Teams we want

As leaders, we often find we do not have the teams we want. We are often thinking, “If only John did this,” or “I wish Jill would stop doing that;” “Janet does not have the X needed on a team at this level,” or “Jason really should not be on this team.”  Most leaders know their team has lots of room for improvement. We don’t have the team we want.

That is to say, we don’t have the team required to achieve the vision. This is even worse than not having the team we want—we don’t always get what we want but we should strive for what we need. If we do not have the team we need, we will not achieve our vision, and our leadership will come up short.

If we don’t have the teams we want or even the teams we need, what do we have?

We have the teams we earn.

This is a very hard truth. Want a better team? Be a better leader.

This might sound harsh yet those that follow stoicism love this hard truth. Epictetus taught us to divide what we control from what we don’t and to spend no time on what we don’t control. If the team I have is outside my control, I cannot worry about it. But if I have the team I earn, I have the power to improve it. And this is why TDL starts with the leader.

So why don’t we have better teams?

In most cases, it is because of fear—fear of conflict. I know of no healthy teams that do not have freedom around conflict. And it is not freedom from conflict, it is freedom to conflict.

We can disagree without being disagreeable. All of us is smarter than one of us and if we do not each share our differing beliefs we fall prey to groupthink— a sure recipe for disaster.

There is such a thing as positive conflict. Lincoln regularly listened to the conflicting, often mutually exclusive viewpoints from the rivals he put on his cabinet. He knew that by hearing all sides—vociferously argued—he could arrive at the best course of action.

Want a better team? Be a better leader.

Teaching positive conflict starts in the one-to-one conversations between team members. When we demonstrate a lack of fear around conflict in private conversations, encouraging challenges to our thinking, asking probing questions about positions, and even firmly and graciously challenging poor behavior, we demonstrate positive conflict. We can then encourage that same positive attitude toward conflict in our team meetings.

Does your team have healthy conflict? Do you hold team members accountable? Are you skirting conflict that would build a better team? Can you accept that some people are not meant for this bus? Can you make expectations clearer? What kind of team have YOU earned?

Great teams don’t just happen. They are purposefully crafted, cultivated, and nurtured.

They are earned.

To get the team you want—the team your organization needs, you must earn it. There will be conflict on the path between the team you have and the team you want. Transformative leaders embrace conflict—without the sand we’d have no pearl.

What kind of team have you earned? List three to five things you are unhappy with. What avoided conflict is keeping you from the team you want? Root it out—address it. Build the team you need.

When the team you earn is the team you want and need, achieving the vision is closer than ever.

You got this.