as a leader driving development to go invite them.

Give: Whatever efforts you are expecting of your team, you have to be willing to give first. If you want them to come to work every day with a great attitude, you better be coming in the door humming music with a smile on your face and throwing out borderline annoying good mornings to every face you see. If you want a team that shows up early and stays late, show up early and stay late, and invite people into it while you're at it. As frustrating as it may be sometimes, people don't obey leaders, they follow them. You can bark orders and make commands all day long, and it may work for a while, but a team that sees the leader doing the exact thing that's being asked of them will have a long-lasting, inspirational drive to be a part of that culture.

Get: When your team sees you giving the expectations that you're setting for them, they are most likely going to give back those same expectations. It won't happen overnight, and there is no certain timeline of when you as the leader will start to get, but when you are consistent and optimistic enough to persevere, the get will happen. And when it does, you have to be quick to grant them recognition.

Grant: The easiest one to do but also the easiest one to overlook is the granting of recognition. However and whenever you choose to grant recognition is up to you as a leader, but it must be consistent. When other team members begin to see the recognition that people who are buying-in receive, they are going to want in on it also. And, when they do, they should also receive the recognition. This may seem counterintuitive as some leaders would say that it kills the significance of the recognition when EVERYONE gets it, and you're right. Then the level steps up. As a leader, it's your job to say, "Okay, everyone has been recognized for showing up early now. (THIS MEANS YOU HAVE SET THAT STANDARD), now, what do we develop next?"

When developing your team, you have to go invite them, make them want to be a part of something because they feel that someone wants them to be a part of it. Give them the same effort you expect of them and stay consistent and optimistic. At a certain point, you will start to get that effort back, and once you're able to confidently grant recognition to your whole team for their efforts, you have set an organizational standard, and it's time to repeat the process with a new developmental effort.

Remember, team development isn't complicated, it's just difficult. Be consistent and stay optimistic.