There is No "H" in Team—But You Need One

Dr. David Rafeedie

Bill looked at his watch and sighed. The staff meeting, not affectionately known as the "chaff" meeting, will be starting in five minutes. He thought, "I am sure I have attended worse meetings, but I can't think of one." Mary, too, was headed for the staff meeting. She hated staff meetings. One hour of irrelevant blather and 15 minutes of discussing important issues. She thought, "At least I have learned to sleep with my eyes open." Benny was there five minutes early. He loved staff meetings because they gave him a chance to connect with his colleagues. And he had a captive audience for his new jokes. Frank, the boss, wasn't crazy about staff meetings. He would prefer that everyone stayed in their office and worked. He was sure staff meetings were necessary, every organization had them, but it just hurt production in his mind.

 Those are some of the characters that attended the ACME Widget, Inc. staff meeting. The company's motto, Our widgets don't fidget; they are solid as a rock. While their widgets didn't fidget, almost everyone awake at the staff meeting did. But the staff meeting was just a symptom of something deeper that was wrong with the ACME team. It was not healthy. Everyone on the team had their thoughts of the staff meeting, and they pretty much did their own thing without much interaction during the workday. They did not work together well.

 This team does not have "H" in its culture. H stands for healthy. Frank's team above is not healthy, and the staff meeting is an important symptom of the lack of health. But there are a few things they can do to up the health quotient of the team by changing what happens in the staff meeting. Led by Frank, they can:

 The first thing that would be important is to remember the old acronym: Together Everyone Achieves More. The reality is most teams have 30% more potential than they are using. The team above is using much less than 70 % of their potential. A renewed commitment to the success of the team and the growth of the individual would be vital for them.

 The second thing to do is to recommit and realign around their values and purpose. Somewhere along the line, Frank's team lost their perspective. Sometimes, individuals on the team will forget their core values and mission amid the busyness of an ordinary workday. Culture is values-driven. If a leader and team have lost track of those values or are not living them out, they lack focus and silos results.

 Third, their staff meetings should be focused on outcomes, but having room for innovation and idea debate is essential. Rethinking why they get together for staff meetings would be a big step in the right direction, and then design and focus the staff meeting on the things that will move them forward.

 Fourth, yes, take time to connect relationally. Let Benny tell his jokes. Maybe Mary has a good reason she is so tired and finds it hard to stay awake. Take a little time to build the kind of relationships that make for a healthy team. Not only will relationships on the team deepen, but the right type of connection will also help keep the meeting fun and less boring.

 Instead of team members dreading the staff meeting, they will begin to see it as valuable and productive. But, of course, there is more to building a healthy team than having a great staff meeting. The staff meeting is either a symptom of a sick team or a healthy team.

 Building a healthy team takes time and intentionality. It is the responsibility of the leader to initiate and embed culture. It is also their responsibility to change the culture, if necessary, to have a healthy and performing team. Below is a good team development process to follow. Each phase in the arrow has specific steps to them and the process, to be fully realized, takes anywhere from six months to a year, depending on the team's status. But it is time well worth the effort to have a healthy and performing team living up to their full potential.

Assess    Identify   Clarify    Align    Plan  Implement   Assess

Developing a healthy team culture will ensure your team remains a top performer. A healthy team culture will also give you the context in which to hire new team members. It will provide the metrics you need to make sure you have a good match with the culture, someone who will fit in well with the team and add to its health and the skills you are looking to add.

 I am passionate about partnering with leaders like you. Working together, I can help you build your team into a healthy, high-performing team. Change and growth are good for you, the individual team member, and your team. Email me at info@davidthecoach.com, text me, or feel free to call me on 520-709-1860. If you like, text me your name and phone number, and I will contact you to start a conversation to explore a coaching relationship.

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