Iain John’s Post

How do we influence and create a team that thinks 🧐 like owners? Teams that understand the importance of the collective mission 🎯 of the organization and are willing to do their best to bring it to life in the role they serve. 🤔

It is importsnt to understand that, no matter the title or position, you are still part of a team. And that means, like it or not, you must consider the effect your decisions may have on that team when making them.

"Teams are the engine of the corporate machine" a recent HBR article starts. Whoa. An intense phrase that captures the importance of good performance (albeit while harkening to a mechanistic perspective). When it comes down to it, a team is an executor of strategy. Yet often teams are not clear on why they exist, how they tie into the business's strategy, and how to measure how they are doing. We can get far by asking some basic questions: Why are we a team? Where are we going? Why us- these people here? I am curious- what are some of the challenges you have seen in terms of team's being clear on their purpose?

Want a stronger team? Here's a simple trick: Look for people who: ➝ Know things you don't ➝ Think differently than you ➝ Bring new skills to the table Then: ➝ Let them shine ➝ Back their ideas ➝ Learn from them That's it. That's the secret. Because good leaders don't need to be the smartest They just need to build the smartest team 😊

Building a strong team is a challenge of its own... but once you have it built what's next? That is the true test of a great manager. Figuring out how to make them better. Challenging them daily to look at themselves and ask the hard questions. What am I good at? What do I need to improve in? How do I do that? These are difficult questions with even more difficult answers. THEN... you have to do the same with yourself. That one, my friends, is the hardest part of it all. How not to limit your team by limiting yourself.

Look closely. You have 3.5 kinds of team members. One kind are those who develop some technical competence, push themselves upto a point, and then back off as there's little joy taking so much stress. The second kind are those who also develop solid competence, push themselves as hard as they can until they encounter structural boundaries at the periphery of their jurisdiction. They tire themselves at these immovable boundaries and eventually settle. The final kind are similar to the above, but they gain energy rather than lose energy by failing at these boundaries. They develop their competence, influence and mastery until the boundaries open up for them. Every one of these folks count as 1.5 in a team. Hence the total count of 3.5 kinds of team members.

Micromanaging does not build trust within a team. It is not a good way to lead or manage a team.

Being competitive inside your team can hinder the team. Hypercompetitive people can push themselves to take on too many roles and tasks, ultimately resulting in falling short of their, and team, goals as well as over-expending time and effort on projects that do not benefit the teams goals positively. Propel others to be the best at what they do. A boat rises with the water. Rise on the waves of success with your team.