How to Team Build
Raise your hand if you’ve ever been part of an amazing team that was cohesive, collaborative, productive, and drama-free. 🙌 Now raise your hand if you’ve ever been part of a team that was siloed, disjointed, draining, and had more drama than a Broadway show. If you’ve been working for any length of time, you’ve likely experienced both at some juncture. While teams underperform or become dysfunctional for countless reasons, the root often lies in something simple: we all think, communicate, process information, handle conflict, and find motivation in different ways. You might be thinking, “Well, duh, Sarah!” And you’d be right. We know this in theory. But here’s the thing—how often do we really stop in the chaos of back-to-back meetings and looming deadlines to actually consider how another person might see the world differently? To ask ourselves how their preferences, needs, or approaches might be affecting how we interact with them? If I had to guess, I’d say not often enough. In our race to “get it all done,” we rarely pause to reflect on who’s right in front of us. Instead, we operate under the unconscious (and very human) assumption that everyone works the same way we do—and then act surprised when they don’t. Knowing what makes team members tick and how to work more seamlessly together is invaluable. Here are some common-sense, often overlooked strategies to consider, whether you’re part of the team or leading it: If you find yourself feeling that you need a more powerful way to build a high-performing team, the Prism Portrait can be a game changer. We’ve all experienced the frustration of mismatched communication styles, missed cues, and assumptions that lead to conflict or disengagement. But what if you could take the guesswork out of it and get a blueprint for each team member’s unique way of thinking and working? The Prism Portrait is a validated self-assessment that provides: It’s not just about filling out another personality assessment—it’s about gaining actionable insights that you can use to create a more cohesive, aligned, and effective team. Following a recent team session with a client, the C-level sponsor said: “In the weeks following the group session, I’ve noticed significant changes in our team dynamics. People have developed greater self-awareness, are actively listening to one another in new ways, and the assessment’s concepts are naturally surfacing in conversations, giving us a shared language to work from. Beyond the team benefits, it was powerful for each team member to have the opportunity to reflect on and refine their personal leadership style, helping them step up and grow as leaders.” Want to see how the Prism Portrait can transform your team? Click here to schedule a discovery call.
Recruiting is Not a One and Done
Over the last few years, all kinds of new jargon have entered into our vernacular. Take, for instance, The Great Resignation, Presenteeism, Quiet Quitting, Quiet Hiring, Quiet Firing, Quiet Promoting, and most recently, The Big Stay. In most cases, these are catchy monikers for employee practices that have always existed in one fashion or another. The titles perhaps capture more attention in the minds and hearts of managers and leaders. They certainly make for sexier headlines. Regardless of what you decide to call the trends, we know that turnover is a thing, and the point is, you need to keep re-recruiting your team. According to Mercer, overall turnover dropped from 24.7% in 2022 to 17.3% between 2022-2023. That’s the good news (hence, “The Big Stay”). But research by Job Seeker Nation, indicates that 30% of new hires quit within 90 days. Remember last week when we talked about leadership being a contact sport? Here’s a perfect example of when you need to get in the game vs. stand around on the sidelines. For example, I used to support a service center. Internal data indicated that turnover typically happened once an employee hit 18 – 24 months. While it’s always important, this reflected a critical time for managers to know what was going on with their teams. Who needed support? Who wasn’t being challenged enough? Who was showing a different pattern of behavior that might indicate a flight risk? That window, however, seems to be shrinking. According to recent research conducted by my friend and colleague, Shuba Gopal, the turnover period has constricted to 12 – 18 months. Further, a study by McKinsey indicates that 25% of those who left the “traditional” workforce and then returned, are likely to pursue a new position after just 3-6 months. One of the biggest reasons? Lack of career development. It’s not uncommon for managers, even the best-intentioned of them, to dismiss the need for one-to-one meetings or routinely not make the time for them. Yet this is a great way to not only offer your team support, but also to keep a pulse on where peoples’ heads are at. You can re-engage employees by checking in, openly discussing points of frustration, or offering opportunities for skill development. While it’s not a panacea, re-recruiting people and reminding them of why they joined the company in the first place, gives you a chance to fix what is fixable and ultimately reduce turnover. If you’re not sure where to start, here’s a simple exercise that may help you. Imagine that an employee gives you their notice. What is your reaction to this news? Your response above should help guide the type of conversation you may need to have with different people on your team now. Don’t wait for them to give their notice. For example if your response was a) above, your action is a) below. And so forth.: What do you do to re-recruit your team *Please be specific. People like to hear they “do a great job” but it’s not particularly helpful to them in understanding how they are contributing to the organization. Focus your comments on behaviors and the things you’d like to continue to see – their skill at working with irate clients, their track record developing their team, their deftness at navigating complex and challenging negotiations, etc.
8 Steps to Make Meetings Suck Less
“If you had to identify, in one word, the reason why the human race has not achieved, and never will achieve, its full potential, that word would be ‘meetings.” – Dave Barry, American Author If you’ve ever walked out of a meeting thinking to yourself, “That’s an hour of my life I’ll never get back.”, you’re not alone. Research from Steven Rogelberg at UNC Charlotte has shown that 50% of meetings are ineffective, and that number increases when we look at remote meetings. Talk about time wasters! Before we discuss best practices, remember there is a difference between efficient and effective. Your meeting may only be 20 minutes (efficient) but if there are no decisions made, next steps identified, or tasks assigned, it may not be effective. Adopt these habits to create and conduct more efficient and productive meetings. Purpose – Before you schedule anything, know the purpose of your meeting. What’s the goal? Can you articulate specific and anticipated outcomes for the meeting? If not, consider waiting to schedule it, or send an email instead. Create an Agenda (and Circulate It!) – Craft your agenda around your meeting purpose. This is your meeting GPS. Invest the time to think about: Attendees – Meetings are one place where “The more the merrier!” does not always apply. Too many people, or the wrong people in the meeting, only serve to create confusion, delay decisions, and waste time. Based on your purpose and your agenda, who needs to be in the meeting to help you achieve your outcomes? Others may need to be apprised of discussions or decisions, but they may not need to attend (and they’ll silently thank you for not including them.) Start and End on Time – This may sound obvious but how many meetings have you scrambled to get to on time only to be told “We’re just going to wait a few more minutes until more people show up.” Delaying the start time is disrespectful to those who made a point to be there on time. Similarly, end the meeting at the designated time. Everyone is back-to-back. If your meeting runs over, it creates a domino effect for other meetings, as well as more stress for attendees (this is where the agenda again comes in handy!) Starting and ending your meetings on time creates “certainty” for people, which can alleviate a threat response in the brain (thereby reducing stress!) Be Inclusive – Have you ever been to a meeting where one person holds court, and no one can get a word in edgewise? If yes, you know that meetings will be more productive, and people will be more engaged if they have a voice. Integrate practices that allow everyone to add their two cents. Remember that extroverts will have a lot to say without any prompting. Introverts often need time to digest information and form opinions, and you may need to draw them out. Finally, if one person is on Teams, consider having everyone on Teams to create a level playing field. There’s nothing like being the only one on video to create disengagement. Create Clear Roles and Responsibilities – You can greatly increase the effectiveness of your meeting by explicitly stating what’s expected in terms of participation. Is this a brainstorm where everyone can contribute? Are you sharing ideas for people to weigh in on? Have you made decisions that you want people to be aware of? Do you expect to share ideas and have others execute? Letting people know this at the start of the meeting eliminates confusion and can increase engagement. Clearly Define Next Steps and Accountability – You’ve invested the time and energy (yours and others’) to bring people together, don’t let it go to waste by not ensuring that someone has responsibility for the action items that came up in the meeting. Make sure everyone is clear about what needs to get done, by whom, and by when. Capture Notes and Circulate Them – Documenting what’s been discussed and decided in the meeting creates a record of what’s transpired. This is helpful for anyone who may have missed the meeting, and provides a reference if something doesn’t go to plan, there’s confusion about who owns which piece of a project, etc. And you don’t need to be the notetaker. Ask for a volunteer or make it a rotating assignment for standing meetings. Finally, a meeting hack from Stewart Butterfield, CEO of Slack: If you want to find out which of your regular meetings are mission-critical or fluff, cancel all of them and see what happens. And here are a few resources you may enjoy for holding better meetings. 6 Tips to Run an Effective Meeting, Backed by Science The Surprising Science Behind Successful Remote Meetings Sample meeting agendas