LOVE and Laugh more…

The greatest teams fight to improve performance. This thought is littered through all the Essentials. Conflict is a part of life. Happy, healthy, productive teams have the same amount of gridlocked conflict that dysfunctional ones do. What’s the difference?

Here’s the biggest.

Teams that sustain their high performance spend a TON more time laughing than their normal counterparts. Normal teams just “do their job.”

The greatest teams laugh from their heart. They laugh until it hurts.

Are you kidding me? Nope. It’s really that simple. Why? Because we only really laugh when we feel love. Because we only really laugh when we feel safe. We only REALLY laugh when we feel connected in community…when we feel we belong.

I can remember when Quinner established that 3:30 was the limit for our team meetings. He knew that after that time I just got silly. I still do oftentimes. The greatest teams laugh together much more than they argue together. According to the Gottmans, my favorite marriage experts, happy couples that stay together receive 4-1 positive to negative emotions from their partner. Anything less and the relationship is doomed to divorce. We can’t seem to stand for long around those that bring us down.

Do NOT rush to ARGUE until you get your ratio’s right.

Do NOT ARGUE UNTIL you know your heart is right.

Do NOT ARGUE when your only motive is to prove your right.

Do NOT start picking fights when people do NOT trust your intention. Unintended consequences are a real bummer here.

Do water your thoughts and feelings about your team that make you laugh.

Do tell your team when you see them doing something right.

Do laugh about failed attempts done well.

Do laugh about each other…just NOT at each other.

Do remember that you all are a TEAM.

Do understand more than judge…

Let it out.

Remember why you brought them on board.

Remember why you started this endeavor together.

My “gut” tells me that happy, healthy, productive teams will have a ratio of 9-1 positive emotions to negative. That’s a whole lot of laughing going on. That only happens when there’s LOVE in “your air.”

When people enter your “twenty square feet” what ratio’s do they sense?

Are you always ready to laugh about it or let ’em have it?

Are you tuned into your ratios enough to know if they need tweaking?

Tell me more.