No matter what type of team or it’s seniority, the most important work in all teams falls under one of the following three categories: Self, Team and Business.
Self (I)
This work includes:
- Sharing about self (personal and professional aspects: both what is easy to share and what is harder to share)
- Learning about self (thinking preferences, personality traits, how others view us etc.)
- Improving self (getting feedback, acting on feedback, improving skills, practicing etc.)
Team (WE)
This work includes:
- Calibrating team maturity (what’s working, what’s not, how to get better etc.)
- Building cohesion (deep trust, collective deliverables, teaming skills etc.)
- Establishing infrastructure (meetings architecture, rules of play, scoreboard etc.)
Business (US)
This work includes:
- Setting the direction (purpose, goals, roadmap etc.)
- Building capability (individuals & teams, technical & leadership etc.)
- Driving Execution (planning, allocating, implementing, monitoring, adjusting, solving etc.)
Many teams invest very little time/effort/energy on self and team, and as a result fail to realise the dividends that accrue from this investment: dividends in the form of both faster and superior business results, and higher levels of engagement and fulfilment.
Furthermore, I also believe:
- the deeper the work on the self, the stronger the team becomes
- the stronger the team becomes, the better the business results
What about the team you lead and/or the team you are part of?
- What is your team’s investment in “Self to Team to Business (STB)” ratio?
- What does it need to be?
- What can you do to influence the desired shift?
