Team Dynamics

Teams are tricky. Just when you think you've got your team figured out, configured properly, fully set and ready to go, it changes on you.

Every time someone enters or leaves your team, you've got a different team. That's what makes recruiting, hiring, orienting, training, and development so important. If you don't develop your team the way you'd like them to develop, they'll change in ways that you might not care for.

Team dynamics require us to build a team as a group, and also as a one-team-member-at-a-time proposition.

It's a project just juggling all of the pieces. It's a big responsibility and as a team leader there is no ducking that responsibility. I've tried -- you can't do it. Teams need their team leader's attention every single day.

One on one conversations.

Highly productive meetings.

Occasional fun (and frequent sense of humor).

Coaching to motivate when someone gets stuck.

Prodding to get productive when someone gets lazy.

Inspiring when the work is hard, the days are long, and the problems many.

All of this (and more) while keeping current in your field and working on your own development.

Team dynamics will wear you out if you let them -- or, you can draw energy from the value being created right in front of you, and largely -- because of you.

-- doug smith

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Appreciation Builds Confidence

High performance leaders must do two things extremely skillfully: 1. Support your people 2. Challenge your people One great way to support your people is to appreciate them. Say thank you often and very specifically. Thank then for exactly what they did and why it's helpful. For example: "Thanks for getting your report in a day early! That gives me more time to digest the data and less time to worry about getting it on time!" "Thank you so much for listening respectfully even though I could tell you disagreed. When we're able to talk like this it's much more likely that we'll come up with great ideas and solutions to problems." "I appreciate the way you follow-up a good question with a clarifying response. That way we both understand what we're saying!" It takes practice. It might feel awkward at first. But here's something that I say every day because it's true: what gets appreciated gets repeated. If you like something, apprec

Focus Saves Time

A proper goal prevents wasted time. We don't have time to pursue meaningless goals. What matters most needs most of our time. Take a look at your list of goals. Prioritize the top three. The rest will matter most when the top three are done. -- doug smith

Gratitude

What we are grateful for stays, what we take for granted goes away. What are you grateful for today? If the list is long, there's something also to be grateful for. If the list is short, consider it more. Gratitude blesses our blessings and keeps them flowing. -- doug smith

Developing Leadership

We are constantly developing leadership -- the work is never done. New challenges, new people, new goals. That includes how we lead and who we develop as current and future leaders. Developing leadership is a constant. What's your plan? -- doug smith

Keep Solving

It's frustrating to solve a problem only to have it re-appear. And, even if it doesn't re-appear it seems like another problem quickly pops up. Problems don't stay solved so we must keep solving. And so...keep solving. -- doug smith

Who Follows The Rules?

If the rules are not fair for everyone, they will be broken. You shouldn't be surprised, though -- you should make the rules fair. -- doug smith

Practice!

How much do you practice the skill that is most important to your success? We do best what we do most. Practice. It's the best way (maybe the only way) to get better. You name the skill -- communication, leadership, problem solving, managing conflict, playing music, running, swimming, singing, dancing, acting...practice is the key. -- doug smith

Smile

It's easier to face the future if you embrace the present with a smile. "Is that your answer to everything? Smile?" "Nah -- but it serves me better than frowning." "What if you don't know whether to smile or cry?" "Even a curious smile is better than no smile at all...smile? Yes!" The more you make yourself smile, the more you will need to because there will be more to smile about -- smiles will start coming more often on their own. People will smile back. The smiles will multiply. It's harder to be mad at someone who likes you enough to smile for you, to smile toward you, to smile with you. Smile! -- doug smith

Adjustable Expectations

How important are your expectations to you? Have you adjusted them lately? Or, have they been adjusted FOR you? It's important to know what we expect and manage what we expect. Too much, and you'll disappoint yourself. Too little, and you could under-perform. We control our expectations. And, we also adjust those expectations. Problems have a way of recalibrating our expectations. it could take longer to reach our goal. It might be impossible to reach our goal. Until we solve the problem, our expectations could stall. Life, and work, is filled with unexpected adjustments. What did you expect? -- doug smith

Communicate Politely

Can you tell a hard truth and still be polite? Absolutely! We can disagree with respect. We can remain civil. We can demonstrate professionalism even under pressure. Nothing should ever prevent a true professional from being polite. -- doug smith

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