By Daniel Bobinski
In many ways, building an effective team is a lot like baking a tasty desert. You have to get the recipe right. Sure, bakers can add their signature flourishes, but without the essential ingredients, even the fanciest design won’t compensate for bad taste if a key ingredient is missing. The same goes for team building. No matter how charming or creative the leader’s style, certain foundational elements must be in place for any team to thrive.
What follows are five ingredients every team needs, but before I get to those ingredients, let me underscore the necessity of ensuring you have the right people on your team. In his book, “Good to Great,” Jim Collins points out that your organization is like a bus. The leader drives the bus, and to be successful, the right people must be on the bus. Therefore, hiring correctly is fundamental.
But what if you inherit a team? If that’s the case, the leader must ensure that people are in the right seats on the bus. About 15 years ago I was called in to work with a team, and in short order, I realized that all the people were quite talented, but about a third of them were in the wrong jobs. This made the team less effective, because a third of them weren’t really passionate about what they were doing. Unfortunately, the team leader did not act on what I pointed out, and a year later he was replaced.
In other words, a fundamental understanding for any team is to not only have the right people on the bus, but also have them sitting in the appropriate seats.
As for the five key ingredients below, don’t just skim over them. If you’re a team leader, ask yourself, “Am I truly providing these elements?” If you’re a member of a team but not the leader, ask yourself, “How can I help establish or reinforce these elements?”
This list is far from exhaustive, but I believe every team needs at least these five things to function at its best.
1. Honesty. This seems like a no-brainer, but I’ve lost count of how many employees tell me honesty is missing from their workplace. People need leaders and team members they can trust. This mean no half-truths, no sugarcoating, no bluffing your way through answers. If you don’t know something, be honest about it. Say something like, “I don’t know right now, but I’ll find out.”
Of course, if you say you’re going to find out, definitely do so and report back.
Also, by all means, don’t lie. When – not if – a lie is found out, it’s game over for trust. From that point forward, anything you say will have a cloud over it. Leaders set the tone for honesty, but being honest is everyone’s responsibility. If you make honesty the norm for yourself, other people on your team are more likely to practice this principle.
2. Trust in Your Team Members. Assuming you have the right people on your team and they’re in the right positions, if they know their job, let them do it. So many employees tell me, “They train us, but when it’s time to make decisions, they don’t let us do what we were trained for.”
When you hire the right people and give them the training and tools they need, trust them to get the job done. If you don’t, their passion will fizzle and they’ll do only the bare minimum. If you find you genuinely can’t trust your team, it may be time to ask some people to get off the bus. But while you’re at it, also review your hiring and training processes.
3. Mutual Respect. Long ago I was told, “Give what you want to get.” That’s especially true for respect. If you want your team to respect each other – and you – then you must first show respect to others.
Being respectful is not complicated. It starts with being polite instead of demanding. It means talking with people like they’re people, not subordinates or excess baggage. Listen to what people say and take their input seriously. Just because someone sits lower on the org chart doesn’t mean you can talk down to them. As the legendary advertising executive David Ogilvy put it, “If you treat people like dwarfs, you become a company of dwarfs. But treat them like giants, and you build a company of giants.”
4. Recognition. Everyone likes to be recognized. Some want public acknowledgement while others prefer it one-to-one. Either way, people want to know their input if valued. However, don’t stop at individual praise. Also be sure to celebrate the team as a whole. Both types of recognition are important.
5. Support. Teams cannot thrive without support. This goes beyond just saying, “I’ve got your back.” It means showing both practical and emotional support. Are you giving your team members the tools and resources they need? Do they feel like you’re in their corner when things get tough?
Without real support, weaknesses emerge, and over time those weaknesses become magnified. This is something teams must guard against, because cracks in a team’s foundation rarely show up overnight. They often grow slowly, over time, and can eventually cause major problems.
It’s also important for team members to support other team members. However, be sure that one person does not become the support system for the entire team. If something should happen to that person, the resulting gap can have a significantly negative impact on productivity.
Bottom line, if you’re leading a team, take time to reflect. Are the elements listed above truly in place, or do blind spots exist? It’s an important review, because when the basics are solid, then you can add your personal leadership flourishes and take things to the next level.
Daniel Bobinski, who has a doctorate in theology, is a best-selling author and a popular speaker at conferences and retreats. For more than 30 years he’s been working with teams and individuals (1:1 coaching) to help them achieve excellence. He was also teaching Emotional Intelligence since before it was a thing. Reach him by email at DanielBobinski@protonmail.com or 208-649-6400.
