Martin Steih

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.

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 😉