What Could Be Costing Your Company The Most?

Aaron sat pondering over whether he should tell the team or let it go. He was pretty sure nothing was going to be affected by his mistake. And why open a can of worms and get everyone distracted. The deadline was fast approaching and the client was not going to accept a late delivery. Besides, Bob would surely have a field day with it and Aaron just wasn’t up for more of his drama.

What do you think your team members would do?

When team members don’t trust each other, they hide mistakes and weaknesses from each other. They hesitate to ask for help and they don’t offer to help other people outside of their own area. Lack of trust costs the company dearly.

Teams are grounded in trust. Without trust, there will be inefficiencies and ineffectiveness, often too difficult to source and measure. Leaders end up working on the wrong issues because they haven’t taken the time to see what the root cause is.

If you’re noticing people in your company or department or on your team not reaching out and giving each other feedback, avoiding having difficult conversations, hiding mistakes, not asking for help, running to you (the leader) tattling on other team members - you most likely have a trust issue.

Trust isn’t created overnight. It takes mindful leadership, patience and time.

What can you start doing right away to combat this? Here are five great tips that can be implemented immediately:

1. Reward people for talking about mistakes. Yep, praise them for it. Thank them for bringing it up.

2. Stop triangulated conversations. Do not participate. Help the person who is coming to you to find their voice. This is the best way you can empower your team members.

3. Be the example. Give positive and constructive feedback. Be direct and kind. Don’t mask it in sarcasm. Don’t text it or email it when it’s sensitive and you want it to make an impact.

4. Set the expectation that each team member will engage in conflict. Tell everyone you expect to see it. Be clear on what productive conflict looks like; show them examples. Also discuss what harmful conflict looks like and what will not tolerated.

5. Set collective goals with group rewards. Most organizations reward individually. This causes people to work against each other. If you want people working effectively together, give them a common vision, goal and reward.

These 5 are a great start. If you commit to this, it’s guaranteed to enhance your team, decrease your stress, and improve your company’s bottom line.

I'd love to hear what you're doing, and if you have questions, feel free to email me at Laurie@UnlimitedCoaching.com and/or share here so others can benefit as well.

Is Your Team Having Trust Issues?

Are people hiding mistakes? Are they making things more difficult than they have to be?  Are You the One Always Taking Care of the People Issues? 

It might be time for a Team Retreat!  That’s right, retreat means to pull back, get aligned, and then rock n roll!

Like our cars and our machinery need alignments and maintenance, so do our people. We can’t expect to put a group of people together and just have them automatically work effectively together and produce the greatest results.

And sometimes, it’s best to get outside help for this one. Give me a shout (or just click here to email me)- I’m happy to help you determine if a team retreat is what you need.   * Retreats held in September and October, participants receive the Get Your GRIT Together Planner for FREE!