When it Comes to Effective Team Building No One Knows Better Than Your Employees

To Improve Team Effectiveness, Listen to Your EmployeesWhen was the last time you asked your employees how they can develop into becoming a more effective team?  Competing in the game of business is a team sport and highly engaged employees want to play on a winning team.  They usually have great ideas about how to get better! Are you listening? More importantly, are you taking action based on what you hear?

A Little League principle revisited

I remember coaching a Little League Baseball All-Star team. We started the 1st practice by talking about the difference between a group of All-Star players and a winning All-Star team. To illustrate this point, I had every player run onto the field and take their #1 defensive position.  No one ran into the outfield and nearly everyone ran to the pitcher’s mound or short-stop.  They kids thought that was pretty funny but quickly understood the point. You can’t play winning defense with holes all over the field!

After bringing everyone back to home plate, we talked about what a winning defense looks like and why most players needed to play their #2 or #3 defensive position in order to help this particular team be successful.  To make a long story short, we ran the exercise again and this time, players took the field and ran to the position where they believed they could make their greatest team contribution.  What’s interesting is that this defensive lineup ended up being what we used during the entire All-Star tournament.  Two weeks of daily practice and competition for each position only proved what the kids intuitively knew.

Principle… Ask what the players think. Their insight will surprise you!

Applying this principle to your company           

Employees already know EXACTLY why your company/team is highly effective OR why it isn’t.  Do you have the courage to ask and listen? More importantly, will you take action based on what you hear?

If this idea sounds a bit crazy and you want to complement employee intuition with science, try using personality profile testing and compile a winning team based on complementary strengths needed inside your company.  For example, try Gallup, Inc.’s Strengths Finder 2.0 book and test.  The book which was written by Tom Rath, provides a high level overview of 34 personality themes while the 30-minute test (which you can take online) provides a report listing your top 5 personality themes and more importantly how you can apply each of these 5 strengths in a positive way, individually and as part of a team.

Chances are high that Strengths Finder 2.0 test results will not be surprising.  After all, intuition is a highly developed way of taking countless data points and making educated decisions.  This is a fancy way of saying… “Ask your employees what they think when it comes to improving team effectiveness.. Their insight will surpise you!”

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