The top topic on the leadership agenda – team effectiveness!

It’s been said, that you are the sum total of the five people you hang around with.

Who do you spend most of your time with at work? Do they influence you positively or negatively?

Last week I wrote about the science of being your best self at work. What would be the benefit of collecting stories of the best-selves of your teammates? When others tell us who we are at our best, how we contribute real value, it creates a chemical chain reaction of positivity. Therefore, impacting everyone on the team.

Best-self activation has the ability to change the narrative that employees develop about work, about each other, and about themselves. The team members are then able to apply their unique knowledge, perspectives, and identities to the task at hand, which enhance their team effectiveness and performance.

Think of it this way, people have a strong need to feel accepted by other team members so much so that they will prioritize fitting in over adding value to the team. I’ll share an example: Mary is fairly new to the team. She is creative and will normally see a unique way to solve problems. When attending a team meeting to find a solution to a client concern, she immediately visualizes an easy way to remedy the customer problem but decides not to share her idea because she doesn’t want to show off or alienate her new team mates.

Do you want this to happen in your team? I encourage you to do a best-self exercise with your team, by following the 4 steps below.

1. Every team member writes a few short paragraphs about when they are their best self
2. They then invite a few of their teammates (or others that know them well) to share feedback. One of the ways you add value and make important contributions is, for example, “I think of the time that: (quoting an example)”
3. All team members analyze and summarize their own feedback
4. All team members share their best-self characteristics

Then, imagine this scenario. Mary is attending the same meeting, but everyone, including Mary, knows she contributes best by using her creativity. She now feels self-affirming and that she has been given permission from the team to use her unique strength to solve for the customer. Now the customer wins. Mary wins because she is using her strengths, and the team wins too!

Want us to facilitate a High Performing Team Workshop for you? We have facilitators across the globe available for engaging and results-driven learning. Let’s talk!

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