During this global pandemic, most people have needed to adapt significantly to new ways of working and new ways of living that we haven’t had much choice over. Working from home, for millions of people, is just one of those adaptations. So now, many months on from the start of the pandemic, what have we learned about working from home well? About giving ourselves the best chance of bringing our best selves to our homeworking lives? This podcast gives you my top tips for getting the best from homeworking as we head into… more of the same, at least for now.
How change happensHumans are messy and complicated. We resist change, we hold on to familiarity, most of us experience change as pain – psychological and emotional. It costs us energy, we grieve for what we feel we’ve lost (the familiar and what we valued), and we find it hard to learn new ways. But, humans are also extremely adaptable. Learning for us often comes subconsciously, in the background, as we resist the new, at the same time as knowing we need to get to grips with it. Before long, we actually get familiar and even quite skilled at navigating ways of working that we wouldn’t have touched, given the choice, even only a few weeks before. So let’s bring some consciousness to that usually subconscious experience of adapting to new ways of working at home. Here are my tips for getting the best from it. Human connectionIn my view, we’ve got pretty good at using screens for human connection. Whatever platforms you use, my bet is that you’re going to have been using them more during the course of 2020 and typically that’s going to mean you will have acquired skills around reading people’s emotion through a screen, learning how to communicate differently given the lack of non-verbal cues and listening more attentively. However, we humans are super-social and physical human contact, and proximity, is a strong drive in all of us. So connecting in person should remain a priority for us all when we’re homeworking to make sure that we’re feeling that sense of social support and getting those all important neurotransmitters like oxytocin, which can help us to regulate mood and feel better about the world. My number 1 tip, then, is to prioritise human contact. Conscious consumptionWhen we’re homeworking, it can become all too easy to move onto social media in a habitual way and not really be present while we scroll and like and scroll and smile and click off and go somewhere else and then get lost. That numbing sensation that we get when we over-consume online content without really paying attention can be a signal that we’re using the tech to insulate us from something else. So be more aware of why you’re using media and tech and regulate it yourself, because if you don’t, the app-makers will entice you into a never-ending cycle of engagement with the sole purpose of advertising to you, while you slowly slip into a social media semi-coma.
Being conscious of what we are doing is the habit to cultivate here. As Deepak Chopra says – consciously choosing freedom from the conditioned mind is the definition of enlightenment. If that’s a bit much, just know that taking control in a tech world that is trying to control you is really empowering and really important for your well-being. Auditory hygieneThis one’s a biggie for me when working from home and for me, it doesn’t get enough of a mention. So we’re all unique right, everyone has a different level of tolerance for background noise and distraction, inside our homes – kids, TV, radio, for example, and for noise outside – traffic, building, neighbours. We’re all distracted by different things and at different times. So try and get your auditory environment right for you. Earplugs can help some. Low level white noise can help others. Background music (headphones or not) can be a companion, or it can be a distraction. Observe yourself at your most focused times and check in on the noises you can hear – it may be that at those times, you’ve got your auditory environment about right. Pick your productivity sprintsAgain, everyone’s different. Some people prefer mornings for productive sprints, others prefer afternoons or evenings. So try and schedule your day as far as you can so that you can benefit from your natural levels of focus, energy and productivity. We can all manipulate these rhythms – getting exercise can help energise us for hours after, what we eat and drink can make a difference to whether we feel alert or drowsy. But we also each have a natural daily rhythm that we can make work for us if we know that rhythm well. So use it to your benefit. Light it upLight is really important for us to stay energised and maintain well-being, particularly at times of the years when daylight is less available. Daylight is a sleep and mood regulator, as it helps in production of melatonin and serotonin. It also helps us to produce Vitamin D, so getting enough light is vital. When you’re homeworking, look for opportunities to get outdoors to get direct sunlight into you, even on dull days. When indoors, throw those curtains wide to maximise light into your working area. If you need, try a light box or take more control of your light environment. One of the main advantages of working from home is a greater opportunity to tailor your working space to your own needs, at least more than you can in an office or workplace. Keep movingI just mentioned the importance of exercise. It’s a natural anti-anxiety treatment, it relieves stress, it boosts your physical and mental energy, and it improves your emotional well-being by helping your body to produce endorphins. Walking away from your work space and moving around your home is good. Getting outside into nature, ideally tech free, is even better, even if only for 10 or 15 minutes. But frequent breaks to move your body, combined as well with regular more strenuous exercise, will make a big difference to your productivity levels when working from home. Self-compassionBe kind to yourself. This stuff is hard. Know that even just listening to a podcast, this podcast, is making a difference to you and often that’s enough. Congratulate yourself for getting through this day and our new weird but more normal world of work and for getting better and better at navigating these unprecedented, strange times. Look after yourself, do the self-care. Tonight, I will be running a bath (I do this rarely, for environmental reasons, but I am going to do it tonight), I’m going to put in some bath soak stuff that I have actually bought for this very reason and I’m going to watch some telly, in the bath, consciously. That’s for me. No one else. And no one else will know. Create your environmentTake the opportunity to create the work environment that you’re happiest with and keep happy with it. Make it you-shaped, make it nice for you. If you’re clutter tolerant, clutter away. If you’re not, keep on top of it so your surfaces remain clear. If you’re fond of natural things, get some plants in – they can give great opportunity for micro-breaks as you look beyond your immediate work area to something natural. Organise your workspace so it works for you. As part of this, think about your Zoom background, make it communicate what you want it to communicate. Be that a desert island, or the Milky Way, your cluttered, or laundry-drying home-working space, a nice picture, or window or bookcase. Whatever it is, it says something about you and it’s ok to make a conscious choice about that too. Conclusion – control the controllablesI’m struck by a theme that runs through many of these tips. You feel empowered when you take control over what you can control and don’t try to control what you can’t (like a pandemic). You have got this. We are doing this. And we are doing it together. Till next time, stay strong.
The Strengths Guy podcast is available on all major podcast platforms. Find it on Apple podcasts, Spotify, Google podcasts, Stitcher, ACast, TuneIn, Breaker and Soundcloud. Make sure to subscribe to get them at the start of the working week!
Related posts:Via https://www.strengthscope.com/working-from-home-well/
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You can’t get away from the fact. Building trust is more difficult in a virtual environment than it is when you’re in the same place as other people. You miss out on all the ‘in between’ bits – the micro gestures, the informal chats, the side conversations after meetings. All of that information can help us to build up a picture as to whether or not we can trust someone. And in the world of the virtual workplace, a world that so many of us now live in, because of working from home, that effect is magnified. When I blogged on how we can build trust as individuals, the world was a very different place. In some ways. But of course there’s a lot that’s just the same as it always was. So in this blog, I want to focus on how to build trust in virtual teams.
What not to do if you want to build trust in a virtual teamBefore we get into how to build trust between virtual team members, let’s have a recap on what damages and undermines trust. Here is some stuff to not do if you want to build trust.
Bear in mind that trust isn’t something you can control directly, you can’t make someone trust you, or make team members trust each other. But there are ways that you can create the conditions for trust in a virtual team and there are ways you can behave that will lead others to believe that you are trustworthy. Here are my 11 top tips for building trust in virtual teams: Get clearIf there’s one thing that a team needs in order for team members to start to trust one another, it’s clarity. Clarity of goals. Clarity of roles. And clarity of purpose. If everyone in the team knows why the team exists, what it’s there to do and how each team member individually contributes to that purpose and to those outcomes, the team has a really good chance of creating a trusting (virtual) environment. People in teams get “jostl-y” and spikey when they feel unsafe and uncertain because they don’t know their position or how they are making a positive contribution. So that’s the first step – Get clear on the basics.
Share strengths with other team membersWhen team members share their character strengths (for example, Relationship building, Empathy, Common sense, Critical thinking) and offer those up for use by other team members and when those strengths are borrowed by teammates, trust builds fast. This isn’t being trusted for particular skills or competence or experience, it’s being trusted for what you enjoy doing the most, so trust gets supercharged when strengths are shared because of the human element. When the value of borrowing a colleague’s strengths is shared more widely within the team – by way of example, ‘I leant on Jen’s Relationship-building strength last week to move forward an account I felt really stuck with’ – that creates a whole new level of opportunity to forge strong, trusting bonds between team members. Create boundariesEveryone needs to contract on what is ok and not ok to do in the team. Ask ‘What do we value?’, ‘How do we want to behave in accordance with those values?’, ‘What will happen when someone doesn’t behave in line with our values?’ Provide those boundaries and the sanctions when they are crossed and man you have the start of trust in a virtual team because you have created psychological safety. Be consistentInconsistency and unpredictability, saying one thing and doing another – these behaviours are real trust-drainers. If I can’t be sure that you’ll do what we agreed by when you said you would do it, how can I trust that you will do what you say next time? If you have clear team roles, purpose, goals, behaviours and values, then stick to them, operate within them and call people out if they aren’t sticking to what’s been agreed. Over-communicateKeep coming back to purpose, goals, roles, responsibilities, values, behaviours. Remind people of these things at each team meeting, keep repeating and overcommunicating. With a remote team, this is even more important as you won’t have as many visual cues to remind you of these important things. You can’t say this stuff enough, people will forget it over time, so keep it fresh, keep it alive and relevant for people. Be honestWhen things go wrong, own it. We’re all human, we all make mistakes and that’s ok. What isn’t ok is to try and cover it up or defend it or minimise it. Also, if you do have an opinion or a position you’re taking on something, i.e. you have an agenda, say it. That’s also ok. Again, what’s worse is that you don’t open up about that but people do the maths later and conclude that you were holding onto something because you had a different agenda in mind.
Be vulnerableThe flip of sharing strengths and borrowing others’ strengths is to get open about your vulnerabilities – your strength in overdrive risks and the areas that drain you. This increases the level of humanness in the team. Feeling safe enough to share vulnerability is a great marker as to where the team is at on building trust. Asking for help in managing those vulnerabilities is another great indicator of whether the team has built trust yet. Give the feedbackWhen someone doesn’t deliver or behaves in a way which doesn’t serve the team or the team’s goal, be prepared to give feedback. My blog on how to give feedback in 3 steps, gives you a literal 1-2-3 of giving good feedback, so check that out for more. And in a virtual world (as well as in the real world), preparing what you’re going to say before you say it is worthwhile. In my experience, it doesn’t take long to prep feedback but when you do, it makes a huge difference. People don’t generally like giving or receiving feedback, but when you do it professionally and objectively, people will come to trust you as someone who will be honest with them and who will tell them what they need to hear, rather than being someone who shies away from sharing the whole truth. Share itSpeaking of sharing, sharing information that you feel might be helpful to other team members, particularly in a virtual environment can be gold when you are seeking to build trust in a team. If you are willing to information share rather than to information hoard, people will trust that you don’t have a hidden agenda and that you have the best interests of the team and team members at heart. When you learn new information or if you think that other people in the team could benefit from knowledge that you have, share it. If you’re not sure whether to share, share. Get socialPlease know that it is more than possible to create meaningful social connections entirely in a virtual space. You don’t need a bar or a restaurant or even an office to do it (although all of these things can help). Try quizzes, after hours social chats on Zoom, team events where you have some time just to share what you’ve been doing – top Netflix suggestions, most fun thing you’ve done in the last week, best thing you’ve cooked recently, whatever. Being human and showing that human side will absolutely create the conditions for trust to form between people in the team. Trust firstMy last tip is to trust others before they’ve earned your trust. If you believe in others’ skill or competence, they are more likely to demonstrate that skill or competence. If you can trust others in a measured way, while still having some checks built in, the more likely your trust will be reciprocated (the logic goes: if you’re trusting me, I must be trustworthy, which means you probably are too). So be generous with your trust, it will pay back many-fold. Those are my top tips for building trust in virtual teams: get clear, share strengths, create boundaries, be consistent, overcommunicate, be honest, be vulnerable, give the feedback, share it, get social and trust first. Enjoy working through that list and getting your team to a place of safety and trust. It’s great when you get there and the journey is pretty fulfilling too. Related posts:Via https://www.strengthscope.com/building-trust-in-virtual-teams/ Team health remains a top priorityTeam health is at a premium these days. When I say health, I mean as in well-being as well as performance for individuals in a team and for the team overall. This year has been unprecedented in its demands on teams to flex and bend into all sorts of shapes they’re not used to. People leaving, joining, objectives changing, changing again, and for many teams, all in the context of zero physical in-person contact. Checking-in on team health virtually is definitely trickier than in person but it remains more important than ever, given today’s uncertain climate, so that everyone in the team can really truly see each other and listen to and hear each other. So, if you’re in a team, if you’re a team leader or if you’re working with a team, then this blog is for you. The topic is disarmingly simple – how to do team check-ins well.
Humans needs social connectionHumans need social connection, we crave it – we need and want to be a part of a group that means something to us. It’s partly how we define our identities. For many people, seeing ourselves as part of a meaningful group is how we feel well and stay well. We even have feelgood hormones that are invoked by social connection. Oxytocin, brought about by social connection, sometimes called the love hormone, reduces cortisol levels and other stress responses in our bodies, also reducing feelings of anxiety and psychological discomfort. When we’re separated from our team or we feel reduced belonging because we are physically distant, even isolated, the effects on our health and on our colleagues’ health can be significant and for some, severe. So checking in on the team is really important to keep everyone in good mental health and to ensure the team continues to perform at its best. Three sets of tips for team check-insI want to divide today’s tips-laden podcast into three sections: 1. checking in on team members in each and every meeting; and then 2. individual check-ins in monthly meetings; and finally 3. collective team check-ins in monthly or quarterly meetings. Tip set 1: Day to day meeting check-insMy first set of tips relates to every meeting, or as many as possible. There are 4: 1. At Strengthscope, we have a simple way of connecting at the start of meetings. Firstly, we ask people at the meeting to ‘check in’. What I mean by that is to ask how are you right now, how are you feeling, what’s going on for you? Being heard in this way, having your emotions validated and feeling that other people are paying attention to you all serve to build a sense of connection and well-being. Nancy Kline’s book ‘Time to Think’ is a great source of inspiration for positive behaviours when people need to be heard. In groups, Nancy talks about suspending judgement, listening without talking and allowing the person to finish completely what they are saying before speaking. In fact, she’s developed a whole methodology around better team behaviour which is well worth checking out. 2. During as many meetings as possible, we also ask ‘What strength will you bring to this meeting?’. This gives everyone a focus and allows them to contribute more than just their job role or technical knowledge. It can help create an additional sense of purpose for people in the meeting. 3. We repeat this process this by asking how well using their strength worked at the end of the meeting and just listening to people’s reflections. Sometimes we give feedback to each other too, on the strengths that we saw or those that we found particularly valuable during the meeting. 4. My final general meetings tip is to finish off by asking people to give a one word checkout on how they are leaving the meeting, like ‘energised’ or ‘focused’ or ‘aligned’ or ‘confused’, ‘low’ or ‘hyper’. Whatever people say, it’s a good way of letting their emotion be heard before they move on to the next task. I can’t tell you how helpful these simple tips can be in identifying where people are struggling or where they’re really energised and other team members responding accordingly. It’s often possible to spot people who are having difficulty from a well-being POV long before it’s starting to manifest in their work or relationships by just allowing them to talk about their feelings. Tip-set 2: Monthly meeting check-insMy second set of tips relates to monthly meetings, or at whatever frequency your team meets all together. In forums like these, there are some great team check-in questions to be had, like: 1. What are you most proud of in the last month? Normalising people feeling proud of their achievements and contribution is a powerful way of building a sense of purpose and connection in the team and has a very positive effect on self-esteem. People love appreciating people, so the consequence of sharing stories of achievement is a great big dose of oxytocin and a feeling of calm for everyone at the meeting. 2. What has been your biggest challenge? Who has helped? Asking about team members’ challenges is important because it gives an insight into where they may need help. It also normalises vulnerability, rather than people feeling that they need to take responsibility for everything personally and not let others share the burden. Particularly at a time when many teams are physically distant, it’s super important that the team is encouraged to openly share any concerns about workload being too much or tasks being too challenging, so that they can access the support they need. 3. What’s your biggest challenge that’s coming up? What help will you need? This is the future flip of question 2, except that this time, you’re getting team members to actually ask for help and encouraging the rest of the team to volunteer specific support for challenges ahead. By vocalising challenges and by getting the whole team to hear what those challenges are, support and insights can come from all sorts of places and what might have felt like an insurmountable challenge can quickly become reframed as something more doable. Tip-set 3: Team offsite/team development check-ins My final set of tips relates to less frequent team meetings, but meetings that should still be happening, probably more regularly than they were last year to ensure that that sense of team belonging and inclusion remains high. So team away-days or events where everyone gets together to not just talk work. In this context, my check-in suggestions relate to three areas of team health: emotions, objectives and behaviours. 1. For an emotional read on the team, why not try Marc Brackett’s mood meter (below). This is basically a matrix with pleasantness along one axis (high or low) and energy along the (high or low).
Get the team to mark where they are at right now to get a read on the team’s current state of happiness and energy. Whatever they say, make it ok, all feelings are valid right? This activity also gives you a sense of what might be needed to support the team emotionally, if there are groups or a majority in a particular emotional space. 2. As regards the team’s delivery of objectives, have a conversation about ‘What’s gone well?’ and ‘What hasn’t gone so well?’ recently. And ask the team what can we do with both? How can we build on the positives that have gone well and how can we address the negatives? This way, team successes can be celebrated and challenging areas can be faced into. And in both cases, the team feel enabled to work together to learn from and build on what is working well, as well as finding solutions for any challenges that have come up. 3. Finally, when checking in on team behaviours. If your team has a behavioural charter or set of values that it lives by, check in with the team against those behaviours or values – ask their views on what are we doing well and not so well and what one thing should we do before we next meet that will make the biggest difference? This holds the team to account for their ‘how’ as well as their ‘what’ of team performance, making sure that everyone gives similar weighting to both. If your team doesn’t have a team charter or team values yet, then that’s an activity for another day – both have great value in helping a team to gel around shared ways of working. In conclusionSo there are my team check-in tips – for everyday meetings, for monthly meetings and for team development sessions. If you just take one or two of these tips forward, it will make a big difference to team morale. Any more and you’ll really start to see a cultural shift happening within the team. Better to go for fewer actions and do them well so that they become part of everyday team life. I hope you’ve found today’s podcast useful. Look out for next week’s podcast on how to build trust in virtual teams. Till next time, stay strong! The Strengths Guy podcast is available on all major podcast platforms. Find it on Apple podcasts, Spotify, Google podcasts, Stitcher, ACast, TuneIn, Breaker and Soundcloud. Make sure to subscribe to get them at the start of the working week! Related posts:Via https://www.strengthscope.com/how-to-do-team-check-ins/ The term ‘dysfunctional team’ sends a shudder through many of us, bringing up visions of a team that is infighting, politicking, game-playing, back-stabbing, bullying and emotionally outbursting. In fact, there’s so much anxiety around dysfunctional teams that a whole industry has sprung up around dealing with them, the charge led by the author Patrick Lencioni, who wrote the book ‘Five Dysfunctions of Team’ back in 2002. At Strengthscope, what we’re finding right now is that more and more teams are facing significant challenges and some of them are struggling with the level of change and uncertainty they’re experiencing. And if pushed, it might be possible to define some of the teams we’re working with as exhibiting some dysfunctional behaviours, or at least, less than functional behaviours. So today’s podcast focuses on what to do when you are asked to support a dysfunctional team or if you feel you might be part of a dysfunctional team. My name’s Dr Paul Brewerton, the strengths guy, Doctor of Psychology and Founder and Chair of Strengthscope. I podcast each week on how you can take a positive, proactive approach at work using a strengths lens to get more from yourself, more from your team and more from your organisation.
Defining dysfunctional teams and functional teamsSo what about dysfunctional teams then? Well let’s have a think about functional teams first, teams that are working. Katzenbach and Smith, in their Wisdom of Teams paper (great paper by the way, absolutely worth getting hold of), those guys defined functional, productive teams as “a small number of people with complementary skills who are committed to a common purpose, performance goals and approach for which they hold themselves mutually accountable.” On the other hand, Patrick Lencioni in his work on dysfunctional teams, describes these as showing an absence of trust, a fear of conflict, a lack of commitment, an avoidance of accountability and inattention to results. At Strengthscope, we have spent years developing the antidote to dysfunctional teams by building a practical, positive team development model which addresses each of Patrick Lencioni’s dysfunctions. We call it StrengthscopeTeam and it captures the essential elements of behaviour that teams need to develop if they’re going to work in the way that Katzenbach and Smith describe. So here’s our plan for team development success and here’s how you can move away from dysfunction to fully function(al)… 1. Understand team contextWhen we work with teams at Strengthscope, we will spend time speaking to the team’s sponsor (maybe someone from HR or L&D, or maybe the team leader), as well as speaking to team members first of all to understand the context, the ‘now’ of the team. How long the team has been together, the current challenges it’s facing, its strengths and risk areas, the team’s history, any recent changes, its purpose and goals, how much development the team has had so far and what has landed well and not so well in the past. These questions form the first part of our team development process because these conversations allow team members to acknowledge their current context and where they’re at right now. We combine this with a request for team members to complete StrengthscopeTeam, because that gives us another layer of information about where the team is at right now – in terms of the team’s strengths, risk areas and current team behaviours. 2. Gain acknowledgement from the team on where they’re atThe next step towards becoming a high functioning, productive team is for team members to acknowledge the issues the team is facing and to want to commit to making a change. This acknowledgement may be the first time that the team has recognised or faced into its challenges, externally and internally, so it’s important to create a sense of psychological safety for team members. This allows the team to be able to openly discuss their feelings and reactions, when results from the interviews and any other diagnostics used (StrengthscopeTeam in our case) are shared. You can do this by contracting with the team on confidentiality, openness, honesty, speaking for yourself, withholding assumptions and listening, asking the team for their input in drawing up a list of behaviours that they all sign up to. During conversations with the team, they can remind each other if this isn’t happening to keep things on track. When the team is ready and committed to making a change (and as you’ll appreciate, getting to this stage means that change is already happening), you can move on to getting clarity on the team’s aspirations. 3. Help the team gain clarityWhen a team is clear on its purpose, goals and roles, there is a much greater chance that it will function effectively. Humans need clarity to feel safe and confident. If everyone in a team is clear on what they are doing and why they are doing it, there’s much less chance that the human ‘survival instinct’ of fight, flight, freeze will kick in and create unhelpful behaviours in the team, based around fear and self-protection, rather than trust and abundance. The team needs to be clear on its purpose, its ‘why’ initially so that everyone in the team can feel that being part of the team has meaning to them. And it needs to be clear on what it creates or outputs. So we work with teams to be clear on those points, and then to establish who should do what to achieve those goals and objectives. 4. Create the conditions for trustHaving gained clarity, the team has a greater level of psychological safety and that’s a precursor to trust. Often, infighting and politicking comes from ambiguity in roles and goals, so people jostle for position to try and establish themselves as important and relevant. And that’s a totally human reaction. Trust can’t be forced, it develops as a result of a sense of safety, feeling valued, and a consistent context in terms of what’s ok and not ok to do. To help with this, we recommend that teams develop a behavioural charter that describes acceptable behaviour that the team wants to encourage – a set of commitments that everyone develops together and signs up to. Usually, this includes some of the things the team has already contracted on like openness, honesty, listening, assuming positive intent and so on. As well, if team members know each other’s strengths and risks, then they can get help and give help to each other in specific areas and over time, that consistency and greater understanding will help trust to develop within the team. 5. Ensure a high level of accountabilityNow to the nitty-gritty. For a team to perform well, it needs to commit to delivering results individually and that means individual accountability. This is one of the central points of Patrick Lencioni’s 5 dysfunctions of a team and with good reason. If a team’s members don’t take individual responsibility for delivering results or aren’t prepared to call each other out for non-delivery, the team’s never going to be able to achieve strong performance. The good news is that with the team having moved towards psychological safety by creating clarity and building trust, the foundations are now in place for tougher conversations when they’re needed. For this to work, individual accountabilities (tasks, goals, delivery milestones and so on) need to be documented and reviewed with fair consequences for non-delivery. Team members should feel supported to be able to deliver what’s required but once agreement is reached, there should be a commitment to deliver from each team member and a sense of responsibility and ownership by each member of the team for the actions on them. A high functioning team will be prepared to have open, honest, crunchy adult-adult conversations when delivery isn’t happening. 6. Build change readinessOne area not really addressed in Lencioni’s work is that of flexibility in the face of change. Given the ever-more ever-changing context that teams are facing these days, it’s important to ensure that teams are as change-ready as possible. So taking an external perspective and not too introspective a view is super-important here. When a team becomes navel-gazey or complacent, threats and risks get missed and when they do come into view, that can place unwanted stress on the team as it tries to figure out how to respond. Worst case is that team members look to apportion blame when things don’t go according to plan, rather than learn from mistakes. Best case is that the team is so connected to its context, that it flexes strategy or approach before it’s necessary rather than when a shock happens. And that needs good discipline around scenario-planning, as well as a solutions-focus in the event of something unexpected happening, rather than a focus on problems and blaming.
7. Stretch the team to continuously improveThe last element of our team development model enables the team to continuously improve by actively gathering feedback on its performance from stakeholders and taking action to make improvements to its ways of working and its stakeholder offer. We’re talking here about the development of a positive, growth mindset where team members are open to feedback and to learn and develop along the way. Many teams that we work with are initially reticent about gathering stakeholder feedback, but when the team feels safe and has a clear mission, team members are more likely to be open to feedback from stakeholders, as they realise that this feedback will only help them better meet their objectives and deliver on their purpose. ConclusionSo how to deal with a dysfunctional team then? Make them feel safe. Get them to acknowledge where they’re at and commit to a different future. Get clear on purpose, goals and roles. Build a behaviour charter of what’s ok and not ok. Hold people to account for non-delivery. Know how to change before it’s too late. And keep close to stakeholders. If you follow those steps, you’ll move a team from dysfunctional to functional and from negative to positive. If you’re interested to know more, check out our StrengthscopeTeam approach by googling it – all one word. Give us a call if you like, we’re always there to help. Look out next week for my how-to guide on team check-ins. Till next time, stay strong. This podcast is available on all major podcast platforms. Find it on Apple podcasts, Spotify, Google podcasts, Stitcher, ACast, TuneIn, Breaker and Soundcloud. Make sure to subscribe to get them at the start of the working week!
Related posts:Via https://www.strengthscope.com/top-tips-for-dealing-with-a-dysfunctional-team/ Team development is squarely and firmly back on the agenda in most organisations. And because now more than ever, teams are working virtually, organisations need a route map for building successful virtual teams. Now it would be easy to say that building virtual teams is just the same as building teams that are co-located, and to some extent that’s true, but there are definite differences. So in today’s podcast, I want to share with you the strengths approach to building effective virtual teams. My name’s Dr Paul Brewerton, the strengths guy, Founder and Chair of Strengthscope and Doctor of Organisational Psychology. I podcast at the top of the week to make sure that you have a top week and so that you’re still feeling on top by the bottom of the week. No one talks about the bottom of the week. I mean the end of the week. I know that’s kind of obvious. So without any more jiggery-pokery, let’s get to the heart of the matter: building effective virtual teams the strengths way.
The science behind effective virtual teamsFirst things first, I did podcast on effective virtual teamworking a little while back, when we were just coming into lockdown, so check that out for more tips and tricks. First up, as I did in that podcast, I want to summarise some of the reasons why there needs to be a method when you’re building effective virtual teams. And so here’s a summary of the research that’s out there:
How to make virtual teams work successfullySo that’s the research, now to my guide on building effective virtual teams using the strengths approach. I have 5 main areas to consider, so let’s cover them off and that’ll give you a road map. My recommendation is that you consider each of these 5 areas when working with or within a team that you believe could use some development. Genuine team development takes time, needs real, honest conversations, effort and discipline to be truly valuable. I’m not talking here about flashbang teambuilding events or one off team get togethers (although those activities do have their own value, just within the context of something deeper and longer-term). I’m talking proper investment in making a team successful over weeks and months. So, how to make virtual teams work successfully? 1. Understand the impact of strengths individually and collectively to build trustA podcast on building effective virtual teams the strengths way wouldn’t be much use if I didn’t give strengths a shout, would it? But there’s more, so much more, than just a shout out to strengths needed here. When done well, you can unlock team development if you apply strengths principles. To do this, you need to start by having a common language…a way of understanding strengths that everyone can grasp and use. The best way to do this is to find a strengths assessment tool that is valid, reliable and accessible. Like Strengthscope. In fact, by those criteria, Strengthscope is actually your only choice. Individual strengths in virtual teamsBased on the strengths assessment, once the team has an understanding of what they love, what energizes them and what they are good at, you can start to understand how to get the best from everyone in the team individually and from the team as a whole. At the individual level, get each member of the team to describe the strength or strengths that they would like to bring to the team to make it more successful. Like Strategic mindedness to spot threats to the team before they become risks. Or Relationship building to build out the team’s connections with key stakeholders. Or Optimism, to keep the team on a positive footing when facing adversity. Make this a habit: strengths share and strengths borrow as specifically and as practically as possible as frequently as you can. For example, ‘Jim, I’d like to call on your Strategic mindedness this week to help me finish off a paper I’m putting together on business opportunities and risks in a new market’. Also, offer strengths at the start of meetings so that each person in the meeting can make a conscious choice about a strength that would help the meeting run well. Check in at the end of the meeting as to how well they have been able to use their strength, even how much others have valued it. This approach really deepens connections within a team, even early on its development and that can very quickly lead to greater trust developing within the team, which is one of the most challenging areas to develop in virtual teams, as I said earlier. Strengths-sharing fast-tracks trust-building. Trust me. Collective strengths in virtual teamsConsidering strengths collectively can also be a real eye-opener: imagine a team with a dominance of Enthusiasm, Decisiveness and Initiative strengths that most of them share but the team hasn’t realised that. So most of the team individually get very excited about new ideas, and also like to move quickly to put those ideas into practice. Particularly in virtual environments, there may be more of a tendency towards individual action, rather than collective, because team members may forget to consult, discuss and agree a collective way forward. So in the case of our example team, that may lead to unintentional overlap, doubling up on work, inefficiency and then frustration, because they’re all off individually putting their passion projects into action without collaborating or checking in. More effective then is the virtual team that considers its collective strengths and organises itself to get the most from them. Our team of enthusiastic, decisive initiators can point those strengths into discussion, evaluation of options, deciding on an agreed way forward and then organise their work to deliver the plan as efficiently as possible, with each team member playing to their areas of expertise, strength and skill. They can still use their powerful individual strengths, just in a way that’s aligned. Now that intro to strengths in virtual teams is super-summary – if you want to know how to do that in practice – quickly, easily, with insight – I would highly encourage you to check out StrengthscopeTeam. That is exactly what we built it for.
2. Getting clarity of goals, roles and responsibilities for a virtual teamSo now we’re moving from strengths specifically into developing good habits and disciplines in the team. And as I mentioned at the start in the research that’s been carried out on virtual teams, formalising a virtual team’s goals, roles, responsibilities and also communication methods is even more important in a virtual team than in a co-located team in terms of driving up team effectiveness and success. There are many ways to do this, but being clear on team purpose and objectives is a really good start. Ask yourself and the team: what is the team for? What purpose does it serve? What does it deliver, what outcomes is it expecting to generate? What are its goals and objectives? However you ask these questions, when you get the answers from the team leader (or even better from a facilitated team discussion), try and boil it down to as few, simple statements of intent as possible, so that the team are all pulling the same direction and all buy into the same goals. Once these are agreed, particularly in a virtual team, come back to the objectives and purpose frequently, like at least each month, so that people continue to have them top of mind. Individual responsibilities in virtual teamsSecond point here, we’ve already touched on individual responsibilities when I described the research on shared leadership and why it’s important in virtual teams that each team member is super-clear on what they lead on because it’s their skill area, based on their expertise. When you’re not physically around each other as much, you lose those environmental cues that remind you what each person does, so having the clarity on who does what gives everyone a mental map of the team, as well as building a sense of confidence and meaning for each team member because they own something and feel valued for something that contributes to the overall goal. Methods of communication for virtual teamsFinal point, agreeing methods of communication for the team is also really important. I podcast on this in detail in my effective virtual team communication podcast, just a few weeks back, so check that out for more detail. In summary, I would encourage you to be clear from the outset on your team communication do’s and don’ts (for example, in the Strengthscope team we use MS Teams as a default communication method, minimise WhatsApp communication outside work hours, and don’t expect a response to emails sent in the evening after work, etc.). Do whatever works for your team to set boundaries for everyone, so that everyone’s expectations are aligned. As I say, check out my effective virtual team communication podcast for more on this. Overall then, that’s goals, roles, responsibilities and communication done.
3. Building accountability in a virtual teamSo once everyone in the team is clear on their role, and on the purpose and goals of the team, as well as being clear on how they are expected to contribute to the team using their strengths, skills and experience, it’s time to get crunchy. What I mean by that is that each member of the team will be required to take individual responsibility for actions and tasks allocated to them, along with dates and quality standards to deliver to. In a virtual team, this is even more important than when a team is co-located, because you won’t be able to have informal check-ins on task progress across the team unless you schedule them in. Getting buy-in to task and project allocationSo, when developing effective virtual teams, everyone needs to be bought into decisions on tasks and projects allocated, the scope of these and be crystal clear on who is doing what. If people aren’t clear or if the boundaries are hazy, it may well be that some tasks won’t get completed in the way that was expected or in time. So make sure that meetings where actions are agreed are chaired well so that tasks are scoped, discussed, challenged and then agreed, as well as agreeing any check-in points along the way so that team members can support each other and also you can agree when a line manager check-in might be useful. Giving feedback well in virtual teamsThe next bit is where a lot of virtual team effectiveness comes unstuck: giving feedback well. At Strengthscope, we talk about BID and BIRD feedback (otherwise known as positive and constructive feedback) and my how to for doing that is at S1, E4: Great feedback in 3 steps. For now, considering virtual teamworking, it may be that people feel less comfortable giving feedback virtually than in person, but it is very important, so it needs to be planned, structured well and delivered clearly, objectively and with positive intent, if the team is going to develop a high level of accountability. It’s really worth investing the time skill-building with the team to get team members comfortable with delivering feedback well because there’s so much baggage attached to it for many people, but it’s a learnable skill just like most other things at work and in life.
4. Dealing with change as a virtual teamThe next step on the journey to developing effective virtual teams is to get the team change-able. Not changeable. Change-able, like able to deal well with change. Now there are some character strengths (like Flexibility, Resilience, Strategic mindedness and Optimism for example) that can be super-helpful during change. So I would encourage you to find out where these strengths are in the team and call on team members who have them to bring them to the party when they’re needed more. The truth is that change is inevitable and everyone in the team will need to roll with changes the team needs to survive and thrive. So quick tips on doing this well:
So that’s building agility and change readiness in effective virtual teams in a nutshell.
5. Continuous improvement and learning in virtual teamsThe last area I’d like to consider is how to keep the team continuously improving. First up on this is to recognise and celebrate achievements and ideally to link these to strengths. So whatever successes have happened, ask team members which strength or strengths they used and which strength or strengths they valued in others to get the success that they did. Celebrating wins is even more important when you can’t get together in person, so do set aside the time for it, make it feel special and link it the success to what the team did so that you can all can learn from that success. The same is true for things not going so well, although most teams spend long enough picking over the embers of what they deem to be their failures. Of course, there’s never really failure, only learning, so look for that learning, what we’ll do differently next time to build on what we’ve learned this time. Getting feedback from team stakeholdersIn this final habit area, it’s also important to bring in feedback…yes from team members to each other as we covered earlier, but also from key customers and stakeholders into the team, so that the team can get a sense of how they’re being seen externally as well as how they see themselves from the inside. That continuous improvement cycle will over time become more habituated and seeking out the feedback won’t feel so quite as threatening, as gathering and analysing feedback is seen more as an opportunity to keep growing and to keep improving. So that’s continuing to stretch, learn and improve your virtual team. And that’s it! I have taken you through there the strengths way of how to build effective virtual teams. In fact, it’s the Strengthscope way because every step I’ve talked you through is covered in our StrengthscopeTeam methodology. Till next time, stay strong.
This podcast is available on all major podcast platforms. Find it on Apple podcasts, Spotify, Google podcasts, Stitcher, ACast, TuneIn, Breaker and Soundcloud. Make sure to subscribe to get them at the start of the working week! Related posts:Via https://www.strengthscope.com/building-effective-virtual-teams-the-strengths-way/ As our new world of working continues to reveal itself, virtual teamworking is fast becoming a standard in many organisations. With more teams working fully virtually and others at least working partly on a virtual basis, there is a growing need for virtual teams not used to working in this way to get some tips on how to get the best from themselves and their members in the new normal. In today’s blog, I want to give you some tips on how to improve communication in a team, specifically in a virtual context, right now. My name’s Dr Paul Brewerton, the strengths guy, genetically wired to bring you evidence-based tips on how to get the most from yourself and from your work colleagues; and even from your outside of work life, each week on a Monday morning as you prepare yourself for the week ahead.
Why is good team communication important?First, something on the importance of team communication – why is communication important in a team? Good communication underpins so many characteristics of high performing teams according to study after study.
And what about virtual team communication?Virtual team communication challenges, magnified in the new world of work, are what I want to focus in on now. So here are my 9 top tips on how to improve virtual team communication, harvested just for you from our collective new world of work team experiences at Strengthscope.
1. Create virtual watercooler momentsSo these days you, and/or other team members, might be missing the watercooler chats, the few words by the coffee machine, the over the back of the chair quick check-ins. And probably you’ve tried building in small talk to virtual meetings (which I’ll come on to as that in itself is important). But it just doesn’t feel like you’re connecting with your colleagues like you used to. So here’s tip no 1, for maximum connection potential and to improve that understanding between you that good team communication is based on, actually put informal catchups in your diary with your colleagues, just for you to chill and chat and have some time together. It will pay dividends. 2. Pick the right mode of communicationThis is an age-old challenge that’s been amplified by virtual teamworking because there are more methods for team communication than ever before. So if you prefer to receive tasks via email (so you can file them and tick them off), instant messaging for quick Q&A, and video for more tricky or emotional conversations, then know your preferences and be honest about them with other team members. Your colleagues won’t necessarily know until you tell them. And if they don’t get it the first time, communicate it again until you’re getting closer to the kind of communication that works for you. Which communication mode is the most efficient?Also, there are some modes of communication that are just more efficient than others – firstly, when you can see a text chat turning into something where wires are getting crossed or there’s something that you need to quickly align with a colleague on, make a call and talk it through because, sometimes, a 2 minute call will save a 10 minute text exchange. Secondly, emotional content is better not on email. Chat is better because you can use emojis. Video or voice are best because that way you have more information from the other person coming from their body language, their face and their tone of voice. If you’re not sure then, try and default to the best likely communication mode depending on what you want to communicate. 3. When in doubt, overcommunicateI mentioned earlier the need to communicate often more than twice. People miss stuff first, second, third time round. Email it, and put it in the calendar invite, and email again, and remind on chat, and finally, don’t assume people will have read what you want them to have read. Instead, assume they haven’t, and come prepared with a quick summary of the salient points rather than a pointy finger and an eyeroll. 4. Make time for human connection with other team membersAs well as building in virtual watercooler moments, I’m talking here about the kind of ‘small talk’ that you have at start of in-person meetings where you’re just finding out what’s happened with a colleague’s house move, or plumbing leak, or kid’s school application, or tray bake, whatever’s important right now. Make time for checking in and out, either formally (like everyone ‘check in’: ‘how are you feeling right now?’ And at the end ‘check out’: ‘in one word, how are you feeling, leaving the meeting?’). Or you can just do it by asking people their latest news. But all of these micro-behaviours demonstrate thoughtfulness and care. That builds effective team communication through connection, cohesion, and this will get oxytocin involved. Oxytocin is the connection hormone, which evokes a strong sense of belonging, and ultimately well-being. Bring your strengths to meetingsAt Strengthscope, as well as checking in, we also ask at the start of most meetings – ‘what strengths are you bringing to this meeting and why?’ And at the end, we check on whether each person has brought their intended strength and how it helped. Last thing is in meetings, make it ok to check-in on people in the moment. If anyone’s looking disconnected or perhaps upset or you sense a change in tone in a discussion, honestly checking in on the person or people involved is a powerful thing to do to build a climate of trust, support and belonging. And that promotes good communication, particularly in the context of virtual teams . 5. Be kind to yourself with your diary managementGive yourself 10-15 minute breaks between meetings whenever you can. The reason is for you to be able to decompress between meetings, including getting a cuppa or taking a toilet break. Also, during your day, do put full breaks in – for a walk, for lunch, for relaxation time. Same reason: state change – when you decompress, reset and feel more in control, when you feel that you’ve got a better chance of capturing your essential actions (maybe even doing a couple) before running headlong into the next meeting, you’re going to be better able to communicate because you’ll have less running around your head. 6. WFH doesn’t mean AWAAcronym jargonbuster here = Working from home doesn’t mean Always available. Make sure you are respectful of people’s time and how they have organised their day. Don’t assume they’ll always be able to give you a ‘quick 5 minutes’, just because they’re WFH. They’re still working, and you don’t know what they’re actually doing, but best to assume it’s important and that if they can spare a couple of minutes, maybe see that as a bonus, not an expectation. Also, be realistic about how much time you need from them and about how important your ‘really important thing’ actually is. That way, you give other virtual team members the best chance of prioritising effectively. That respect for each other is a fundamental building block of effective communication. 7. Be respectful of meetings, inside and outSo inside the virtual meeting – be present, show your hands, raise a hand, listen well, be conscious of where you’re looking. This has become much harder on virtual meetings than in real life. I personally also find it harder in a group meetings than in 121s (where I seem to automatically stay present) but it’s equally important to stay engaged. So, know when you’re going to get distracted and call it out or squash it. Outside of meetings, don’t be texting people in the meetings and expecting an immediate response, because the tech is telling you that they’re in a meeting! You wouldn’t be running up to the meeting room door in person and demanding an immediate response unless there was a genuine emergency like there was a fire in the building. Don’t be the distraction for your work colleagues – let them stay focused, engaged and attentive. 8. Reduce distractions but be okay with being humanThis is another two-parter and it relates to you being present so that you can communicate well and show that you’re communicating well in a team environment. First off, I mean clear around your working space so that you’re not too distracted by mess and things to do and various eye-catching materials. Desk clear downs I find to be a useful periodic activity coz it seems no matter how well I clear my desk (like into the bin in one sweep, or more likely into a cupboard), the stuff has a habit of spreading again when I don’t deal with it immediately. The being human part is that when you’re working from home, or in a shared space of any kind, stuff will happen. Other people you live with, and also the not people you live with – cats, dogs, other pet life – will happen into video shot and that’s ok. This may be distracting for other people on a call but if you see it as a moment to chill and change state, it can be a useful distraction. Plus it’s just gonna happen anyway so be kind to yourself and step into being more of you when working in the new normal. It’s all part of building those genuine human connections and a climate of trust on which to base better, more open and honest team communication. 9. If you’re a manager, role model itAll the things I’ve said so far are super-amplified in importance when you’re a manager. If you want to see your team being present in meetings, listening respectfully, raising hands, not expecting immediate responses from people on chat, then you need to set the bar through your own behaviour. If you’re not communicating well in your team environment and you know where you need to get better, take those tips of mine and put them into action so that you can be a better role model for the behaviour you’re looking for. And that is it, you have been listening to nine top tips for working well as a virtual team, focusing in on the importance of team communication. As I say, take your pick, perhaps just pick one or two, no more, to do really well in your team. This new working norm is here to stay, I would say, so give your virtual team communication a chance and give it a go. Till next time, stay strong. And for more, have a listen to my back catalogue for more on team communication and virtual team working.
This podcast is available on all major podcast platforms. Find it on Apple podcasts, Spotify, Google podcasts, Stitcher, ACast, TuneIn, Breaker and Soundcloud. Make sure to subscribe to get them at the start of the working week! Related posts:Via https://www.strengthscope.com/9-ways-to-improve-virtual-team-communication/ Welcome to improving your career wellbeing part 2. A couple of weeks ago, Improve your career wellbeing part 1 introduced the topic of career wellbeing and took you through the first 3 of the 7 elements:
Today I want to give you some pointers on managing the final 4 elements of career wellbeing so you can strengthen your strengths and manage any risk areas that you find when it comes to your career.
My name’s Dr Paul Brewerton, the strengths guy, I podcast first thing each week to catch you at that point of transition from weekend to work to get you off on a strong footing. My podcasts focus on living a positive, productive life both at work and outside. First, a quick reminder from last week’s blog that, in my view, the overall landscape of careers today present greater opportunities for us than ever before (even though, right now, the pandemic is a tough time for many). The growing appreciation of workplace diversity (albeit that consciousness has been a long time coming and will always be a work in progress), combined with technological improvements enabling geographically distant collaboration and most of us having longer careers (perhaps due to changes in pension provision) mean that now, even the notion of ‘career wellbeing’ is actually a thing. It’s something you can even say in a sentence and people won’t think you’re weird. So, the second set of career wellbeing factors to get your career onto the soundest possible footing are:
Your work performanceLet’s get to it with your work performance. When you’re considering your career wellbeing you want to feel that you’re doing a good job. That you’re valued, that you’re moving your career in a positive direction and opening up opportunities for now and for the future. I have three top tips to help you maximise your work performance:
Clear objectives For many people, there is too much assumption about what they feel is expected of them in their role. I was with a coaching client recently who has just stepped into one of the biggest global roles in his organisation. One of the things we talked about was making sure to be clear on expectations from the business and from his new boss. What the objectives and expected outcomes of his role actually are. You might think you know but being crystal-clear is essential if you’re going to be able to point your strengths and skills towards something concrete and valued. So be clear on what’s expected. Make sure it’s agreed and documented and keep revisiting those objectives and role outcomes with your boss as often as you need to make sure they’re still relevant. Play to your strengths For far too many people still aren’t finding roles which allow them to play best to their strengths and even when they do, they’re not necessarily playing to their strengths every day. If that’s you, the shame of it is that it will, over time, reduce your engagement with work and mean that you can’t be your most authentic or your most productive self. So keep your strengths close and make sure that you’re checking in with yourself often on how much and how well you’re using them. For example – am I using my Collaboration strength in this conversation and how well am I using it? Could I bring my Strategic mindedness in here to help with long term planning?
You’ll need to communicate your strengths to colleagues and your line manager so that they understand how those strengths can help them. Once you’re more open about those qualities that bring you energy and contribute value, ask for feedback. How well you’re using them as well as asking regularly how well you’re doing in your role. Get feedback, get it often and learn from it. Find your sense of purposeMy second main area of career wellbeing this week is to find your sense of purpose. My podcast at Season 6, episode 6 is on Ikigai (essentially a Japanese word for purpose). Finding your purpose, the ikigai way, will actually extend your life and that’s fact! To briefly summarise, you need to find out 4 things:
It’s at the intersect between these that ikigai resides. What you love is the stuff that you really really enjoy, the thing that you could do for work that would make it feel like not work. What you’re good at relates to your strengths and skills – what energises you, where you’ve built skills up over the years and where you can therefore make a unique contribution. What the world needs relates more to having a higher purpose beyond just your own experience, something more meaningful which you can point your energies towards. And finally, you need to get paid (well, most of us do) so being realistic about all these things and how you can make money from doing them has to be considered. You might also want to listen to my podcast at Season 7, episode 9: Find your joy, as there are more tips there. Your learning and developmentMoving on to my third area of career wellbeing – learning and development. My advice, to maximise your sense of career wellbeing is to focus your development primarily on your strengths. Most of us still spend more time trying to minimise our weaknesses (what we’re bad at) and don’t have much energy left for developing out our strengths (what we’re already probably good at and could gain mastery in with time and focus). Developing your strengths further, while it might initially seem self-indulgent, is actually going to give you, your career and your employer much greater payback than a focus on weakness. If you want some more evidence for this, you can listen to my podcast at Season 7, episode 6 on why you should be directing your learning towards your strengths. If you’re sold already, then my advice on stretching your strengths is to follow the 70: 20:10 model for development. Spend 70% of your time in direct practical experiences, 20% of your time observing experts in the field and bringing in mentors and partners who can give you feedback and 10% of your time spent on taught content such as online courses, TED Talks, books, youtube etc. As a practical example, say I have a Strategic mindedness strength. I would spend most of my development energy dollar on finding practical ways I could apply that strength to get better at using it – strategy workshops, strategic planning projects and so on. To get to the 20% on enrolling others, I’d look around at work for role models in strategic thinking and pick their brains on how they do it. Finally, I might look for some high-quality online content on strategic thinking to support me and give me some models and tools to try. Your work-life blendThe last of the 4 areas for today is work-life blend, never more important than today when homeworking has become the default or even a necessity for many. Four things to consider here to maximise your career wellbeing, all of which are covered in more detail in my podcast on Work-life balance or work-life blend at Season 3, episode 7. The things to work on are:
And that is it! We’ve covered your work performance, your sense of purpose, your learning and development and your work-life blend. That’s the fabulous 4 after the terrific trio last time. Take one tip from each of the 7 areas and you will be flying with a stronger sense of career wellbeing. Till next time, stay well. This podcast is available on all major podcast platforms. Find it on Apple podcasts, Spotify, Google podcasts, Stitcher, ACast, TuneIn, Breaker and Soundcloud. Make sure to check out the back catalogue and subscribe to get them at the start of the working week! Related posts:Via https://www.strengthscope.com/improving-your-career-wellbeing-part-2/ This week’s podcast is a big one. It’s a podversation with the new Managing Director of Strengthscope, David Lincoln. Yes, you heard that right, David will be the new Managing Director of Strengthscope from October 19th (my birthday) and I will transition formally into the sole role of Founder rather than Founder and MD. My name’s Dr Paul Brewerton, the strengths guy, Founder of Strengthscope and bringer of science to help you upgrade your work life and your life life with practical tips from the world of positive psychology. My podcasts are released each Monday to set you up for the strongest week ahead. This week we’re talking about how you can transition into a new role using strengths principles by:
Knowing where you’ve come from and what got you hereWhenever you make a role transition, it’s really helpful to take stock. Look back at where you’ve been and work out what got you to the point in your career where you’re ready to make the new move. My story is that I’ve always loved three things:
Those three loves led me to start my first business while I was completing my PhD which focused on culture change and leadership development. I ran that business for 13 years in all but about 7 years into that journey, in 2006, I set up Strengthscope. With a business partner, we set about building a method for helping people understand what they gained most energy from at work. I’ve had a LOT of learning from this experience, including:
Being clear on your outcomesNext up is that when you’re moving into a new role, you’ve got to be clear on what you’re being asked to do. As a business, we’re pretty clear on that: Our vision (the change we want to see in the world) is to enable all humans to embrace their uniqueness and change their lives for the better. Our mission (how we do that) is to reveal the unique strengths of people across the world, enabling then to bring their most authentic and inspired selves to work and to life every day. In my new role I have 6 key outcomes on my Job Description. I’ll talk about three though:
There’s a real difference between the two roles, meaning we shouldn’t tread on each other’s toes – MUCH. That clarity of what we’ll each be doing is essential for us to stay focused and motivated and be clear on our role purpose. I was with a coaching client this week who has just stepped into one of the biggest global roles in his organisation. One of the things we talked about was being clear on expectations from the business, from your new boss and what the objectives and expected outcomes of your role actually are. You might think you know. But, being crystal-clear is essential if you’re going to point your strengths and skills towards something concrete and valuable. Bringing your strengths with youOne of the things we know about strengths is that making a conscious choice to bring them with you into a new environment (including a new job role) means you can get started on a strong footing from day one. You can feel confident that, while you may not know quite what’s going to face you, at least you know what strengths you can call on. For me, I want to bring into play my Strategic mindedness so that I keep the business’s big picture in focus and not get sucked into detail. Also, my Leading strength. Specifically as a figurehead and business owner, not as an MD day-to-day type leader but focusing on the vision, the why of the business. Thirdly I want to play to my Collaboration strength with my main stakeholder being the customer. By understanding what our customers want and need I can help ensure that’s what we’re delivering. Managing your greatest risksAs well as your strengths being a great asset in a new role, another area it’s essential to be prepared for is to manage your risks. Starting a new role brings quite a bit of pressure as you get to grips with new responsibilities, colleagues, work environment, processes and so on. Knowing which of your strengths might tip into overdrive under that additional pressure is super-important. As is knowing what might get in the way of your performance because it’s just going to drain and demotivate you. Once you’ve worked that out, put some strategies in place to make sure you don’t get caught out. My challenges will be to continue to follow process and to champion and role model that because my Efficiency strength is LOOOOW. I need to keep my Critical thinking close to hand and not allow my Optimism to get into overdrive particularly when we go through challenging times. As Founder and owner, I know there is a risk that my trust in the strength of my team may mean I’m not vigilant enough to see big risks coming so that’s a watchout. Last one is a personal challenge which is to step into my own impact and get the most from it on behalf of the business and our mission. I can downplay myself and my contribution and while I’m sure that might be quite endearing, there will be times when it won’t be helpful. Stepping it up and owning it are going to be essential in my new role. So that’s knowing our strengths and bringing them and understanding our risks and limiting them. What about making sure we’re sufficiently well supported? Getting support for the transitionStarting a new role can feel lonely and while you might be surrounded by people, it can sometimes feel a little isolating. Having a strong support network around you will give you the confidence that you got this. For me, I have a mentor who can give me a proper helicopter view of my role and how I can best play that role, as well as hooking that into business priorities. I have a partner who gives me great support and challenge whenever I’m faced with something I’m uncertain about and need space to consider my options. I have a counsellor who is there to cover the emotional side of change for me. I have several coaches, who help to provoke my thinking and help me find my own solutions. And very importantly, I also have David. Working together over the past year has really given me confidence that we can manage this transition pretty seamlessly. It’s also given me confidence that if we run into any challenges we can talk about them openly and get them sorted. So we’ve talked about knowing where you’ve come from and where you’re going. Being clear on your outcomes. The strengths you’re taking with you, the risks you’ll watch out for and the support you’ll have around you. And that is how to do role transition the strengths way.
I hope you’ve found this useful and taken away some practical tips. Till next time, stay strong. This podcast is available on all major podcast platforms. Find it on Apple podcasts, Spotify, Google podcasts, Stitcher, ACast, TuneIn, Breaker and Soundcloud. Make sure to check out the back catalogue and subscribe to get them at the start of the working week! Related posts:Via https://www.strengthscope.com/how-to-transition-roles-the-strengths-way-podversation/ Strengthscope is going from strength to strength – growth plans and new Managing Director appointment
World-leading strengths assessment and development company Strengthscope, headquartered in London, UK, has announced a new strategic appointment. David Lincoln will take the role of Managing Director, from Monday 19th October, to drive the operation and deliver sustainable international business growth. Established in 2006 and with clients such as Siemens Global, Samsung, World Bank Group, Takeda and HSBC, Strengthscope continues to go from strength to strength, providing clients with scalable solutions to supercharge personal, team and leadership effectiveness and organisation-wide culture change. Dr Paul Brewerton, Founder of Strengthscope said, “I am incredibly excited about David’s appointment. His passion for people development and track record of leadership success are key strengths that will enable the business to scale globally and enable our products to realise their potential and impact positively on the working lives of millions more people.” David said, “The new reality of life during and post-Covid has created high demand for people to gain understanding of what motivates and energises them. Strengthscope® is a unique tool for achieving this, helping people bring their best self to work and life every day, more essential now than ever before. I’m super proud of the whole Strengthscope® team and what they have achieved during lockdown, preparing us for the challenges and opportunities ahead. The two main questions we are being asked right now are how do organisations retain and harness the power of their people in a fast-changing and unpredictable world and how do you improve employee engagement and satisfaction at work? We have the answer to both!” The appointment demonstrates Strengthscope’s ongoing commitment to growth and to its mission: to reveal the unique strengths of people across the world, enabling them to bring their most authentic and inspired selves to work and to life every day. David brings with him extensive operational management and leadership experience across a number of sectors. He has been with the company for a year and in that time has had a huge impact: alongside his awesome team at Strengthscope, David has overseen the product’s translation into 11 languages, ensured the company’s market leading position in accessibility for all users, rolled out enterprise-wide integrations for our product and partnered with large technology providers to bring Strengthscope® to their global communities. David will be also be driving forward the delivery of Strengthscope’s product pipeline, which is as exciting as it is ambitious. Planned releases include:
No related posts. Via https://www.strengthscope.com/growth-plans-and-new-managing-director-appointment/ First up, what is career wellbeing? Well it doesn’t have a 100% agreed-on definition but researchers have tried to break it down into various elements including:
In today’s blog, I want to give you some pointers on managing these elements of your career so you can strengthen your career wellbeing and keep it strong. My name’s Dr Paul Brewerton, the strengths guy. I podcast first thing each week, ready to ready you for the week ahead. I podcast on all things work, often many things life and how the two can come together in the happiest possible blend to keep you at your strongest. A word about careers today. In my view, there’s more flexibility and opportunity to take control and ownership of your career, at any stage, than at any other time in history. Why? At least 3 reasons! First, increasing consciousness of the need for and value of diversity in the workplace means that there are more options for more people than there have been before. Notice I said consciousness. That in no way means we are anywhere near approaching ok in our understanding and practice of diversity, inclusion and belonging, but at least the topic is now on the table. Secondly, technology is allowing us to work more flexibly and that further enables career flexibility in terms of learning, work location and the type of work accessible to us. Finally, we are now living longer. For many this means there is a genuine opportunity to career-hop, to move sideways, to shift industries or to monetise hobbies as we have more time in life to consider all of these options. Even when we’re faced with a depressed economy and uncertainty due to the current pandemic, it paints a fascinating, positive picture of careers in the 21st century. But it also presents challenges such as the potential overwhelm of career options which face you today. How do you pick the best career opportunities from the dizzying array before you? How can you deal with feelings of anxiety about whether your employer will do right by you when times are tough, if you’re now expected to take greater ownership of your own development and career? For these reasons, it’s important to keep a close eye on your career wellbeing so you can identify any areas which need attention or adjustment as you move through life. In her paper of 2008, Jennifer Kidd outlined the 7 elements of career wellbeing that I talked about in my intro. Today, I’m going to cover the first 3. Next week, I’ll move on to the final 4 as I want to give enough time to each.
Career progressionWhenever you come across an opportunity to transition your role or career, there is one thing that you can predict with some certainty – you’re going to go through a process of change. This means letting go and experiencing that inevitable sense of loss (and possibly anxiety) that comes with it. Ultimately it means moving through some challenging emotions (perhaps guilt, insecurity and regret, alongside excitement, hope and a sense of freedom) until you’re ready to consider exploring your new future and starting to commit to it. Tentatively at first and in time, when it’s the right move for you, wholeheartedly. Even if you are highly change-oriented and risk-embracing, this intensity of emotion is likely to be something that you experience. The levels of emotions will depend on you and your context. My main tips for navigating such transitions?
Relationships at workA lot of research has shown that the greatest contributor to satisfaction and dissatisfaction at work is the quality of the relationships we have with our colleagues. My podcast / blog at Season 2, episode 2 on Strengthening your relationships to get more done should give you some inspiration. Summarising a little of what I cover in the podcast and blog, specifically in the context of your career wellbeing, my advice is to:
Your relationship with the organisationMy PhD research focused on the nature of psychological contracts. A psychological contract is the relationship you have with the organisation that employs you. Specifically, the unsaid stuff about what you expect to give to and what you expect to get from, your employer. In reality, no-one really has an actual relationship with their organisation. I mean, you might have views of it and feelings about it, but an organisation is just an idea right, a brand maybe and a collection of people. According to the research, your closest alternative to having a relationship with your organisation is the relationship you have with your boss because they represent the organisation in a way that’s relatable. My tip here is, over time, to build a strong, honest, open relationship with your boss. Clearly communicate your needs and expectations so that as little as possible of the relationship you have with your boss and the organisation that pays your wages is in fact hidden or psychological. In the context of your career and your career wellbeing that means having regular chats and check-ins with your boss about (in no particular order):
The more your boss knows about you and your career aspirations, the more they will be able to support you to get what you want career-wise. I don’t know about you, but I’m pretty much done with hearing stories about people who expected the organisation to know that they were hungry for a career move. The people who sat waiting for their boss to get them there without actually telling anyone. The first thing their boss knew about it was when they quit, saying that they were frustrated at the lack of career opportunities. It doesn’t have to be like that if you’re more open and transparent about having those conversations with your line manager. It can only really benefit you to do that, even though it might take courage to have the conversation each time. Alright, that’s it for this week with the first 3 areas of career wellbeing covered. Next week, I’ll discuss the remaining four. Follow my podcast and switch your notifications on to get the update as soon as it is published. Till next time, stay well. This podcast is available on all major podcast platforms. Find it on Apple podcasts, Spotify, Google podcasts, Stitcher, ACast, TuneIn, Breaker and Soundcloud. Make sure to check out the back catalogue and subscribe to get them at the start of the working week! Related posts:Via https://www.strengthscope.com/improve-your-career-wellbeing-part-1/ |