In this episode I want to talk to you about teamwork, how you can get the best out of your teams, how you can grow your teams and have them performing at their best. This episode is brought to you by my Goal Setting Guide, it is a FREE guide that you can download. The link is at the end of this blog. It is going to help you refine your goals and set them in such a way that they will be achievable and you will actually see success.

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Today I was watching my daughter play touch rugby and I have just been pondering the whole idea of teamwork; one because I am watching a team sport but also in my own organization I am grappling with growing teams and getting teams to work more cohesively because we are growing at a pace that is faster than our teams can develop. These are some of the things that I am really pondering at the moment, so I want to just give you four things that I am identifying in teamwork that really needs to happen.

1. Identify a leader for the team

The first thing is this, you need to make sure that you identify a leader for the team. So you are the leader, you might be the point leader or the main leader but make sure your teams have somebody that has a level of responsibility and ownership of the team that can help to direct, help reinforce your instructions,help to recruit and help to keep culture. This person needs to be somebody that you can trust to keep that culture and keep the team moving forward. You need clear leadership in your team and it cannot be you, you have to try and extract yourself from that team, especially if you are managing multiple teams. You need to be able to step back so you can view all of those teams and not be too stuck in the weeds with each individual team, therefore, you need a leader. 

Once you have picked your leader, train them and show them what you expect, keep retraining them, re-have conversations with them to make sure that they are sticking to the culture that you want for them but have a clear direction.

2. Give everybody a role in the team

Second thing is this, give everybody a role in the team. There is nothing worse than a team that does not know what they are meant to be doing. In any team sport, everybody has a role to play. They all play a different part but every part is essential and it is essential that in your organization or your business that every person knows their role and that they are not competing against each other for the same thing or they are not all trying to do the same thing. Everyone has to have a clear perspective of where they sit in the organization and in the team.

Try also to allocate roles according to people’s giftings and skill- set. You will find that in your team different people will have different skill sets and you are always going to get the best out of your team if you can allocate them roles that fit within their skill set. If somebody is not administrative or organized do not put them in charge of organizing the team or administrating the team, that is just stupid. Choose somebody who is really good at organizing and administration. It does not mean they have to be the leader, they can be somebody else in the team because sometimes our leaders are not necessarily our organizers.

Sometimes people who are good at pastoral care and encouraging the team, are not necessarily good administrators and so you have got to find the people who are right for each role and put them in those positions, even if they are not the leader, they have to have a very clear part to play.

3. Ensure that everybody is pulling their weight

The third thing is this, make sure that you are ensuring that everybody is pulling their weight. So talk to your team leader regularly but also check in with them to make sure that everybody is contributing. There is nothing more frustrating than members of the team that do not pull their own weight. You are going to need to address this quickly if it is against your culture or if they are poisoning the team. You need to be able to deal with it quickly so that it does not turn into a cancer that makes the team less effective over the long term. So make sure that you are getting people to pull their weight.

4.  Take on a coaching role rather than a teaching role

The fourth thing I would say is, as far as your role is concerned, take on a coaching role rather than a teaching role with your team. When you are with your team or when you are with your team leader, ask more questions and then give instructions. Do not just tell them what to do if you are training. You must initially tell them what to do and give them explicit instructions but if you are reviewing their performance, if you are just checking in with them, then ask questions to help them identify what they need to be changing and what they need to be doing.

People will always own change better if they feel like they have self-identified the need for change and so by asking questions you actually lead them towards self-identifying the change rather than you telling them or instructing them because they are less likely to adopt that change. These are  four keys that I think will really help you with getting cohesive teamwork. 

To recap, make sure each team has a leader, somebody that you can rely on to communicate culture and keep direction. Make sure everyone in the team has a role and help them identify a role in keeping with their skill and their gifting, make sure everyone is pulling their weight. Make sure that you have not got people that are poisoning the culture or causing disruption and conflict in the team. Lastly, act as a coach with your team not as an instructor. Let your team leader be the instructor, let them train but you be a coach; ask questions, help them to self-identify their opportunities for change and for growth and they will tend to be more willing to do that. 

If you would like to dig deeper into this and other topics on leadership, why don’t you check out my course, Leading for Success. I take a deep dive into the seven essential keys on leading well and you can get the link below. This is going to be really helpful to any leaders who are looking to level up and learn the fundamentals of their leadership. Do not forget my goal setting guide for success is also available below. 

If you would like to learn more about effectively growing in your leadership, why not check out our FREE Goal setting guide. See below for details.

5 Steps to Set Goals that Work https://leadcommunicategrow.com/free-goal-setting-guide/

Online Leadership Course: https://calmer-classrooms.thinkific.com/courses/leading-for-success