When I sit back and look at the big picture, and when I notice not just what people are doing, but also how they are preparing for 2024, one thing stands out from all the rest. It is not their plans or their objectives. It is not their excellent strategies, though these do help. Instead it is something quite simple that often gets overlooked in the rush to complete the fourth quarter of the calendar.
From where I sit, the companies who enter 2024 with healthy teams will survive 2024. They also will be well positioned for the second half of this decade. Those, who have dysfunctional teams or troubled teams, will struggle mightily. They may survive but, as my late dad would say, this will only happen “by the skin of their teeth.”
For me right now, the secret sauce, or the key factor, which ever metaphor you like, is the creation and maintenance of healthy teams at all levels of the organization. The challenge is that this observation is very old school. Given my age, I am a touch old school. But from the conversations and visits I have had with a wide diversity of executives during the last six months, it is very clear to me that healthy teams will make a big difference in 2024.
Recently, I was visiting about this with a very experienced executive and he said to me that many teams are suffering from “ABT.”
I paused and thought to myself, “Huh. I have no idea what that is.”
So I asked him, “What is ABT?”
He smiled and said, “ABT stands for Ain’t Been Taught. Too many teams and team leaders have not been taught how to be a part of a team and how to be a real team leader. It’s our job to teach them early and often. It’s our job to eliminate ABT.”
I smiled and agreed.
So, between now and the end of the calendar year, that is my challenge to you. Eliminate ABT and create healthy teams so you will not just survive 2024, but come out well prepared for the second half of this decade.
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