How Do You Build A Great Team?
Warwick Fairfax
May 24, 2024
We recently had a Beyond the Crucible team meeting in Savannah, Georgia. It was one of, if not the most, productive team meetings we have had.
Our mission was to chart the future course of Beyond the Crucible for the next 12 to 18 months. Why was that team meeting so productive? How do you assemble a great team and provide an environment to maximize collaboration, effectiveness and trust? As I reflected on these questions, I came away with some thoughts.
Just so you know who is in the photo, from left to right we have Margaret Hibbard, the Operations Manager at Beyond The Crucible; me, Warwick Fairfax, the Founder of Beyond The Crucible; Cheryl Farr, Founder and Chief Strategist at Signal Brand Innovation; and Gary Schneeberger, President of ROAR.
Here are some keys to assembling a great team:
1. Pick the right individual team members. Seems obvious, but it is not always easy to do. You need team members with diverse skills who realize what their talents are and, as importantly, realize what their talents are not. Each team member knows their lane, but importantly are willing to help other team members and receive help from their teammates.
2. Choose team members who are secure within themselves. They are driven and have a desire to achieve, but they don’t need to dominate and prove they are better than other team members. They are comfortable with who they are and not threatened by who their teammates are.
3. Have team members who are respectful. This is critical. Each team member must respect the value and contribution of other team members. They also don’t feel the need to “win” every discussion of every new initiative.
4. Team members must be authentic and humble. Character matters. People of character, I believe, are humble and don’t need to put on a mask. They are authentic and don’t have hidden agendas.
5. Each individual team member must be 100 percent committed to the vision of the organization. In the case of Beyond the Crucible, we believe you are not defined by your worst day. That you can bounce forward to a joy-filled and fulfilling life that we call a life of significance, a life on purpose dedicated to serving others. Our team is 100 percent committed to that vision and believe it is as much their vision as my vision as the founder of Beyond The Crucible. You need to create an environment team members feel is a safe place. They feel they can be heard and be vulnerable, that their opinion matters. That does not mean that each opinion on each issue will be the opinion that “wins,” so to speak; but they will feel that individually and collectively they are helping to shape the future direction of the organization. How do you create this environment of safety and vulnerability? That is largely up to the leader, who needs to choose team members who will help create such an environment. The leader needs to model vulnerability and go out of their way to make individual team members feel heard.
6. Team members need to have differences, such as in temperament, personality and experience. As one longtime leader has put it, “I don’t need two me’s on my team.”
7. Team members must genuinely care for each other. They must show kindness and a willingness to know how each person is doing. You can’t manufacture this. It has to be genuine. Often in break times, during meals, there will be occasions where team members will ask how family members are doing and show by their ability to listen and ask questions that they care about the whole person.
As I came away from our team meeting in Savannah, I was incredibly grateful. This was a team of motivated individuals who cared as passionately about the mission of Beyond the Crucible as I did. They knew who they were, what their skills were and what they were not. They were respectful of each other and did not need to dominate. They were humble and authentic.
We had rich and amazing discussions that really moved the Beyond the Crucible conversation forward. But yet in the down times in meals between meetings, we also had rich and vulnerable conversations about our lives and families. Team members such as this in an environment that feels safe, secure and empowering can enable great things to get done.
Having a great team and a great team meeting is not easy, but it is possible. It starts with having the right team members and it requires the leader of the team to help foster an environment of respect, vulnerability and compassion. When people feel they matter and that they are critical to the mission of the organization, they know they are far more than cogs in a machine and wonderful things can happen. When you put people first and respect them, it unleashes an energy and power that can accomplish great things.
Reflection
– Do I have the right team? Team members with different skills who know who they are and respect each other? If not, what would be the first step to finding team members who are qualified and respectful of each other?
– How can I model as a team leader, the kind of behavior I am looking for in the team? Perhaps I can show vulnerability and go out of my way to show the individual team members that their opinion and contribution matter.
– How can I show the team that the vision and mission of the organization is not just my vision and mission but theirs, too? Perhaps I can ask team members what they think of the vision and mission of the organization. Why does it matter? Who does the organization help and serve? How can we take the organization to the next level to care for and benefit even more people?
Are you ready to move from trials to triumphs? Then join us on the journey today. Take our free Beyond the Crucible Trials-to-Triumphs Self-Assessment.
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