Creating the Dream Team

Team is a group of individuals that complement each others for the skills needed to achieve the goals. They work independently as well as are dependent on each other for completion of tasks hence mutual respect, accountability and creativity is must. If the focus is on goal they share the efforts and rewards.

Any task is time bound and the results don’t make sense if not achieved in the stipulated time. For the teams to be productive the leader’s need to be aware of the strengths and weakness of each and every member and allocate tasks accordingly. Setting priorities are important but not without clarity in minds of members.

If the team is aware of priorities and agrees to the process for accomplishment of task it attracts speed, efficiency and ease of work.

Values that allow control on team without being biased towards the team members:

1.   Know your team and share the values of the dream team you have: Figure out the strong and weak points of your team and share the values of your dream team for them to know we all are together, this releases the pressure of individual performance and rating.

 2.   Walk them through the stages of team development: Let them experience how you choose individuals for the particular task and provide power of trust and reliance for them to be their best.

 3.   Creating the strong base for effective team: Communication that is positive empowers the team to see, learn and improve.

 4.   What’s in there for them: With all that hard work what people wait for is appreciation and not just monetary benefit. Same as their own need of appreciation they need to identify and fulfill the desire of others for being appreciated.

 5.   Extracting the best from them: No one will ever give you the best of them if they are not convinced of self growth and development along with the company’s profit.

Teams observe the leader and learn more than they learn from any other method. The behavior, attitude, problem solving skills, ability to motivate and natural leadership abilities are enough to inspire but not to stay inspired.

Our manager Vandana was capable of leading the teams and her presence itself solved some issues. Every discussion she had with any level of employee used to be of satisfying nature. People would talk to her consider her as if she is their colleague and not the CEO. The 10 golden keys she used to open the locks of best behavior and performance in all were:

1.   Willingness to understand the team problems

2.   Give constructive and corrective feedback

3.   Always have faith in people

4.   Provide opportunities for growth

5.   Make people see what more is possible

6.   Respect the individual differences and combine the positives to overlap the negatives

7.   Don’t make them wrong or be in defensive mode

8.   Commitment for growth of all

9.   Focus on Actions and Outcomes

10. Leave them inspired enough to continue the efforts in right direction.

These rules came from LIFO’s concept of:

Every human being has one of the 4 orientations or a combination of them and that shapes their preferred behavior in various circumstances.

The four orientations according to LIFO are

 1.   Supporting / Giving

Key word: Excellence

Characteristics:

• Feels being worthwhile
• Try to be responsive and co-operative
• Want to be considered as trustworthy
• Good thoughts about others
• Live up to their ideals
• Own up the responsibilities
• Avoid conflicts

Typical behaviors

• Provides listening and support which creates trust
• Appreciates team’s problem and their problem solving abilities
• Provides opportunities, encourages and tries to remove obstacles
• Anticipates teams needs; and taking care of them in advance
• Co-operates and collaborates to make a tasks easier or more fun
• Emphasizes the importance of having goals and values
• Trusts people

 2.   Controlling / Taking

Key word: Action

Characteristics:

• Loves challenges and takes responsibility
• Grabs opportunities and gets things accomplished
• Trusts their own instincts
• Believes that problems can be solved by commitment
• Handles conflict confidently and enjoys working towards resolution.

Typical behaviors

• Clear communication of expectations to eliminate confusion
• Expresses confidence that the other person can deliver what is requested
• Tells others exactly where they stand
• Quick decision making accompanied with required actions
• Collects and manages the resources to tackle a task
• Risk Taker
• Confronts differences as they arise

 3.   Conserving/Holding

Key word: Reason

Characteristics:

• Focuses on Gains and works towards minimizing loss
• Involved in accuracy and minute details
• Likes rigorous documentation and information retrieval systems
• Attentive to facts and accurate information
• Intentional analytical approach
• Considers long-term solutions better than immediate relief.

Typical behaviors:

• Establishes a clear structure of tasks
• Induces instructional level clarity
• Follows the policies and procedures
• Systematic documentation
• Analytical view before taking action
• adheres to schedules and budgets
• Calm and Consistent behavior even in crisis
• Facts lover

 4.   Adapting/Dealing

Key word: Harmony

Characteristics:

• Enjoys attentions and admiration
• Likes group work and adjusts to the need
• Likes networking and knows that social acceptance is key to getting things done
• Willing to go for new experiences
• Positive and Optimistic
• Likes the give and take
• Appreciates generously

Typical behaviors:

• Adjusts behavior according to people
• Invests time to build harmonious and friendly relationships
• Sensitive towards others feelings
• Tactful in dealing delicate situations
• expresses appreciation for others' efforts
• Enthusiastic and sees positives even in times of issue
• Listens to new ideas attracts, loves creativity

If your team has a combination of all these different orientations, everyone having an appreciation for their own as well as other team member’s orientations and they are trained to work effectively with people having different orientations then your dream team is in making.

BCon Inc. Japan with the help of LIFO ( Life Orientations) created by Dr. Stuart Atkins and Dr. Allan Katcher help companies create great team work and interpersonal relationships which can also impact other people connect areas like Sales and Customer care over and above the teamwork and culture within the organization.

Know more on https://lifo.co/  and www.bconglobal.com