DecisionSteroids

The collective intelligence of a team can be thought of as an organizational "brain."

Our personal brain processes millions of bits of information, every moment of every day. So does the organizational brain.

Our personal brain automates as much decision making as possible so that it can focus its precious attention and energy on the tricky, the novel, the complex decisions before it. So does the organizational brain.

The best leaders of teams I know use some or all of the following when facing complex decisions to be made by the team:

• Include relevant others in the decision.
• Express gratitude to those willing to help.
• Take the allowed time to make a quality decision.
• Invite, consider, respect, provide safety for dissent.
• Practice and insist upon transparency in the process. 
• Etch early decision iterations in pencil, not pen or granite.

If it were easy, anyone could do it. It's not, and they usually don't. 

ConnectivityPower

We all desire to be effective and successful. It's in our DNA.

In almost all circumstances, we are more likely to be effective and successful if others lend us a hand in the process.

How can we better connect with others?

• HELP - when we help others, they almost always try to help in return.
• ASK - seek to understand others better, and more personally.
• FORGIVE - easily and often.
• FLEX - to others, without trying to change them.
• LISTEN - with our ears, with our eyes, with our heart.

Funny how kindness, helpfulness, and generosity have a reciprocal nature to them.

Showin'Up

One of my impactful mentors, Dr. Mike Moses, was fond of admonishing us as developing servant leaders that "90% of it is showing up."

That assertion of Dr. Moses has proven true time and again since I first heard him say it some 25 years ago. 

Why does showing up prove so impactful for us as servant leaders? It affords us opportunity to...

• CARE - for the people doing the work.
• ENGAGE - with those who are engaging with our stakeholders. 
• LEARN - about what's happening in and around the organization.
• OBSERVE - the processes, workflows, successes, champions, bottlenecks, etc. 
• LISTEN - to the concerns and comments of both internal and external customers.
• SHARE - with the team the good things and good people that make our work meaningful. 

On second thought, Dr. Moses may have missed the calculation a bit. Perhaps "showing up" represents closer to 100% of our success. 

TeamDream

What fun it is to play on a high performing team!

What if we had the power and ability to shape the performance team of our dreams. What would those team members look like?

• Curious
• Relational
• Self starting
• Not risk averse
• Systemic thinker
• Emotionally intelligent
• Intrinsically motivated
• Socially intelligent
• Outcome focused
• Team oriented
• Collaborative
• Energetic
• Creative
• Fun

Perhaps we do have the power to shape the team. 

Perhaps it begins with the way we post the job and conduct the interview. 

Perhaps it begins with us knowing what we're looking for before we put the hook in the water.

We can begin today...

Activation

Most of us wish we could be and do better.

Some of us even go to the trouble to think about ways we can be and do better.

Yet, nothing happens on the wings of wishing and thinking about.

When we take action to try different behaviors, adopt new habits, abandon old habits, alter comfortable practices, change concretized ways.........................we begin to move the needle toward betterment.

The wishing and thinking are the top of the line up. The action is in the clean up position. 

Time to step up to the plate.

Problem&SolutionComplexity

Complex problems seem not to have simple solutions.

Complex problems require multiple and combined engaged minds to craft workable solutions.

Collaborative attempts at applying efficacious solutions to complex problems is messy, time-consuming, confounding, and often frustrating work. 

Those that drop problems on our door step thinking otherwise................are usually not all that interested in finding solutions. Neither are they often the ones to sign up for the difficult work required to craft and attempt to deploy those evasive solutions. 

Picking our team wisely makes all the difference in the world. 

SlippedGear

From time to time, someone on the team slips out of gear. For a variety of reasons a good and proven performer sometimes, somehow, someway, disengages.

What causes folks to slip out of gear? A variety of possibilities exist. They might be... 

• Dealing with personal crisis
• Ill
• Feeling devalued
• Want something they're not getting
• Deem they're being marginalized or pushed out

How we respond can make a lot of difference on whether or not our teammate RE-engages with us. We can...

• Show we care, without being intrusive
• Let them know the Team is not as strong without them
• Give them some space and time
• LISTEN carefully...to what they say, what they don't say, what we see

To be sure, performance matters. Sometimes, however, we can allow performance to slip out of gear for a bit in order to allow our valued Team member to slip back into gear.

Whether or not we rescue or recover our valued Teammate depends on the relationship we nurture with them.