5 Powerful Strategies that Strengthen Teams
Discouraged people have hearts like water and knees like butter.
The ability to rise is about you, not the challenge.
7 causes of discouragement:
- Hard work with no or slow progress.
- Disappointed expectation. A lost promotion, for example.
- Misguided leaders who notice bad like it’s an Olympic sport.
- Big wins followed by nitpicking. Enjoy imperfect success for a day or two.
- Living with the consequences of bad decisions.
- Being humbled, especially when you hoped to be honored.
- Pulling the rope alone. Everyone needs a with.
You’re confused if you believe tearing down improves performance .
Strengthen the discouraged. Don’t shoot the wounded.
7 simple factors in high performance:
- Joy, not disappointment.
- Strength, not weakness.
- Values, not external pressure.
- Confidence, not insecurity.
- Support, not criticism.
- Boldness, not fear.
- Coaching, not directing.
5 powerful strategies that strengthen teams:
Strong people go further than weak.
#1. Know that people with weaknesses achieve great things – because of strengths, not because of weakness. (When strengths don’t match job requirements reassign, retrain, or remove.)
Don’t let people’s weaknesses obscure their strengths.
#2. Manage your own energy. You eventually loose the ability to encourage others when your knees constantly feel like butter.
Discouraged leaders become faultfinders.
#3. Focus on what might be, more than what used to be. Remember disappointment enough to learn. Otherwise, have a short memory when it comes to failure.
#4. Understand a few small wins today is better than a big win next week. How might you design and notice progress in daily work?
#5. Realize the ability to rise is more about people than challenges. Talk about people more than challenges.
Bonus:
I reconnected with a leader who doesn’t care for shallow encouragement. But I sent a text after our conversation. “I enjoyed seeing you this morning.” He was encouraged.
Kindness strengthens.
What makes people feel weak?
How might leaders make people feel strong?
Added reading:
9 Super Effective Ways to Motivate Your Team (Inc)
What Not to Do When You’re Trying to Motivate Your Team (HBR)
The worst part of discouragement — for me — is the way it can multiply in my head, when that happens little problems become disproportionally large… “What’s wrong” Eveything! that’s what’s wrong!” Getting ahead of it is always the leaders challenge.. perhaps a little preemptive work through care/conversation.
Thanks Ken. Love your insight. It seems like I’m constantly relearning that one thing isn’t everything.
Overcome discouragement by building relationships.
Wow, so true. How quickly I can turn something trivial, like ‘my sourdough bread didn’t come out as pretty as I wanted’, into ‘nothing is going right’.
Good article. Unfortunately I know one too many leaders who believe being critical is a good leadership style on communicating what is to be believed as being honest. One has to wonder what is going through the mind of a leader who can see the win but find a bump in the process and make it a Mountain View rather than celebrating the win. I get, we got it accomplished but Bob here dropped the ball when he when he got a flat tire for the appointment and was 30 minutes late. Punctuality is important to the client. The client had to wait. Next time Bob, leave thirty minutes earlier just in case of a delay. Personally, I think Bob would be intelligent enough to figure that one out. After all, he. closed the deal and won the day. Appreciating success goes a whole lot further than magnifying a small set back in the process of a win. Coaching how to win is more effective than correcting a win.
Thanks Ron. I see in myself a tendency to notice the bad. I also tend to talk about what I want by explaining what I don’t want. Personally, I find that it’s hard work to get in touch with my positive intentions and talk about reaching them using positive language. (thats just me)
The “team,” like a chain, is only as “strong” as its weakest link.
The best teams trade the lead amongst the players, depending on the “management” of the “critical” path … the necessary results/events that have to happen before others can be effectively accomplished.
Weaknesses have to be acknowleged and accounted for … by the entire team, so they can be vigilant and know precisely when to back up one another’s effort.
“Best” practices are just that : practice. Often, again and again – and someone needs to direct. Coaches direct practice, and then stand one the sidelines and affirms what everyone already knows during the game/meet. Been there, done that; it’s what happens in any case.
Thanks Rurbane. It would be great is teams knew and respected each others strengths and weaknesses. Sadly, we often have to pretend we have it all together. A culture of pretending, ends in disappointment.
Thanks again for your insights.
Pretense = disappointment; I like that.
The seven causes of discouragement are all permanently embedded in the working practices of scientific organisations as a matter of course.
I guess science is dangerous. Thanks, Mitch.
Thanks for the post. Still working on adding these actions and hopefully sentiments to my interactions.
Thanks Anil. It’s a journey. Best wishes.
Discouragement #4: Big wins followed by nitpicking. Enjoy imperfect success for a day or two.
This was something I learned playing sports. Doesn’t matter what the score was, you can always find ways to improve. but the most successful teams I was a part of, the coaches let you celebrate big wins. The time will come for improvement, but in the locker room after the game isn’t that time
Well written! Yah!!
Don’t stand out sided to one partner because it means you devalue the idea of the other.
Let everyone know their input and little workdone do count without arming any offense because everyone wants to feel and believe they got the energy and what it takes to make a difference.
If you must slap any odd workforce, make it precise with smiles and accountability roll up.
Leadership can be noble! But not all work that way. The climax scene of crazy rich Asians stuck with me because sometimes leadership is letting go to get what’s right! It takes courage to know what path you want to walk! Default or figure it out… I will stick to figuring out!