You’ve experienced it before, you go to a strategic offsite, maybe do a SWOT analysis and some visioning exercise. Then you update your strategy or business direction and maybe even create team norms for how you need to act differently as a team, but when you return to the office, someone falls back to bad behaviors and the team doesn’t hold them accountable…A few members start venting over lunch/drinks and then someone decides enough is enough and they decide to tell the leader. The leader then becomes the grade school teacher trying to figure out whose story is right and how to correct the situation… Thus begins the downward spiral of negativity that causes some variation of the US vs. THEM mentality and the beginnings of a Villainous Culture.
Take-Away:
Most teams say they want to work better together, but when they tolerate bad behavior, their diversity works to push them apart rather than mesh them together and the status quo remains!
Hero Tip:
If you want to shift from a average team to a Hero team, you need to establish team accountability!
You must create clarity and set expectations in advance for how the team (not the leader) is going to handle accountability when someone or a group breaks the agreements, because trying to figure it out in the ‘moment of truth’ is bound to create unintended consequences.
Here’s the question you can ask to help avoid a team accountability tsunami…
Question:
How do we want to address it when it appears someone is not living into the team agreements?
-Then ask for a couple scenarios that might elicit a deviation from the agreement and see how the team addresses them (before they actually happen…)
Allow your team members to partner up and discuss possible scenarios that might occur before you just assume the team is aligned… (some members of the team are probably more comfortable talking with one person rather than discussing their thoughts to the entire group)
If you are looking for a boost of motivation… Let’s talk about bringing you or your team back to HERO status!
Heroically,
Hahndo
Michael Hahn is a leadership speaker, mindset coach and culture transformation expert who consults with leaders who wan to unleash their inner hero! He is the author of Hero Habits: The Guide to Thriving in Corporate America and in Life.
Want to BE the HERO?
Need a leadership speaker? Check out Michael’s interactive presentations at MichaelHahnSpeaker.com
