Team Effectiveness Starts With You Being an Effective Team Member

It starts with YOU! (video transcript)

There’s an old cliche that there’s no ‘I’ in team. Well I’m here to tell you there is a you in team!

Here’s the five things you can do to make your team more effective.

1. Start with a positive assumption

Number one, you’ve got to start with a positive assumption, and we don’t do that. Think of a time when that little email alert has flashed up in the bottom of your computer screen, it only takes five or six words if it’s from someone you don’t like or you don’t respect before your back is up and you get all defensive.

Ironically, if you got that exact same email from somebody you do like, you probably could have got good value out of it. Whatever that baggage is, it’s time to unpack it. You’ve got to start with a positive assumption.

2. Add your full value

Number two, you’ve got to add your full value. We all show up that way on our first day of work, but somehow over time, we take our foot off the gas, or maybe we just give up. You can’t do that. And you also can’t just live by the words on your job description. You’ve got to add more than your technical value.

You’ve got to bring all of yourself: your past experience, your knowledge, maybe even your personality, your style. Maybe you’re really detail-oriented or maybe you understand the customer better than anyone else.

You’ve got to bring all of that to your team. Add your full value.

3. Amplify other voices

Number three, you’ve got to amplify other voices. Teams get thrown together for all sorts of reasons. What tends to happen is you end up with a majority and then also a minority and those minority voices tend to get drowned out. You can’t let that happen.

You’ve got to lend them your credibility, your voice, maybe even your spot on the agenda. You need to make sure that you amplify other voices.

4. Know when to say no

Number four, you’ve got to know when to say no. From the time we’re just little, we learn a good team player says yes, but sometimes that’s not the case. There’s too many priorities and too little alignment on today’s teams.

You’ve got to figure out what you need to say no to. Know when to say no.

5. Embrace productive conflict

Number five, probably the hardest, you’ve got to embrace productive conflict. I know, conflict when it’s personal or has an agenda feels terrible, but conflict that’s focused on the business issue, that’s what drives innovation and that’s what helps us to manage risk.

Conflict is absolutely essential to a healthy team. And so you’ve got to embrace productive conflict.

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So maybe there’s no ‘I’ in team, but there is a you in team.