RESULTS are what define a company’s success. Without them – a team’s functionality doesn’t matter. Results drive success…but what happens when team challenges get in the way of progress?
Which would you prefer to be? The best player on a last-place team or a mediocre player on a first-place team?
Most of us would choose the championship team. The prestige of belonging to a winning team outweighs individual merit. This is what it feels like to be a member of a Cohesive Team. Everyone puts the goals of the team ahead of their own personal success. Team success equates to individual success.
Achieving results is the final conduct of The Five Behaviors of a Cohesive Team™, yet if results are NOT achieved, it is the first sign to employers that their teams are dysfunctional and unable to meet their goals and objectives.
To win as a team, the group must function cohesively and to do that, we’ve got to start with the building block behaviors we’ve discussed in previous blogs – trust, healthy conflict, commitment and accountability. Our job is to guide clients through the process of team building, starting with the bottom of the pyramid – trust – and work up from there. Without the foundation, teams are challenged when it comes to results.
INDIVIDUAL VS TEAM RESULTS – A CULTURAL TREND
Even after working through the team building components, companies must also examine their corporate culture. As a nation, Americans prize individuality and that is reflected in most organizations. Companies emphasize the individual over the team. They reward a Salesperson or Employee of the Year. Bonuses are based on individual performance. People are encouraged to pursue their own individual career goals.
For example, if I loan one of my best salespeople to another region, my region’s results will be down, but the other region’s sales will increase, and the entire sales team results will improve. That’s a good investment, but if the company only recognizes the best region or best salesperson, it’s hard for me to make the choice to send one of my key people away and lose a reward.
People are rewarded for their individual accomplishments rather than team accomplishments. It is no wonder then that employees complain about the lack of teamwork and more importantly, the lack of results within their organizations.
My business partner, Curt Archambault, likes to make sports analogies. A professional football player can break records and be named to the Pro Bowl year after year but being a member of a Super Bowl winning team is a an even higher honor. The goal of a cohesive team is not to have an assortment of Pro Bowl players or MVPs, but to be a championship team. Getting there means recognizing the individual in the context of their contribution to the team.
COHESIVE TEAMS DRIVE RESULTS!
When team members are focused on their individual success, teams become stagnant. They are mired in mediocrity and doing just enough to meet financial goals, but overall their teams are underperforming. It’s a downward spiral from there. When a company fails to win, its high-achieving employees leave because they do not feel like they belong to a quality team. High performers do not like to be associated with losing companies or brands.
When operating as a member of a cohesive team, people do not put their personal goals ahead of team goals. Everybody enjoys the successes or suffers the failures together. Teams that are focused on results also retain the good performers. Winners tend to stick together, and winners drive for RESULTS! Driving for results is the ultimate goal of a Cohesive Team!
Want to learn more about The Five Behaviors of a Cohesive Team™ ? Send us a note through our contact form and we’ll get in touch!