The Best Team – Why and How?

They say that if you find a job you love, you won’t have to work a day in your life. I would add that if you find a team you love, they will change your life for the better.

I’ve had the privilege of working with some amazing teams. Here’s what makes me believe I have the best team in the world today.

• I’m not afraid to be who I am around them. I can be vulnerable, bare my soul and not have to worry about being judged or misunderstood.
• We value our differences to the extent of learning from each other, and even relying on those differences to show us different lenses to view the world.
• We make each other better. We set high goals for work AND for other areas of our life, and we hold each other accountable. We’re not afraid to call each other out. We’re honest and sometimes brutal, but we’re not mean. 
• We take our work seriously, yet we can laugh at ourselves, our mistakes and our missteps. 
• Everyone is growing and developing as a result of being part of the team.
• Results are delivered, even beyond expectations. We have a lot of fun AND we get the job done pretty darn well.

How did we get to become this team? It didn’t happen overnight. We experimented and tried different things, and even failed a few times. Here are some of the things that I believe helped us get better:

• We established routines that integrated catching up on each other’s lives, as well as the rigorous review of our work. For example, we check in on each other at the beginning of every face to face meeting, and we take time to listen to our personal stories.
• We invested in tools and assessments that helped us gain a better understanding of each other’s personalities and strengths, and also to create room for developing ourselves in areas we’re most uncomfortable. We “pressure” one another to be and do better.
• Everyone leads and everyone follows. In our team, there is no single leader. Each of us has a key role to play, and we lead in those roles. They change almost seamlessly when shifts need to occur. 
• Each of us is constantly learning and trying new things that will benefit the team, so each of our roles are continuously growing. 

There are probably many other ways for a team to grow and develop, and we have yet to discover them. Meanwhile, we’re enjoying our time working, learning and growing together.

As a purposeful coaching company, we live what we believe. When we work with our clients to develop their teams, we don’t just use theories but our own experience in bringing them to life. Of course, each team is unique and that is why we also love learning from the teams we support so we can co-create their version of the best team ever.