People Strategies: Team's value determined by participants' talents, visions

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Linda Bower is a speaker, executive coach and human performance improvement consultant in Rogersville. |ret||ret||tab|

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Think of a light bulb. The bulb is the form; the light is the essence. Teams have form and essence, too. |ret||ret||tab|

Unfortunately, traditional team strategies usually focus only on issues of form, such as structures, roles, procedures and rules. A team's essence is determined by its purpose, values, talents and visions. To ignore a team's essence is like installing a light bulb without ever turning it on. How productive is that?|ret||ret||tab|

If your team's light is dim (or off!), consider the following factors that determine your team's focus on issues of essence.|ret||ret||tab|

Risk: Risk implies pushing one's self or one's ideals with the possibility of loss. It is more comfortable to avoid risk, but to do so changes how the team operates and could limit its effectiveness. Does your team create the opportunity for risks by what it says, how information is acted on, or how a minority opinion is supported? Or does it tend to avoid risk in order to maintain comfort?|ret||ret||tab|

Energy: Teams can focus their energy on "not failing." The team learns to stay within preset boundaries and does only what is expected. There is predictably an absence of breakthrough thinking. A team that focuses energy on succeeding has learned to test and break boundaries. Breakthroughs occur and new incremental ways to approach the many challenges are created. How creative is your team?|ret||ret||tab|

Vision: Most teams focus on the use of an agenda in allocating meeting time. The questions are: What is the context for the agenda? Is it current circumstances or future opportunities? How balanced is your team focus?|ret||ret||tab|

Meetings: Meeting time is often used to report or inform rather than strategically apply the team's talents to where it wants to go. Is the agenda a series of informational reports to be shared and discussed, or is there also a dynamic process orientation that involves all members of the team? Is the purpose of the meeting to make reports, or is there a process for problem/opportunity thinking?|ret||ret||tab|

Purpose: Does the team simply provide a way for individuals to sponsor their points of view, or does the team go beyond individual agendas and align on the team's purpose, why it exists and who it serves?|ret||ret||tab|

Power: Is there the presence of power formal or implied that influences what is said, how decisions are made and how risks are taken? Or has power been checked at the door, allowing everyone the opportunity for input, risk and making decisions?|ret||ret||tab|

Communication: Power often influences how we communicate. Too often the real communication occurs in the halls during breaks, when people express what really should be said in a meeting. Discussion during team meetings is merely polite conversation. This occurs when certain topics cannot be talked about, said or shared. Dialogue is the willingness to risk truth-telling, to put in front of the group what really is occurring or what is getting in the way. What does your group practice?|ret||ret||tab|

Learning culture: Is the team an expression of what we "know" and our personal positions, or is the team a place where new forms of "learning" are occurring: testing assumptions, sharing ideas, sponsoring other people's ideas and trying new things? Knowledge implies sharing what we know. Learning is exploring what we don't know. |ret||ret||tab|

Talent expression: Using the full range of talents is a contributing factor to the success of a team. Do team members know what their individual talents are? Are the talents of the group being identified and fully expressed? Does your role on the team stem from your job title or from your ability to express and use your talents?|ret||ret||tab|

Outcomes of this profile include identifying where the team is doing well, where the team is experiencing the greatest degree of difference in perceptions, and how the team applies time and energy to the "gaps."|ret||ret||tab|

Many teams require a professional facilitator to get through a discussion about these characteristics. The Inventure Group and Wilson Learning Worldwide use this material frequently to get teams unstuck. They begin with a version of the above profile, and proceed with a workshop for a team to learn how to balance form and essence. |ret||ret||tab|

If you take action on your own, don't get discouraged. These are easy concepts for teams to understand, but very difficult to do to everyone's satisfaction. It is the journey that matters.|ret||ret||tab|

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