What’s the one thing all superheroes seem to have in common? They go from being average, vulnerable, and maybe even a little nerdy, to being superheroes in a matter of seconds. The next time you need to make a quick change in your team, wouldn’t it be great if you could step into a phone booth and step out a few minutes later with everything in place? Or, start getting better results in minutes or days instead of months? I’ve asked the Superheroes of Change Management and they weighed in quickly before dashing away.
5 Things You Can Do Right Now to Make a Quick Change in Your Team
- What’s our why? When starting up a new team or launching a project, the first question that needs to be resolved for people, even if it’s not being asked, is about the purpose of this team. What’s the vision, where are we going, why am I here, and who is coming along on this ride? It takes 5-15 minutes to start this conversation.
- Tell them what you know and admit what you don’t know. When it comes to purpose and vision for a new or changing team, share as much as you know and don’t fake what you don’t know. Even if you aren’t sure yourself where you are going, anything you can share with the team can help. That includes saying: I don’t know – yet, but we will figure it out together. This goes a long way toward people avoiding the common human cryptonite: fear and uncertainty.
- Who are you people, anyway? Let’s say have an idea of vision and purpose. The next thing people need to move forward as a team is trust in their team mates. Most people come into a new team assuming good intent which is great. But, what they really need involves getting to know the people around them and seeing them in action so they can start to develop mutual regard and a sense of reliability from their peers. In a skillfully facilitated workshop, this starts to happen within the first two hours in many cases.
- It’s okay to be yourself in this team. Getting to know people can be a slow process but the good news is, it can also be accelerated. In a high trust environment, people know “it is okay to be me” in this team. Using simple, facilitated, processes can help people recognize the varying communication styles and preferences of others and see them as the attributes they are, rather than just differences that drive us crazy. Insights Discovery is one of the best and quickest ways to grease the skids of a team, it takes less than a day, and the results live on for years.
- Many leaders leave this to chance and hope it happens anyway. One of the simplest things you can do when starting up a new team is to listen. Get the team’s ideas. Ask what works well for them and what doesn’t? Find out the best way to reach them. Is it via text message or email? Do they like quiet time or need to be in the thick of things? Then sit back and listen without your iPhone in your hand and take it all in.
Try the top 5 and watch as your peers look at each other in awe, asking: was that who I think it was?
What’s one thing you could do right now to make change in your team?