Got Team Alignment?

Focus is an essential ingredient for success and the underlying strategy for many a business paradigm. Several books including Good to Great, The Inside Advantage and the Six Disciplines Execution Revolution, share a common theme based on the need for companies and leaders to have focus and clarity, especially around vision, value proposition, core customer(s), strategy and key priorities. In addition to focus is the need for leaders to exhibit discipline by maintaining and regularly communicating the vision in a way that aligns teams in the collective pursuit of strategic goals. Yet, staying focused, keeping positive and motivating people towards desired results is not always easy. 

Communication

Sometimes a team may have the focus and clarity they need but the team alignment is lacking. Engaging and motivating a group of individuals with varying opinions and approaches can be challenging. Often problems arise when team members just focus on the goals for the department they lead versus the collective goal of the team and do not turn to team members to problem solve when they run into challenges. They are not striving to achieve results together. Why wouldn’t you use your team to help brainstorm solutions? Often, it is because the team does not feel comfortable with being honest and open; with sharing vulnerabilities. They lack trust, the foundation of high performing teams. Where trust is lacking, you can frequently find team members lacking the passion and perseverance needed to achieve long-term goals.

Building Trust

So if you have a team that is not open to sharing and problem solving around challenges, what do you do? You can begin by taking an objective look at how your team communicates. How do they handle conflict? Do team members engage in open discussion when there are differences of opinions? Are they comfortable with challenging each other on issues that are key to achieving group success? Are team members comfortable being vulnerable with each other and having unfiltered dialogue? Do meetings end with issues resolved or are they left unresolved?

When team members trust each other they are able to have open discussions about problems and challenges. They are able to openly express their disappointments and question one another in an effort to uncover information that will help to make better decisions. High functioning teams minimize individualistic behavior, hold each other accountable and focus on collectively achieving desired results.

Developing Skills

To build trust, team members themselves need to employ leadership skills in listening, communication, collaboration, goal clarification and decision-making. 

Listening involves following up on key points as well as clarifying, restating and reframing information so that all understand and feel heard. It is listening with curiosity and without judgment. It is a skill that many of us think we are good at, yet most of us listen at 25% efficiency. We are often interpreting what we are hearing based on our own biases and formulating a reply based on our perceptions, not fully grasping what is being said. The ability to truly listen requires listening purposely, putting your self in the shoes of others and understanding both the words as well as emotions.

Effective communication also involves the ability to clearly express thoughts and present information in an organized and concise way, being sensitive to group members and treating each member with respect while keeping people focused and on task.   

In addition to these skills, team leaders need to be good at decision-making, at analyzing and weighing information, and making decisions based on the facts presented in a timely manner.

To develop these skills, you can begin by talking about them, describing them, and recognize them through story telling. For example, when a colleague takes the time to patiently ask clarifying questions that leads to new insights, recognize the behavior you observed (e.g. genuine interest, listening purposefully, clarifying questions focused on customer’s interests) and the outcome. Share the stories about colleagues that support the behavior and culture you desire. Sharing the behaviors you value helps to spread those desirable behaviors and leads to continuous skill development. 

Achieving Results

Creating a healthy team environment requires courage and persistence. It requires a commitment on behalf of the team leader and the rest of the team to be open with one another about mistakes and weaknesses, to have those difficult but crucial conversations about performance and accountability. It involves getting people to focus on collective results versus individual goals and to truly understand success as the achievement of the collective goals. High performing teams are not only focused and goal oriented but they also have team leaders that spend time on developing the social competence of their team, helping them to listen and understand each others points of view and develop skills in being thoughtful and caring. 

Yet, developing strong teams does not happen over night, it involves spending a considerable amount of time together and creating a deliberate practice of open communication, problem solving, and follow through. It also involves providing ongoing dynamic feedback to your team on their functional skill set as well as their social competence skills. To maintain a competitive advantage for your company, invest time in your teams and continually refine their strengths.

Additional information on team alignment, culture and alignment of business drivers may be found at www.artsciencegroup.com or contact [email protected].

Allexe Law, ArtScience Group

Helping Companies Grow Strategically