How To Get The Best Out Of Your Team

Today I want to talk to you about something vital for anyone who is working with people every day. If you work with people daily then every day you’re going to have to relate. And this is a good thing! Because as human beings, we were not designed to be alone. We were designed to work together in a tribe (as a team) with other people.

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Yet when you don’t do this specific thing, you’ll find that other people will probably be causing you problems. They almost certainly won’t be doing what you expect them to do. They might even be sabotaging your initiatives.

But when you do this, you’ll find you have a powerhouse and a strength that you could never have imagined!

What we’re talking about is working with and building your team.

Now what do I specifically mean by working with your team? I mean building those skills that allow you to relate to the people that you’ve got working with you.  Skills that allow you to communicate in a way that’s very effective.  And effective communication skills mean that your team know what they need to do and deliver what you expect when you need it.

Let’s face it as a team we all share a common goal. And we all have to be going in the same direction.  If we find that we’re not going in the same direction then you’ll be wasting a lot of time, redirecting your people. This redirection if you’re not careful will actually take your whole project off course.

It’s a bit like piloting a ship.  If you’re going a short distance being 1 degree off course doesn’t make that much difference. However, if you’re trying to cross the Atlantic, that one degree of change over the space of that distance could mean the difference between landing somewhere near New York versus landing near Boston.

And that’s the same with any large project or change in a business.  The larger the project, the more important the outcome, the more vital it is for everyone to be exactly on the same sheet.  And to have that level of clarity, and togetherness, the team must trust themselves and trust you.

So, you need to make sure that you are relating to your team, you are connected with them. You need to understand how they work.  And not one size fits all.  There are different sets of known and quantifiable ways that people will accept information and actually absorb it, in a way that they can use it.

So I’m challenging you to understand how it is that your team needs to work? Will you spend the time to actually understand and explain clearly to each of them exactly what they need to do and how they’re going to do it? Or will you just hope that getting the info out there will be enough to steer the course?

George Bernard Shaw said, “The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place”.  Unless you can relate to your team, proper communication is unlikely – as communication is a two-way street.  You think you said X, the person who you were speaking to heard Y.  And that’s probably because they don’t relate to you, you didn’t take the time to understand them and how they need to be communicated with.

So take the time to relate to your team individually, so you know how to communicate with them effectively.  In this regard, ignorance is NOT bliss!