CHEMISTRY is trust at it’s peak. Teams experience this in sport when they just know where each other will be on the field, the pitch, and the court, before they’re actually there.
Magic.
Business teams may experience this as well, even though the likelyhood is greatly lessened. Marketing might anticipate where the market is headed just as the sales person uncovers the need. The RIGHT brochure may come out, as a result, at the exact right time, and with the exact right illustration. Very cool.
Production might ramp up their capacity just before the sales teams begin to scream for it. They might develop such a “feel” for the business that they somehow know what to produce before the orders start piling up. This would be cool and really nice.
Rare…
How then can we measure our teams chemistry? If chemistry is performance at it’s pinnacle how can we measure it so we can determine if we’re making progress? Good questions. Here’s a surprising, and real answer.
One of my clients that is building team chemistry explained it this way. We were talking about one of his associates. She had just finished estimating a job. That’s her job. She’s an estimator. She gave him the estimate to review. That’s his job. He’s the boss.
He found an error and corrected it. He walked her through it. End of story.
Here’s between the lines.
In the past he would NOT be trusting her or countless others to do things right. She would NOT feel trusted. She would be trying NOT to make a mistake and when he found an error she would “feel” like she had been caught. Bummer for her. Bummed out for him.
He’s been DEEPLY changing over the past months. His biggest change is around his belief in his team. They are beginning to trust each other at levels they’ve never been. Sooo, when he caught and corrected the aforementioned error neither party felt much of anything. They were both on the same team…doing their jobs. AND, she did one more, seemingly small thing. Do NOT miss this. This is HUGE. She sent him a “sticky” note.
“Nice catch.”
Chemistry is cool, isn’t it.
Measure how many times you hear “nice catch” when errors are reported, measure how many times you hear your associates say, “how can I help,” “I need help,” and how receptive they are to YOUR help. Measure a thousand little things like that. When they are increasing 5X over “who did that,” “I’m doing enough to NOT get fired,” “catch me if you can,” and a thousand little things like that…you’ll just simply know you are on the road to the peak.
Very cool.
What’s the tone in your questions?
Does it scream your disbelief?
Does it build the competence, confidence, and conviction of your team?
Tell me more…
BUILT TO LEAD 