Once a young leader figures out whether they are building an actual team or a single leader work group, most want to charge forth and make things happen. As an executive coach, I often have to slow down these eager beavers and remind them that figuring out what kind of team to create is only a part of the journey. The next step is to figure out who is going to be part of the team.
Regularly, excited young leaders want to pick a variety of people, put them in a room, call them a team, and give them their marching orders. I, on the other hand, have to remind young leaders that who is on the team will greatly impact the effectiveness of what the team will do. Therefore, I often ask young leaders to answer the following questions:
- Do you have confidence in each prospective person who will be on the team?
- Do you have confidence in the way they make decisions?
- Do you have confidence in the way they role model?
- Do you have confidence in the way they learn?
An effective team is made up of effective people who can make decisions, role model healthy relationships, and learn. If we put the wrong people on the team at the start, then we have guaranteed that the team will become dysfunctional. If we put the right people on the team at the start, then we pre-position the team for success.
As more experienced team leaders know, the foundation of every team is trust. With the right people on the team, trust can grow, develop and propel a team to new levels of creativity and action. If you are coaching a young leader on building trust and building a team, then I recommend you and they read the following resource: Lencioni, Patrick. The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, Jossey-Bass, 2002. With clarity and the right people, effective team work is possible.
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