How well is the team engine running?

If you want your car to run well you make sure you take it for regular services, check the oil and the tyre pressure, get an MOT (for my North American friends that's a vehicle inspection sticker). If you want a high-performance or race-winning car, you're going to need to lavish quality servicing under the bonnet (hood).

Teams are no different. Taking the motor analogy one step further, the challenge in teams is that we tend to focus on race results without paying much attention to engine performance and servicing. If you want your team to be high-functioning you need to change this... you need to check your engine, not just your results... you need to review your process, not just your outputs.

In a team, undercurrents of misunderstanding and resentment can quickly become a negative downward spiral. If you don't pay care and attention you suddenly find you’re leading a non-team (i.e. a group of disconnected, ambivalent individuals each ploughing their own furrows) or you’re experiencing a dysfunctional, toxic team culture.

Teams need an equivalent to regular car maintenance.

They need a way to surface and resolve problems and misunderstandings in a constructive and solutions focussed way. They need a mechanism for open and honest conversations which feel safe. They need a way to address issues before they become problems.

A Team MOT/process review can do just this. You can use it at regular intervals across the year - as a regular check-up. You can use it after a particularly challenging moment for the team - as a post-race analysis. You can use it to facilitate healthy discussion when you feel there are undercurrents and resentments - as a team diagnostic and problem-solving tool.

The process itself is simple. AND it’s success will depend on your mindset and intention:

• Don’t bring your negative emotions (fear, frustration, resentment etc) to the process.
• Don’t let your character flaws (judgement, control, charm, avoidance etc) get in the way.
• Do check your intentions. Are you honestly trying to be helpful, or are you just looking for a clever way to point out how wrong someone else is? 
• Do aim for a mindset of kindness, bravery and humility… and an intention to help the team build understanding, rapport and constructive solutions.

The benefits of regular team process reviews can be enormous. They give your team the tools to have graceful yet tough conversations with each other.  They can create a team culture of genuine honesty, of constructive problem-solving, of mutual respect and understanding. 

Enjoy and let me know what you discover.

Your Leadership Experiment - The Team MOT

Let people know you’re going to spend some time reviewing how well the team is working together in a ‘process review’. 

Ask some, or all, of the following questions:

• Do we hear from everyone in our meetings? How could we help others contribute more?
• Is everyone present and engaged in meetings? What would help people be more engaged?
• Is any dominance impacting the effectiveness of our meetings and/or accomplishment of goals? How can we manage that?
• Are we able to express our views with courage and conviction in a way that’s constructive? How could we do that better?
• How safe is it to express differences in this team? What would make it safer?
• How are we dealing with conflict? How could we deal with it more effectively?
• What one thing could we do differently to improve how this team functions?