Teams are everywhere. A team can consist of two people or two hundred. The larger the team the more challenging to get them to work together effectively. Let me illustrate.
55 vs. 15
Fifty-five is the number of players on an NFL team while fifteen is the number of players on an NBA team.
16 v 4
Sixteen coaches including the head coach and not including trainers, etc. lead NFL teams while the head coach and three assistants lead NBA teams. With the ratios I’ve just shared you would think it is easier to build a healthy NBA team than NFL team. We may think the same at work that a smaller team should become healthy and well-functioning easier than a larger team.
Three factors will decide which one is healthier. Each of these start with the leader and those around him or her.
“[T]hree conditions are essential to a group’s effectiveness: trust . . . , group identity, and . . . group efficacy.” Druskatt & Wolff
Emotional Intelligence
“[E]motional competencies were found to be twice as important in contributing to excellence as pure intellect and expertise.”
Daniel Goleman
The first piece to a healthy team is self-aware individuals. Emotional intelligence is simply awareness of one’s emotions in a manner that individuals can sense them and control them.
Maybe you have been in a situation where you feel your emotions rise and want to explode. You pause for a minute recognizing this explosion may make you feel better but will not positively impact the conversation so you pause and reset. Individuals with a lack of emotional intelligence fail to have the capacity to be aware of these feelings.
We are emotional individuals and failure to be in tune with our emotions hinders our ability to connect. If emotions are an area that is awkward for you then take time when you feel emotion to identify what the emotion is and then ask “what is making me . . . . frustrated, angry, etc.” This pause will help you show up in an emotionally healthier way with your team.
Social Intelligence
A team consists of individuals. These individuals work together to accomplish a common goal. Emotional intelligence is awareness of our emotions and having the capacity to respond appropriately. Social intelligence is awareness of others’ emotions and the capacity to respond in a manner that brings the group together.
Imagine you are leading a meeting and you sense tensions rising as you discuss an important issue. A leader with good social intelligence will be able to keep the conversation moving forward in a productive manner. Different perspectives are helpful to a team, but a socially intelligent leader must have the ability to lead the team through problem solving scenarios in a manner that brings unity and not division.
Trust
“Speed happens when people . . . truly trust each other.” Edward Marshall
In his book The Speed of Trust, Stephen M. R. Covey suggests trust is a function of character and competence. When each member of a team is competent in what they do the leader will be able to trust them to accomplish work correctly. A team member’s character is demonstrated by accomplishing the work accurately and on time. Both dramatically impact the health of a team.
As you evaluate your leadership how are you doing in each of these areas? How aware are you of your feelings and what is the cause of them in the moment, so you don’t explode and create an unhealthy environment? Do you need to be more aware of the emotions of the team so you can help them navigate problems more effectively? Where would you rate your team on trust on a scale of one to ten? We all have areas to grow. If you need help thinking into ways to break through any of these barriers with your team contact me and let’s discover how I can serve you. Keep building your team and growing as a leader. Lead Well.
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Goleman, Daniel. Working With Emotional Intelligence. Bantam Books: New York, 1998.
Druskat, V. and Wolff, S. “Building the Emotional Intelligence of Groups.” Harvard Business Review, March 2001. https://hbr.org/2001/03/building-the-emotional-intelligence-of-groups retrieved 1/18/22
Covey, Stephen M. R. The Speed of Trust. Free Press: New York, 2006.
