Podcast – Team Dynamics

Gracious gratitude is one of the most powerful tools you have as a Compassionate Leader. It keeps you connected to all the wins you make along the way, big and small, while recognizing that success depends on the team that walks with you.

It has been a hectic year for us all. Yet, no matter what challenges have crossed your path, there is always something to be grateful for. There are always gifts. Growth always happens, no matter how hard we fight it or resist the change it calls us to make.

So join us this week in focusing on all the wonderful gifts in our personal and business lives, all the acts of kindness and commitment, all the support that inspired us to keep going and dreaming. The little things accumulate into wonderful big waves of blessings, so let’s appreciate every little thing.

Wishing you and your families a peaceful and blessed festive season. We are grateful for you. And we thank you.

It is an act of courage to commit to seeing things clearly and taking action based on what you see. Too many leaders wear conscious and unconscious blinkers, avoiding the challenges that are there for all to see. And it’s like the Emperor’s New Clothes….the inner circle may be convinced but the wider team is not so easily fooled.

The strange thing about facing what is really going on, warts and all, is that it releases a MASSIVE amount of energy. It’s like ‘gummy berry juice’. It ignites creative flow and re-energizes everyone. Even more strange, is that the issue is normally not as gob-smacking and overwhelming as we make it out to be in our internal ruminations.

So, what needs your focus right now? Where does the light of insight need to shine? Where are you struggling to see what is really going on? Persevere with penetrating the darkness and seeking the golden nugget of insight and clarity. Light the way for your team to clear the air, see the bigger picture, and reconnect to your shared vision.

And if you need support on where to look, considering trying our free Me-Scan, our self-assessment tool for Compassionate Leadership. It takes just 5 minutes. The benchmark average is sitting at 65% so can your team beat the average? Check out our web site for more details.

In the mad rush to finish off 2021, take a moment to look up and see what is really going on in your world. You might just be amazed to witness the breakthroughs, growth spurts and achievements made by you and your team this year.

Make sure you use your year-end functions to recognise those achievements as a team, with depth and gratitude for their significance. Were there old issues that have dropped away? What has been transformed? Have you delivered excellence at a level unthinkable a year ago? Has your growth set you up for new heights in 2022?

And yes, with one month left of 2021, there is still much to do and everyone is a little tired. So use this energy of growth to spur you on for the next few weeks to deepen that growth and close out the year with renewed vigour.

Have you tried our Me-Scan, a free self-assessment tool for Compassionate Leadership. The benchmark average is sitting at 65% so can your team beat the average? Check out our web site for more details.

Be careful what you wish for, as you just might get it… We have all heard this warning before. Putting the negative limitation of this thought aside, it does speak to a particular phenomenon of growth – when things finally kick in and a surge of new learning descends upon us.

You could call this phase the ‘growing pains’ stage. We enter into new realms of learning, usually accompanied by an overwhelming amount of things to do and new issues to sort out.

So how do you, as a Compassionate Leader, deal with the overwhelm and surge of this new activity? It’s really simple. Get back to your core. Prioritise those things that help shore up the foundation of your project or team and put down (for now) the extra frilly bits and nice-to-haves. Recognise what this phase is all about – the acceleration in learning – and look to a practical approach to embedding new learning as quickly as possible. In other words, master your ability to translate learning into action, in real time.

If you are struggling to see where you should focus, consider joining us for a We-Scan team assessment journey. It’s complimentary and built upon our Compassionate Leadership framework. If you only have 5 minutes (which you do), consider our free Me-Scan self-assessment and take it from there. Our Me-Scan average is sitting at 65% this week. So can your team beat the average? Check out our web site for more details.

Daily deliberate action. This is one of the most important competencies any business or team should develop. It calls us to show up every day and do the work of transforming the strategy into the small actions that accumulate the big result.

And yet it’s rare to find a team that is adept at this consistent and incremental action. It certainly does not happen organically. It requires leadership, a clear and communicated strategy, an execution methodology or framework, and the right team of people growing together towards a meaningful outcome.

While this might seem overwhelming if this is not the team or business you have right now, take consolation in the path of growth itself – with commitment and daily deliberate action, anything is possible, so start now.

Have you tried our Me-Scan, a free self-assessment tool for Compassionate Leadership. The benchmark average is sitting at 65% so can your team beat the average? Check out our web site for more details.

When we think of rings, we think of marriage, the ultimate symbol of commitment to shared ideals and a life to be shared. We can also think of our connection with others, colleagues and team members, as a commitment borne out of a shared and meaningful purpose.

So how would you assess your current fellowship with others? Be it as a leader or team member, what binds you together? Are you conveniently co-habiting to get to your own goals? Or are you like Frodo and his gang of fellows – working together to achieve something really important to you all?

The thing is, we need this deep connection. It gets us all through the good times and the bad. It helps us to build a team and rally best performance. It’s how we change the world. So gather your motley crew and reconnect with why you are all together. The world will, somehow, thank you one day.

NOTE: Our current Me-Scan Average in Compassionate Leadership is sitting at 66%. Can your team beat the average? Check out this free self-assessment tool on our website.

It’s the human condition to crave significance and personal power. We all seek significance and meaning, even if we are not aware of that drive. And it’s a wonderful thing. Yet it can too easily tip into the negative when we seek personal power by taking it away from someone else.

When we experience these battles (or even instigate them), we have to choose an approach, a strategy of how we deal with these moments. It is all too tempting to jump into the fray and relish in the battle. Think of those cartoon fight scenes – a dust cloud with arms and legs popping in and out. We also don’t feel too good after these bouts. They never tend to resolve anything other than heightening hostility and deepening division.

So sometimes the best strategy for an unfolding power game with others is to step back, watch from the side-lines, and when the dust settles, be the voice of reason that mediates the defusion of tension and the brokering of peace. To do this we must overcome the belief that we lose something if we don’t jump in and play the game.

What power game is taking place around you now? If it’s in your own team, you unfortunately don’t have the luxury to wait it out. You do have the responsibility to step in and lead the moment out of chaos and back into order.

NOTE: Our current Me-Scan Average in Compassionate Leadership is sitting at 66%. Can your team beat the average? Check out this free self-assessment tool on our website.

Stress is a necessary part of growth and expansion. And how we deal with stress speaks volumes about our leadership.

Compassionate leaders have the courage to tackle the elephants in the room so that clarity and wisdom return.

It’s the little, incomplete things that draw on our energy. It’s the small things that make or break the journey.