Teamership: Start where you are. Do what you can.

It is valuable to make a distinction between simple and easy.

The objective of a marathon is simple – run 42.2km. But clearly, achieving that objective is anything but easy.

Like running a marathon, the objective of Teamership is straightforward. The objective boils down to two simple questions, the answers to which are complex:

Am I bringing my best?

Am I bringing out the best in others?

What does it take for any of us to know ourselves well enough to understand what our best could be? It is possible that we will never fully know the answer to that. If we can’t answer that question of ourselves, how can we answer it for another person, let alone in the context of multiple teams?

If that wasn’t hard enough, how can we expect to help others to answer these questions while we are wrestling so hard with them ourselves? My recommendation is simple, though not easy to achieve. It is to acknowledge the complexity of the challenge by applying adaptive solutions. Teamership is not something that will be quickly solved or a box that will be ticked through a technical solution.

Supporting Teamership is a decision, an ongoing commitment in service of yourself, those you work with, and those who rely on the work that your organisation does. To do this you need to start where you are and do what you can.

Without trying to be too zen about it, this is all we are ever able to do. You can’t start from anywhere other than where you are, and you can’t do any more than you can! The challenge is to identify and acknowledge both of those things.

Where are you, your leaders, your teams and your organisation? Start there.

What often happens is that we confuse where we are with where we have been - or where we want to be. Many teams are held back by assumptions and ways of working that were previously useful. Likewise, many teams are focused on where the team is heading to the point where they have not acknowledged that the fundamentals of team performance need attention.

What can you do to help, support, promote and invest in Teamership? Do that.

When deciding on what you can do, a key consideration is capacity. Teams, leaders and team members often feel overcommitted. A team’s capacity (calendar and cognitive space) is often the limiting factor in what can realistically be done to support team performance - as people manage the range of requests (demands?) placed upon them. Adding too much too soon for team performance can be tempting - and counter productive.

Some questions to consider this week in relation to your team performance:

• How important is team performance to you in the next 6 to 12 months?
• Where are you, your leaders, your teams and your organisation?
• What can you do to help, support, promote and invest in Teamership?