New Leaders On New Teams: Step 5
Any time a new ingredient is added to a cookie recipe, the flavor of that cookie changes and can’t be changed back. I cannot undo it. The cook can add chocolate chips or pecans-Dark chocolate or milk chocolate.
The recipe is usually an intentional combination of ingredients. However, once one ingredient changes, the flavor of that recipe will be altered and can’t be reversed. If I am a new leader, then I am that ingredient that will change the flavor of the team.
Step 5: Culture
The culture of a team can happen by accident or it can be intentional. I believe that leaders who intentionally shape the culture of their teams will shape a high quality team. Shaping the culture of my new team is Step 5 in The 5 Steps for New Leaders on New Teams:
- Communicate With The Previous Leader
- Meet Face to Face With The Influence Leaders
- Bring The Team Together Physically
- Build Trust With The Team
- Bring The Team Together Culturally
Bringing the team together culturally is a process that is critical for my team to become a high functioning, low-maintenance organization.
To kick off my tenure with a new team I focus on 4 key areas.
1. Celebrate who they are and what they’ve accomplished.
I made the mistake of coming onto a team and focusing only on the future and the changes to come. Looking backwards, I realize that I sent a message to that team that I did not respect their prior accomplishments.
I sent an unintended message that I was riding in on my white horse to save them. None of us are that good. As soon as a leader believes they are the Messiah of wayward teams, that team will often prove them wrong.
I learned to celebrate the team’s past in my very first meeting with them. I look at the historical reports and find places to celebrate. Awards, profits, promotions, and commendations from corporate leadership for individual and team accomplishments deserve recognition.
I want them to know I am stepping into the situation with a positive outlook based on their past. If they are a troubled team, I find SOMETHING to celebrate. I may have to search hard, but again this is a great trust building exercise for a new leader.
2. I share my vision for the team.
A team or an individual without a vision for what their future looks like will feel every pot hole on the road to success. As a leader, I always wanted my team to SEE their future.
A vision is a far reaching ideal. It is something you never finish achieving. It is our North Star that guides us. As long as we keep the North Star in our sights, we are guaranteed to be heading towards our destination.
A team or an individual without a vision will wander aimlessly and will likely get lost. After speaking to the influence leaders and taking the time to diagnose the current situation on the team, it is my responsibility as the leader to cast that vision.
3. I share the operating values I will not bend on.
My father, General Jim Anderson, says to be flexible in your methods but never with your values. Our values define HOW we will operate in any situation we encounter.
As a leader, I must not only declare what our team values are, I must be sure to define what each value looks like in practice. Too often organizational values are declared but never truly defined. What do our values look like with boots on? Download some examples here for future use.
4. I share my one expectation as their leader.
When I first became a leader in the corporate world, I followed the model of many other leaders. I put together a booklet of standards and expectations for my team members to adhere to. As the years went on, I realized that only one expectation needed to be communicated.
“If you tell me you are going to do something, I expect you to do it.”
Most industries and businesses already have a laundry list of regulations they must follow. As a leader, I want to simplify things for my team so they can focus on their primary responsibilities. Leader imposed reports, expectations and standards only distract them from productive activities.
The fact is, most of those leader imposed standards and expectations were either redundant or were developed to make my job easier. One reason is wasteful and the other is selfish.
It is my responsibility to monitor the productivity of my team. To impose standards or reports on people who do not need them to be productive does not motivate. I will instill specific standards on the individuals who need them, but I will not treat my most reliable people as if they are unreliable.
It’s simple: “If you tell me you are going to do something, I expect you to do it.” I have yet to meet anyone on my team who didn’t love the simplicity and the clarity of that statement.
The Bottom Line:
By joining the team, I change it. As the leader, I must do everything I can to be sure the change in culture that occurs is for the positive. The culture of my team is my responsibility. I intentionally shape it from the beginning in order to become productive, low maintenance team.
As a new leader, I have followed Steps 1 through 5 on multiple occasions and quickly built strong teams. I have also skipped some of these steps and seen the negative effects that causes. These are shared so you can have a quick impact on your new teams and not make the mistakes I made.
Question:
Which of the 5 Steps I have shared are most critical for a new leader to focus on?