Who’s your first team?

It’s been 13 years since I was first introduced to the concept of “first team” principles - a foundational idea that transformed the way that I engage with my peers and how I lead marketing teams.? Despite being very powerful, I have found that a surprisingly small number of people have fully embraced it.

This concept, coined by Patrick Lencioni, champions the philosophy that authentic leaders should prioritize the needs and support of their fellow leaders ahead of their direct subordinates. Lencioni advises that these leaders should have stronger accountability to their counterparts — their "First Team" — rather than to their own subsectors or "Second Team."

“When there is trust, conflict becomes nothing but the pursuit of truth, an attempt to find the best possible answer.” - Patrick Lencioni

The version that I was taught was further refined by the management firm 3 Peaks.? They defined your first team as all of the people who report to the same manager as you.? You must ensure that those people feel supported and that you work together to drive each other’s success.? When they are on holiday, you cover them so they can relax.? When you are on holiday, they reciprocate for you.??

The golden rule is that you never talk badly of a teammate.? Any challenges you have with them need to be managed inside of the team.? You never share your challenges with the people who report to you, and never to your mutual boss - except when they are needed as a mediator - and only after the issue has been directly raised with the coworker you are challenged with so that they can address it directly.? Almost all of the time, the other person is not aware of the impact that they have had on you and the conversations are always productive.? It is a great way to heal rifts before they get too big to address - building trust and stronger collaboration.

This model has proven itself out in mission-critical teams throughout history - and is a foundational element in the performance vs. trust model presented in this great video by Simon Sinek

To help promote this model, I do something that some people might consider risky.? I actively encourage my direct reports to have a Teams chat that I’m not in so that they can share openly with each other.? This is especially true when they might be frustrated working with me and need to vent.? Rather than talk to people outside the organization, they learn to rely on each other for support.

They can also use others as a “litmus test” - if two or more people agree that a decision I have made isn’t right, it’s a sign that they should come and talk to me about changing our plans.? But if the second person disagrees - maybe the decision was a sound one.

This model makes it the team's job to help each other succeed - and every victory brings them closer together and builds more trust. With trust comes accountability and a desire to continue driving performance.

It takes discipline to maintain the model - holding yourself and your team members accountable for playing by the rules.? No one is perfect - we all slip sometimes - so it’s even more powerful when we can call it out, call people up and have constructive conversations to ensure we maintain trust with our “first team” members.

If you haven't come across the model before, I encourage you to give it a try with your first team!