What you and I are experiencing right now in the world is both unprecedented and predictable. I believe you and I hold the key to bring people together and create a future better than where we are and where we’ve been.
This unraveling of our society and economy and how people treat each other exposes what has existed for a long time. A crazy confluence of global pandemic, a stock market crash, sky-high unemployment, self-protective leaders, videos of Black people being murdered in the street, protests, riots...is exposing how our social and economic fabric was already torn.
No-one knows the end state of these crises or the final impact on you and me.
At the same time, police and protesters walk and kneel together. People use technology to reach out and puncture crippling isolation. Neighbors willingly gather to clean up debris after protests. People make and give away masks and hand sanitizer.
There is genuine hope within all this tragedy. The human spirit is amazingly resilient.
As people who care, we get to choose how we will help listen and lead the way out of this storm.
It’s up to us - you and me - to create a better society and world.
I believe the best place to start is to help the people we work with be a great team.
Great accomplishments require great teams
When I started my company in 2002, I did so with the strong belief that great accomplishments require great teams.
As part of a great team, we can stand for something greater than ourselves. We can achieve the fabled “synergy” to make something happen together we simply could not do on our own.
Great teams are inclusive and respectful of the strengths and limitations of individuals.
Great teams bring in all the perspectives, surface differences, and hammer out the best options together.
Great teams don’t rely on authority and instead hold each other accountable because they trust each other and build commitment through the shared struggle.
And great teams see the benefit people on the team receive as a byproduct of what the team creates together.
Imagine where our country would be - right now - if we were working together as a great team. I believe we would have far different results than what is showing up on our streets and in our homes and on our screens.
Any change in society has to start with change in ourselves.
So what do we do? I believe one place to start is strengthening your team at work by helping them feel validated.
Help people feel seen and heard
I don’t know your team or your situation. And I believe your team needs you to step forward more than ever to support them as both individuals and a collective.
Using the values you and your team live out each day as a backstop, step into the discomfort to connect and share with your team members.
You don’t need to have the answers. As much as you may feel the pressure, this isn’t a time to fix anything or anyone.
Instead, this is a time to be vulnerable and real so other people can do the same. I don’t mean you should dump your problems on anyone - simply show up, ask how they are doing, and listen to understand. Be more vulnerable than you may be used to and ask questions more than speak. Be open and curious.
You may want to meet with every team member individually by video so you can hear and see what’s really on their minds.
If some structure would help, try questions like: What’s on your mind? What’s working well for you personally? What’s not working well? Where are you struggling? What or who is missing from our team? What is unclear? How can we get better? What can I do to support you?
Asking open ended allows other people to share their thinking with you so you can all be a stronger team together.
Teamwork isn’t easy
Teamwork begins by building trust. And the only way to do that is to overcome our need for invulnerability. -- Patrick Lencioni
Teamwork is a conscious choice requiring a lot of work and discomfort.
We, as leaders, need to commit to doing the work and going through the discomfort required to create organizations that see, value, and honor contributions of everyone.
While helping people become a stronger team isn’t easy, I believe the time you spend will be worth it. We don’t have to look far to see what happens when we aren’t a team. Too many people are suffering visibly and invisibly in so many aspects of their lives.
We can be the change we want to see.
Now is the time.
Change starts with you - and me.
PS Let me know if 20 minutes together would help support you in your efforts to lead your team through this storm. It’s on us.
