Martin Steih

You have to get your teams in order to make 's or , or any other framework work.

Often organizations think they can use a framework or management system that is currently regarded as "hot s**t" to make their organization work.

They do not account that all these frameworks require a foundation.

This foundation is a functional organizational culture or a highly functional . Without this, all frameworks feel more like one more impediment to work.

If, however, an organization gets its teams to work on the basis of vulnerability-based trust and a shared understanding of its top priorities, almost any of these frameworks works as a catalyst.

But only then.

If you want to know how to get highly functional teams up and running, just let me know.

"You become what you practice."
- Jordan Peterson -

This picture shows what I think makes a great team, a high-impact team.

Despite the way I illustrate it here, it's not that the various traits that lead to results are kind of "one after the other":
It's more like a flywheel where one component begets another while requiring it at the same time.

But there is one component without which you cannot build or maintain a team.

I bet you already guessed what it is:
Yeah, of course, it's
TRUST!

Let me elaborate a little bit on this:

By trust, I mean the certainty that no other team member will use anything you say, ask, or comment against you. Furthermore, it requires that every team member does everything she does in the TEAM's best interest, even if that means that her own agenda (if there's ever be one) takes a hit some time.

Trust in this way enables us to become vulnerable and open up in front of our peers willingly.

The caveat here: To build trust, you need first to be willing to make yourself vulnerable. It's a chicken and egg problem.

The good news is: Despite this seemingly gordian knot, it's not hard to build trust. The best way to start is to get to know each other personally and prove your intent in simple everyday life situations.

Contrary to what we may unconsciously believe, we don't gain trust in heroic, one-time actions. It's the simple things done with the right intention persistently.
Put simply: Be human, be open, be respectful, and care about others.

Here is what happens if you manage to do so:

1. Trust and the willingness to be vulnerable enable communication.

2. Communication enables shared understanding.

3. Shared understanding and trust, the way described above, enable genuine commitment (and increase trust).

4. Honest, wholehearted commitment, as well as trust and the willingness to make yourself vulnerable, make it possible to hold each other accountable to the committed to objectives BEFORE hitting the deadline. (And it begets trust).

5. Now you will inevitably get results and make an impact.

This is the exact environment you'll want to create and maintain an atmosphere of engagement, positive energy, and belonging.

In a larger sense, it's not only applicable to teams and organizations but to society as a whole.
In the end, they all consist of nothing more than human beings, a species that is hard-wired for connection.

Sounds cozy and touchy-feely? Well, it may SOUND like it would be, but in the end, it's not much more!

I was just confronted with a question that urged me to post this.

The question was:

"So if you have this system for building and maintaining high-impact teams, you just apply it, and they'll roll forever"?

The answer, of course, is NO! You don't. Applying it once won't do any good. It'll be forgotten as fast as anything else.

The system helps you tremendously, but the real key (as always) is EX*****ON.

The value is in the DOING. You need to persistently act on the system you have as a tool at your disposal.

As (I think it was Andy Grove) said:

"Ideas are easy; ex*****on is everything"

You won't get away without it here either, but if you do, the sky is the limit.

And further: You'll have so much fun in the process and will be able to see your entire organization strive.

Isn't that what mutual support often looks like all too often in reality. 🙁

Most team members sincerely want to make an impact and create something of value for others.

I think they deserve leaders who deeply care about them and create an environment they can do precisely that and strive.

Speaks for itself.

It would be so funny if it weren't found in our daily lives so often

why is common sense not always common practice?

It's the DOING, the persistent ex*****on of common sense that prevents it from being common practice.

Let's do the doing and see what's happening. 🔥

to make it easy, just do.it again. you may be l tomorrow, but not today.

then, repeat it tomorrow. But not until then 😉

Here is what a great team is going to do for you:

🔥It is one of the most powerful levers for outcome and impact

🔥People will feel more valuable and engaged

🔥People will have more fun and stay on longer

🔥Leadership will undoubtedly have less stress because the team only needs direction but no micro-management.

🔥The entire organization will gain a solid reputation for being a great employer.

-Teams -Team

As hard and horrific as the last two years have been globally, some organizations and teams have learned quite a bit about what they can accomplish if only they focus on working things out together.

I enjoyed observing a phenomenon I call "hackathonification" 😂 (It's a ridiculous name, I know).

But here is how it works:

During a hackathon, you work on a topic of your choice with a team you just built and the goal of winning a contest (most of the time). The timeframe is so tight that you cannot effort the time to plan everything in detail. Your team has to focus on the absolute bare necessities to showcase your idea and its value.

This environment naturally leads people to solely focussing on the result and to work things out to somehow get to their desired outcome fast.
Everyone shares ideas, comments straight on others' ideas, decides, and get it done.

This is exactly what happened in so many organizations during the last two years because of covid and all its trouble.
And it worked. 💪🏽

I sincerely wish that we all learn from it and keep the spirit up even if covid it is over.

Boy, what could we accomplish!

It's frustrating but common.

So many teams and people alike talk about committing to some outcome, result, or anything. When I ask what they mean by "commitment" and how that commitment came about, the answer - in essence - is virtually always the same:

We argued about what to do and even got at our throats about it. Then our boss stepped in and decided what we would do.

Sounds innocent enough.

But it often isn't! And it certainly is no commitment at all.

The problem is not so much the process (which is actually ok), but the details of the argument, discussion, or healthy conflict before the decision. Here is where the foundation to real commitment is being laid. Or not.

The key is as simple as it is challenging:

Everyone has to be LISTENED to. Every team member needs the feeling that her point was understood and considered seriously.
If you do 1., you automatically get to the second key: Understanding. Everyone has to understand the rationale behind everyone else's point to make a sound decision.
If you only focus on these two keys within the time of a debate or discussion, you will be able to reach real commitment even if not everyone is delighted by what "the boss" finally decides.