I’ve been in many situations and environments with groups of people.  Some of those groups I was a leader, and some I wasn’t.  I’ve been on teams, involved in organizations, and in the military.  I’ve worked with not-for-profits.  The interesting thing throughout all of the experiences was how the people interacted with one another. At our most basic level, we need companionship and camaraderie.  Normally we’ll prefer to work with others to accomplish a common goal.  When we’re all on the same page, things go great.  When there’s a person on the team that doesn’t work with the rest, though, we see dissension and the crumbling of productivity.  So how do we go about building a functional, healthy, and happy team?  If you are the leader, supervisor, boss, or authority, it falls on you first and foremost.

Lead by example. Cliche?  Yes.  False?  No.  If you take just one thing away from this, let it be that.  If you set the standard that you’d like to see carried out, you can’t ask for much more.   When a person is working under another person, the subordinate might feel as though they could do the job better.  It’s up to you, the leader, to show your subordinates that you are in the position because of your experience, expertise, judgement, and general leadership abilities.  You don’t have to say all of this; you need to show them through your work and example.

Add value to the relationship. I know that most people are overworked and underpaid.  I also know that I’d take a slight pay cut in exchange for an awesome team to work with.  The value that you can give someone in a working relationship often times exceeds the value of a bonus or more cash.  How do you feel at night when you lay your head down?  Are you happy with your coworkers and team members?  If so, you probably don’t worry about the fact that you don’t get paid X.  You go to bed happy and satisfied with the work your team is able to accomplish and look forward to growth and relationships.  However, if you’re unhappy with them, that’s probably all you think about.  About how you don’t get paid enough to put up with it.  Adding value can mean a lot of different things to different people.  It can be as simple as making the morning rounds with your coffee and just chatting with each person individually about how their week is going.  Listening to them.  Remembering what’s going on in their life.  Or, it can be something like taking the money set aside for you to get a new work computer and using that to take the team out for drinks and a show after a long day at work.  Doing something to show your team that you value them and their time just as much if not more than you value your own speaks volumes about your leadership mentality.

Listen. And repeat.  And repeat .  And repeat.  And repeat.  Okay, I think you get the point.  Make it a personal mantra for yourself as a leader.  Your team has boots on the ground and they know what is happening better than you.  You can read all the reports and sit in on all the meetings you want to.  You’ll get so much more information and feedback over an informal lunch with a couple people in regular discussion than in a meeting with charts, presentations, and 20 people.  It’s all about building relationships with those people and helping them feel comfortable enough with you to be honest.  To build their trust in you that they feel as though they can rely on you to do right by the team.  You have to constantly be listening.  And hearing.  And attempting to understand where they’re coming from.  If you do this, your team will know they can come to you, count on you, and rely on you.

Being able to build a team that trusts you and will support you is not always easy.  But if you’re honest with them and you show then that you care, that will go very far in gaining trust from them.  You need to show a willingness to sacrifice.  You need to be real with them.  And never hold your power over their heads.  This being a short post, there are obviously many more ways to be successful with your team.  These are just a short few examples I’ve learned over the years.  I encourage you to find ways to bring value to relationships.  And comment any stories or experiences you had.  I’d love to hear them.

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