5 Warning Signs of Trouble in the Midst of Change

Posted by & filed under Accountability, Change Management, Communicating To Manage Performance.

EDS_4_24_16v3All leaders should watch for the warning signs of trouble in the midst of change as they are easy to spot if you are paying attention. Each person affected by change should also pay attention to personal warning signs that you are having difficulty with change. It is sure a sure path to finding trouble.

Understanding the warning signs of trouble in the midst of change is critical to success. If we fail to recognize and respond to them, we will experience the consequences. In today’s business environment, helping employees to embrace change is becoming a critical factor of success. Building trust can be challenging because it requires time to develop and constant change often erodes the ability to build trust. This process is part of Communicating to Manage Change.

Some people do not easily handle change which causes additional challenges for leadership. It is important to recognize warning signs that indicate problems with building trust and embracing change. Whether you are in leadership or the one impacted by change, you should know the warning signs of trouble. They may be subtle, but indicate potential problems.

Here are some warning signs of trouble in the midst of change:

  • Personal Resistance – An initial sign of trouble often starts start with a sense of personal resistance. It is the sick feeling in the pit of the stomach or some similar physical reaction when one first hears change is on the way.
  • Anger – Personal resistance may be followed by anger. This is often referred to as the first step in the grief process (Anger; Denial; Bargaining; Depression; Acceptance- If you find yourself in this cycle, it would be a good time to seek help.) Anger is a strong emotion with many underlying causes. It should not be left unaddressed.
  • Quietness – A common reaction is quietness. It is a sign of caution and withdrawal. It is also a sign of disengagement that leads to lower buy-in and productivity when it extends over time. A further danger sign following quietness is a failure to seek understanding and ramifications of the coming change due to personal withdrawal.
  • Resentment – As time passes, many people may experience resentment. Resentment always has a target in the organization. The target could be a person, or an idea. It can also lead to bitterness or passive-aggressive tendencies that erode trust. It is not always visible to the target and may be subconscious.
  • Multiple Questions – If change does not make sense, some people begin asking multiple questions. This can be due to one’s desire to better understand the reasons for change or simply to reconcile inconsistencies not addressed in the explanation. The questions may take the form of gossip and speculation. This often results is alliances or coalitions organized against the change leaders or the change itself.

Each of these feelings and behaviors are warning signs of trouble and become a distraction if not actively addressed. Early intervention is critical. Awareness of a problem is the first step to addressing it. An often improper approach by leadership is the belief that, ’They will get over it.’, and, yes they may, but not without a cost.

Leaders with the most impact are those who can build and successfully manage great teams. Every day, we help our clients and colleagues achieve their highest levels of professional presence and personal effectiveness. That includes everyone on the ladder, from company presidents to project managers, to staff members. Contact us at 800-282-3374 to find out how we can help you impact your own productivity and the productivity of your entire organization.

Employee Development Systems delivers results-oriented training programs that increase productivity, effectiveness, & performance.

 

4 Ways to Consider the Value of Difficult People

Posted by & filed under Actively Engaged Workers, Career Development, Employee Development, increasing personal effectiveness.

4 Ways to Consider the Value of Difficult PeopleConsider the value of difficult people when you adjust your personal perspective toward them. In an ideal world, you always get to pick ideal candidates when building your team. In the real world, this is not the case. Rather, you either inherit your team, or discover the reality after they come on board. You get the good, the not so good, and the downright undesirables. Your ability to lead and work with your undesirables often starts with your ability to consider the value of difficult people.

Learn about the Increasing Personal Effectiveness Program

In reality, most of us do not get to choose with whom we must work. Rather than making the best of a bad situation, take steps to turn it into a great situation. It is often said “you have to get the right people on the bus” although the second part of that quote is seldom also said, “you have to get them on the right seat”. It is a great principle.

Ideally, you get to drive your bus and monitor it at the same time. You control the door and carefully control whom you allow on your bus and where your riders get to sit. You get to stop and let people off your bus at locations that are convenient to you. Many problems can simply be solved by adding, shifting, or dismissing the people you invite on your bus. The theory is perfect, the application is difficult.

At some point; policies, protocol, budgets, contracts, culture, projects, and superiors all seem to get a say in who gets a seat on your bus. You might find yourself in a bad situation where you simply have to make the best of a bad situation. Many leaders and non-leaders find themselves stuck working with people they would rather see disappear. Your first preference may be to see the wrong people go away, but is it always the most beneficial?

Here are four ways to consider the value of difficult people:

  • For Building Your Own Character: The first reason is personal. Sometimes it takes a character to build character. Many careers are cut short because of one’s inability to deal with difficult people. If you cannot figure out a proper response and reflect it in your good character, you may be the one management views as the problem. Building personal character is a life-long process, so you should start today.
  • To Create Opportunity: While others may be gossiping or criticizing the difficult person, your ability to rise above the fray can create an opportunity for you. Become the person who solves problems despite obvious challenges. You may not just help find the solution, but also grow your positive reputation.
  • To Grow and Learn: While never easy, dealing with difficult people will provide you plenty of learning opportunities. You should be able to leverage your personal growth and expand your influence. View difficult people as an opportunity to stretch into new areas of learning.
  • Invest Yourself: We like to think everyone is redeemable, even though not everyone may support the idea. Once people get the label of being a miserable person, it is difficult for them to shake it. People will give up on them limiting their opportunities. This becomes your opportunity to help them, despite their behavior. They may not appreciate it, but even a word of support while they are absent can improve other people’s attitude toward them.
  • Definitely, Avoid Keeping Score: Even though you go out of your way to help someone, do not keep score. Let your help be unconditional so they do not become a further distraction to you. Keeping score creates realized and unrealized expectations that the difficult person may have no intention of repaying. Setting expectations give them power you do not want them to have. Give freely and avoid worrying about results.

Leaders with the most impact are those who can build and successfully manage great teams. Every day, we help our clients and colleagues achieve their highest levels of professional presence and personal effectiveness. That includes everyone on the ladder, from company presidents to project managers, to staff members. Contact us at 800-282-3374 to find out how we can help you impact your own productivity and the productivity of your entire organization.

Employee Development Systems delivers results-oriented training programs that increase productivity, effectiveness, & performance.

Jump on the ‘Creative Workplace Wagon’

Posted by & filed under career development leadership development, Communicating To Manage Performance, Employee Development, innovation.

Advantages Of A Creative Workplace EnvironmentWe talk about “creativity” in business as thought it’s just a buzzword. In reality, bringing a bit of creativity into the mix can be the secret to success. You may think that in order to be taken seriously as a business you need to do everything with a straight face,  bust Generation X, Generation Y, and the Millennials value the power of bringing a bit of color into the office. Creativity in your business:

  • Keeps you switched on – Getting creative may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but it’s something we should all find time to do. Taking a few minutes a day or a week from your desk to create a mind map of ideas can help boost your brain power; keeping you sharp. Push yourself to consider new and innovative solutions to your same old work challenges.

Being creative makes you happier. Happy employees mean better success!

  • Allows for new ideas – New ideas can come from anywhere at any time. That ‘eureka’ moment is often not as a result of hard thought and pondering, but a stroke of luck from other more interesting tasks.

Taking a step back from something and looking at it in a new, creative way can help lead to new ideas; creativity is all about making connections.  Use this connective thinking to come up with new ideas from the old and see what success may befall from it.

  • Makes things more fun – Getting creative is guaranteed to make things more fun! The standard 9-5 routine can become mundane and routine.  Mixing it up can improve staff morale and foster creative problem solving. Being creative doesn’t always have to be work-related.

Giving that positive and fun association with the workplace is much more likely to result in better employee well-being and retention. Bring something into the office that gets people engaging in a fun and creative way; a great way to get to know colleagues as well.

  • Shows that you’re different – Employer branding is all the rage; with 56% of talent acquisition leaders saying that employer brand is one of the top priorities for their organization. Top employers such as Google and Facebook are giving their employees more space to be creative or break away from traditional working environments. Use this trend and take creativity to a new level to make yourself an employer on the path to success.

Creativity is your friend – don’t see it as a distraction but embrace it to ultimately keep focus. Use it to drive innovation and idea generation, create a more fun and engaging environment. Use it as a tool to attract the next generation of employees.

Your communication skills are your power. Practice your communication skills to take your work and life to the next level!

Leaders with the most impact are those who can build and successfully manage great teams. Every day, we help our clients and colleagues achieve their highest levels of professional presence and personal effectiveness. That includes everyone on the ladder, from company presidents to project managers, to staff members. Contact us at 800-282-3374 to find out how we can help you impact your own productivity and the productivity of your entire organization.

Employee Development Systems delivers results-oriented training programs that increase productivity, effectiveness, & performance.

How to Benefit from the 9 Laws of Communication

Posted by & filed under Communication, increasing personal effectiveness.

9 Laws of Effective Communication SkillsYour communication skills are the key to your success in all spheres of life.  You might have brilliant ideas but if you can’t communicate effectively, you’ll never realize your potential. You need to be able to tell and sell your ideas, bring people along, connect with others, and communicate in a way that creates trust and rapport. There are 9 fundamental laws of communication you can use to dramatically improve your communication skills.

Here is a list of the 9 Laws of Effective Communication Skills, and what effective communication skills look like, compared to  their ineffective counterparts.

  1. The Law of Trust vs. Distrust
    • Trust – The organization fosters trust or the communicator takes steps to build trust or transfer trust.
    • Distrust – The communicator or organization creates distrust.
  1. The Law of Collaboration vs. Monologue
    • Collaboration- Communicators find shared values and goals. They collaborate on challenges and outcomes, and build bridges to close the gaps in misunderstandings.
    • Monologue- What the communicator assumes as obvious is not. All communication is one-directional.
  1. The Law of Simplicity vs. Complexity
    • Simplicity – Clear language sharpens focus and drives action.
    • Complexity – Complex language obscures ideas and priorities.
  1. The Law of Tact vs. Insensitivity
    • Tact – Persuasive people use precise, powerful, yet tactful phrasing.
    • Insensitivity – Careless, insensitive “hot” words offend and sidetrack people from the primary message.
  1. The Law of Potential vs. Achievement
    • Potential – People are willing to risk/pay more for potential than past performance.
    • Achievement – People undervalue performance and are less persuaded by the past than expectations and hope for future possibilities.
  1. The Law of Distinction vs. Dilution
    • Distinction – A focus on the core distinctive advantage, qualifications, or credentials (or penalties) produces high impact. A focus on “the few” actually adds, rather than subtracts attention.
    • Dilution – A long list of advantages, qualifications or credentials looks impressive; communicators often follow the more-is-better rule, thereby weakening impact.
  1. The Law of Specificity vs. Generalization
    • Specificity – To be meaningful and memorable, information has to be specific, relevant, interpreted, and structured to fit the audience, situation, and purpose.
    • Generalization – Generic information does not make a strong impression and is easily forgotten.
  1. The Law of Emotion vs. Logic
    • Emotion- An emotional appeal persuades.
    • Logic – A logical case informs—but rarely motivates.
  1. The Law of Perspective vs. Distortion
    • Perspective – Empathy, silence, understanding different points of view and cultures, and reading between the lines about what is not said often reveals the real message and produces the best outcome for negotiators.
    • Distortion – Hearing only what is said leaves many gaps in one’s understanding.

Your communication skills are your power. Practice your communication skills to take your work and life to the next level!

Leaders with the most impact are those who can build and successfully manage great teams. Every day, we help our clients and colleagues achieve their highest levels of professional presence and personal effectiveness. That includes everyone on the ladder, from company presidents to project managers, to staff members. Contact us at 800-282-3374 to find out how we can help you impact your own productivity and the productivity of your entire organization.

Employee Development Systems delivers results-oriented training programs that increase productivity, effectiveness, & performance.

 

Learn Conflict Types to Transform Your Workplace Today

Posted by & filed under Communicating To Manage Performance, Conflict, Conflict Resolution.

Understanding Conflict In The Workplace & How To ReactOur goal is to give you the tools to understand conflict and empower you to make more effective choices when you when you encounter or witness conflict. Conflict can come from a variety of sources:

  • Goals – Conflict can happen as a result of colliding goals or priorities.  It can also happen when there is a lack of shared goals.
  • Personality conflicts – Personality conflicts are a common cause of conflict.  Sometimes there is no chemistry, or you haven’t figured out an effective way to relate to somebody.
  • Scarce resources – Conflict can happen when you’re competing over meager resources.
  • Styles – People have different styles. Your thinking and/or communication style might conflict with somebody else’s thinking and/or communication style.  The good news is that conflicts in styles are easy to adapt to once you know how.
  • Values – Sometimes you will find conflict in values. The challenge here is that values are core.  Adapting with styles is one thing, but dealing with conflicting core values is another. It is very possible that a particular business, group, or culture may not be a good fit for you.

By embracing conflict as a part of life, you can make the most of each situation and make use of it as a learning or leadership opportunity. You can also use it as an opportunity to transform a situation into something better.

The model organizes 5 conflict management styles based on two dimensions: assertiveness and cooperativeness. Here are the five conflict management styles according to Kenneth W. Thomas and Ralph H. Kilmann:

  1. Accommodating – This is when you cooperate to a high-degree, although it may be at your own expense, and actually work against your own goals, objectives, and desired outcomes. This approach is effective when the other party is the expert or has a better solution. It can also be effective for preserving future relations with the other party.
  2. Avoiding – This is when you simply avoid the issue. You aren’t helping the other party reach their goals, and you aren’t assertively pursuing your own. This works when the issue is trivial or when you have no chance of winning.  It can also be effective when the issue would be very costly. It’s also very effective when the atmosphere is emotionally charged and you need to create some space. Sometimes issues will resolve themselves, but “hope is not a strategy”, and, in general, avoiding is not a good long term strategy.
  3. Collaborating – This is where you partner or pair up with the other party to achieve both of your goals.  This is how you break free of the “win-lose” paradigm and seek the “win-win.”  This can be effective for complex scenarios where you need to find a novel solution. This can also mean re-framing the challenge to create a bigger space and room for everybody’s ideas. The downside is that it requires a high-degree of trust and reaching a consensus can require a lot of time and effort to get everybody on board and to synthesize all the ideas.
  4. Competing – This is the “win-lose” approach. You act in a very assertive way to achieve your goals, without seeking to cooperate with the other party, and it may be at the expense of the other party. This approach may be appropriate for emergencies when time is of the essence, or when you need quick, decisive action, and people are aware of and support the approach.
  5. Compromising – This is the “lose-lose” scenario where neither party really achieves what they want. This requires a moderate level of assertiveness and cooperation. It may be appropriate for scenarios where you need a temporary solution, or where both sides have equally important goals. The trap is to fall into compromising as an easy way out, when collaborating would produce a better solution.

By knowing your own default patterns, you improve your self-awareness. Once you are aware of your own patterns, you can pay attention to whether they are working for you, empowering you to explore alternatives. By using a scenario-based approach, you can choose more effective conflict management styles and test their effectiveness for you and your situations.

Leaders with the most impact are those who can build and successfully manage great teams. Every day, we help our clients and colleagues achieve their highest levels of professional presence and personal effectiveness. That includes everyone on the ladder, from company presidents to project managers, to staff members. Contact us at 800-282-3374 to find out how we can help you impact your own productivity and the productivity of your entire organization.

Employee Development Systems delivers results-oriented training programs that increase productivity, effectiveness, & performance.

Trust Is the New Currency

Posted by & filed under Communicating To Manage Performance, Communication, teamwork.

The Roles Of Trust, Communication, & Leadership In BusinessThe more we study trust, from an interpersonal and organizational standpoint, the more we see a deep connection between trust and communication. In fact, leaders often refer to trust, communication, and leadership as the three-legged stool of modern business.

Communication falls squarely between trust and leadership! Communication is the thread that enables leaders to create a culture of trust within their organization. Once trust is established, leaders can achieve their goals more effectively and efficiently with the full faith and support of their team.

Today, organizations are built on trust – Reflect back on management practices only 20 years ago. How many leaders felt they needed to engender trust in order to motivate their teams? Not many!  Organizations are no longer built on force but on trust. The existence of trust between people does not necessarily mean that they like each other. It means they understand one another. Taking responsibility for relationships is therefore an absolute necessity!

Many of us have specialized tasks and responsibilities within an organization, and the only way to collaborate effectively is to understand each other, which is the core of trust. We learn to understand each other through communication, specifically, by asking questions and listening thoughtfully to the answer.

Leaders need to adopt the practice of asking more questions in order to appreciate the mindset of individual team members. The first secret of effectiveness is to understand the people you work with so that you can make use of their strengths.

Lead with trust – Trust and commitment do not just happen; they are forged and maintained through effective communication. We provide here some excellent evidence-based pointers for managers who want to understand how communication impacts trust and engagement.

  1. Perception of effective communication with senior management has one of the strongest effects on a company’s trust climate.
  2. When communication channels begin to deteriorate, misunderstandings and misrepresentations abound and a climate of mistrust sets in.
  3. Managers’ ability to listen, communicate clearly, and lead had the strongest effect on employees’ organizational commitment.
  4. To promote and build positive trust relationships, senior managers must communicate as honestly and directly as possible with their employees, particularly during uncertain times.

Building trust is more essential than ever for today’s leaders. Communication, the tool we use each day to build rapport and understanding with everyone in our lives, is also the tool for cultivating trust. By mastering the nuances of communication, we are able to excel in the role of trusted leader.

Leaders with the most impact are those who can build and successfully manage great teams. Every day, we help our clients and colleagues achieve their highest levels of professional presence and personal effectiveness. That includes everyone on the ladder, from company presidents to project managers, to staff members. Contact us at 800-282-3374 to find out how we can help you impact your own productivity and the productivity of your entire organization.

Employee Development Systems delivers results-oriented training programs that increase productivity, effectiveness, & performance.

 

Performance Improvement Friday: Keep them Engaged & Motivated

Posted by & filed under Actively Engaged Workers, Career Development, career development leadership development.

Keeping Employees Engaged & MotivatedIt’s Friday, and you’ve had a busy week. Here is a quick shot of business wisdom that you can think about over the weekend. You’ll come to work on Monday, ready to take action. What is the core of a peak performance? Dissipating any low self-esteem culture or rituals that have been fostered in your workplace.

Create a create a high self-esteem environment!  Removing the fears of failure and rejection that inhibit personal performance. The manager who creates a positive, high-self-esteem workplace will have higher performance, lower absenteeism, lower employee turnover, higher productivity, and fewer mistakes.

To perform at their best, individuals have two basic needs in the world of work:

  1. The Autonomy Need.The first is called “the autonomy need.” This is the need to be seen and respected as an individual, and to stand out for one’s personal performance. It is a need to be recognized for individual achievement or the “I am special” need.
  2. The Dependency Need.The second need that each person has in the workplace is “the dependency need.” This is the need that people have to feel a part of something bigger than themselves. People want to be part of a team. It is the need to feel recognized and accepted as part of a group of people in the workplace.

A well managed organization creates environments where people feel both autonomous and important, on the one hand, and have their dependency needs satisfied by making them feel as if they are part of a team; part of the whole organization on the other. The reward structures in these organizations are designed to acknowledge not only autonomous performance but also team performance.

·   Low Self-Esteem Work Environment: Using Positive Reinforcement at Work

The key factor in employee motivation is the connected relationship between the manager and his/her team. It is what takes place at the moment of contact or communication between the manager and the employee that determines the performance, effectiveness, productivity, output and profitability of an organization. The point at which the two people connect, whether positively or negatively, is where the past, present and future performance of the individual and the organization is determined.

When this contact between the manager and employee is positive, supportive and encouraging of self-esteem, the performance, productivity and output of the individual will reach its highest level.

·  Low Self-Esteem Work Environment: The Worst Way to Gain Employee Satisfaction

If this point of contact between the manager and employee is negative for any reason at all, performance and output will decline. A negative relationship with the manager will trigger fears of failure, rejection and disapproval. If the manager is negative for any reason, people will play it safe, and only do exactly what they need to do to avoid being fired.

Almost everyone has worked in a low self-esteem environment. These are usually remembered as the worst jobs the person ever had. Everything you do to improve this intersection or contact improves the overall quality of your work life, no matter where you are on the ladder of management.

The more effective you can become in eliciting “best effort” performance from each of your staff members, the more of the best people you will be given to manage for it. The top managers and leaders of today are those who are capable of eliciting extraordinary performance from ordinary people.

The Bottom Line

Effective managers are intensely action-oriented. When they hear a good idea, they move quickly to implement the idea and put it into action. Therefore, if you hear about anything that you think can help you to motivate your staff to a higher level, don’t delay. Practice it immediately that very day. You will be amazed at the results.

Leaders with the most impact are those who can build and successfully manage great teams. Every day, we help our clients and colleagues achieve their highest levels of professional presence and personal effectiveness. That includes everyone on the ladder, from company presidents to project managers, to staff members. Contact us at 800-282-3374 to find out how we can help you impact your own productivity and the productivity of your entire organization.

Employee Development Systems delivers results-oriented training programs that increase productivity, effectiveness, & performance.

Master Conflict to Improve Your Professional (& Personal) Life

Posted by & filed under Communication, Conflict, Conflict Resolution.

Healthy Debate & Conflict In The WorkplaceTeam members who trust one another are going to feel comfortable engaging in unfiltered, passionate debate around issues and decisions.

There is a big difference between team members practicing healthy debate and conflict versus avoiding conflict or engaging in conflict that is destructive. During the Five Behaviors facilitation, team members agree to the guidelines and behaviors that would allow for healthy conflict. Leaders are comfortable encouraging healthy debate and conflict as it proves to open opportunities for new and creative ideas to flow for the purpose of problem solving and improving processes. Just imagine a team that can have healthy conflict over ideas and confront issues rather than allowing gossip and hallway whispering to create dissention. When we speak of mastering conflict, we are talking about productive, ideological conflict— passionate, unfiltered debate around issues of importance to the team.

Teams that fear conflict:

  • Have boring meetings
  • Create environments where politics and personal attacks thrive
  • Ignore controversial topics that are critical to team success
  • Fail to tap into all the opinions and perspectives of team members
  • Waste time and energy with posturing and politics

Even among the best teams, conflict is always a little uncomfortable. No matter how clear you are that a conflict is focused on issues, not personalities, it is inevitable that at some point someone will feel personally attacked. It’s unrealistic for a team member to say, “I’m sorry, but I don’t agree with your approach to the project” and not expect the other person to feel some degree of personal rejection. However if team members are not making one another uncomfortable at times, if they never push one another outside of their emotional comfort zones during discussions, it is likely that they’re not making the best overall decisions for the organization.

Tips on mastering conflict:

  • A leader must be willing to engage in and encourage productive conflict.
  • All great relationships, the ones that last over time, require productive conflict in order to grow.
  • It’s important to distinguish productive, ideological conflict from destructive fighting and interpersonal conflicts.
  • Healthy conflict is focused on concepts and ideas and avoids mean-spirited, personal attacks.
  • Teams that engage in productive conflict do so to produce the best possible solution in the shortest time period.

As with all cultural changes, leadership is critical. For a team to be successful, the leader must understand the power of teamwork and be prepared to lead the effort in terms of setting an example and dedicating time to it. It’s important to note that many leaders who seem uninterested in teamwork are often just skeptical about the possibility of achieving it or afraid that acknowledging the need for it might reflect poorly on them. Success is possible as long as team leaders are willing to start and trust the facilitated process.

EDSI’s Five Behaviors of a Cohesive Team program is not your usual workplace training. It requires being bold and addressing the issues that get in the way of results. If done properly, it will enable a team to move into higher levels of performance and productivity.

Leaders with the most impact are those who can build and successfully manage great teams. Every day, we help our clients and colleagues achieve their highest levels of professional presence and personal effectiveness. That includes everyone on the ladder, from company presidents to project managers, to staff members. Contact us at 800-282-3374 to find out how we can help you impact your own productivity and the productivity of your entire organization.

Employee Development Systems delivers results-oriented training programs that increase productivity, effectiveness, & performance.

 

Start these Behaviors to Foster a Cohesive Team

Posted by & filed under Accountability, Career Development, teamwork.

Screen Shot 2016-03-10 at 8.20.15 AMOne of the most requested workplace training tools today is Employee Development System’s (EDSI) Five Behaviors of a Cohesive Team Program. In this first of a series of blog posts, we’ll discuss how a team may journey towards improved results, starting with the concept of Building Trust.

The model was developed by Patrick Lencioni, author of the New York Times bestseller “The Five Dysfunctions of a Team,” who asserts that teamwork is absolutely crucial to business success. Inscape-Wiley (publisher of Everything DiSC and other high-quality workplace improvement tools) created validated assessment tools which give participants specific individual and team feedback as they work through the program.

EDSI’s Five Behaviors of a Cohesive Team Program is a facilitated learning program which allows teams within any organization to work better together and empowers them to solve many of their own problems. The Five Behaviors program shows that teams that master the following five areas are highly successful and get significantly better results:

  • Build trustStart these Behaviors to Foster a Cohesive Team
  • Master conflict
  • Achieve commitment
  • Embrace accountability
  • Focus on results

Build Trust – The first and most important behavior is trust.  A team without vulnerability-based trust will struggle to achieve cohesion or embrace any of the other four behaviors of Lencioni’s model which establishes trust as the foundation. Trust is all about vulnerability. Team members who trust one another can be comfortable being open to one another regarding their failures, weaknesses, and fears. Vulnerability-based trust is predicated on the idea that people who are willing to admit the truth about themselves are not going to engage in behavior that wastes time and energy and, more importantly, makes it difficult to achieve real results.

Team members who lack trust often exhibit the following behaviors:

  • Conceal their weaknesses and mistakes from one another
  • Hesitate to ask for help or provide constructive feedback
  • Don’t offer help to people outside of their own areas of responsibility
  • Jump to conclusions about the intentions and attitudes of others
  • Fail to recognize and tap into one another’s skills and experiences
  • Waste time and energy managing their behaviors
  • Hold grudges

Team members need to be comfortable being vulnerable around one another so that they will be unafraid to honestly say things like “I was wrong,” “I made a mistake,” or “I need help.” Unless they can bring themselves to say these words, they will waste time and energy thinking about what they should say and wondering about the true intentions of their peers. For a team to establish real trust, team members, including the leader, must be willing to take risks without a guarantee of success. They will have to be vulnerable without knowing whether that vulnerability will be respected and reciprocated.

Tips on building trust:

  • Trust comes from the vulnerability of team members’ sharing their weaknesses, skill deficiencies, interpersonal shortcomings, mistakes, and requests for help.
  • Like any good relationship, trust among team members must be developed over time.
  • The leader must be the first to demonstrate vulnerability.
  • Trust on a team improves greatly when members are able to set egos aside in order to move forward.
  • Members of great teams don’t waste time and energy putting on airs or pretending to be someone they’re not.
  • Everyone on the team knows that no one is going to hide his or her weaknesses, which helps build a deep sense of trust.
  • When people trust that their teammates have their best interests in mind, they feel comfortable asking one another for input and opinions. They aren’t worried about being exposed or shot down.

As with all cultural changes, leadership is critical.  For a team to be successful, the leader must understand the power of teamwork and be prepared to lead the effort in terms of setting an example and dedicating time to it. It’s important to note that many leaders who seem uninterested in teamwork are often just skeptical about the possibility of achieving it or afraid that acknowledging the need for it might reflect poorly on them. In these cases, success is possible as long as team leaders are willing to start the process with good intentions.

EDSI’s Five Behaviors of a Cohesive Team Program is not your usual workplace training. It requires being bold and addressing the issues that get in the way of results.  If done properly and in earnest, it will enable a team to move into higher levels of performance and productivity.

 

Learn How to Foster a Cohesive Team from Patrick Lencioni

Posted by & filed under Accountability, Career Development, career development leadership development, teamwork.

One of the most requested workplace training tools today is Employee Development System’s (EDSI) Five Behaviors of a Cohesive Team Program.  Building Trust is the first key to fostering a cohesive team. This model was developed by Patrick Lencioni, author of the New York Times bestseller “The Five Dysfunctions of a Team,” who asserts that teamwork is absolutely crucial to business success. Inscape-Wiley (publisher of Everything DiSC and other high-quality workplace improvement tools) created validated assessment tools which give participants specific individual and team feedback as they work through the program. Employee Development Systems integrates the DISC into this program and many others.

EDSI’s Five Behaviors of a Cohesive Team Program is a facilitated learning program which allows teams within any organization to work better together and empowers them to solve many of their own problems. The Five Behaviors program shows that teams that master the following five areas are highly successful and get significantly better results:

  • Build trustLearn How to Foster a Cohesive Team from Patrick Lencioni
  • Master conflict
  • Achieve commitment
  • Embrace accountability
  • Focus on results

Build Trust

A team without vulnerability-based trust will struggle to achieve cohesion or embrace any of the other four behaviors of Lencioni’s model which establishes trust as the foundation. Trust is all about vulnerability. Team members who trust one another can be comfortable being open to one another regarding of their failures, weaknesses, and fears. Vulnerability-based trust is predicated on the idea that people who are willing to admit the truth about themselves are not going to engage in behavior that wastes time and energy and, more importantly, makes it difficult to achieve real results.

Team members who lack trust often exhibit the following behaviors:

  • Conceal their weaknesses and mistakes from one another
  • Hesitate to ask for help or provide constructive feedback
  • Don’t offer help to people outside of their own areas of responsibility
  • Jump to conclusions about the intentions and attitudes of others
  • Fail to recognize and tap into one another’s skills and experiences
  • Waste time and energy managing their behaviors
  • Hold grudges

Team members need to be comfortable being vulnerable around one another so that they will be unafraid to honestly say things like “I was wrong,” “I made a mistake,” or “I need help.” Unless they can bring themselves to say these words, they will waste time and energy thinking about what they should say and wondering about the true intentions of their peers. For a team to establish real trust, team members, including the leader, must be willing to take risks without a guarantee of success. They will have to be vulnerable without knowing whether that vulnerability will be respected and reciprocated.

Tips on building trust:

  • Trust comes from the vulnerability of team members’ sharing their weaknesses, skill deficiencies, interpersonal shortcomings, mistakes, and requests for help.
  • Like any good relationship, trust among team members must be developed over time.
  • The leader must be the first to demonstrate vulnerability.
  • Trust on a team improves greatly when members are able to set egos aside in order to move forward.
  • Members of great teams don’t waste time and energy putting on airs or pretending to be someone they’re not.
  • Everyone on the team knows that no one is going to hide his or her weaknesses, which helps build a deep sense of trust.
  • When people trust that their teammates have their best interests in mind, they feel comfortable asking one another for input and opinions. They aren’t worried about being exposed or shot down.

As with all cultural changes, leadership is critical.  For a team to be successful, the leader must understand the power of teamwork and be prepared to lead the effort in terms of setting an example and dedicating time to it. It’s important to note that many leaders who seem uninterested in teamwork are often just skeptical about the possibility of achieving it or afraid that acknowledging the need for it might reflect poorly on them. In these cases, success is possible as long as team leaders are willing to start the process with good intentions.

EDSI’s Five Behaviors of a Cohesive Team Program is not your usual workplace training. It requires being bold and addressing the issues that get in the way of results.  If done properly and in earnest, it will enable a team to move into higher levels of performance and productivity.

Leaders with the most impact are those who can build and successfully manage great teams. Every day, we help our clients and colleagues achieve their highest levels of professional presence and personal effectiveness. That includes everyone on the ladder, from company presidents to project managers, to staff members. Contact us at 800-282-3374 to find out how we can help you impact your own productivity and the productivity of your entire organization.

Employee Development Systems delivers results-oriented training programs that increase productivity, effectiveness, & performance.