In part one I gave you five places to look to nourish your own impact. This week I'm hitting up showing up as a team, and next week we'll wrap it up with ever awesome "Container Game".
1. You make self-care part of your team schtick ; you eat well, take time for time outs, are intentional about your environment, honor each others' needs for scheduling and self-care, work on meaningful things together, and hold healthy boundaries with each other.
2. You listen, get curious, and assume good with each other. You listen, really listen. You listen for the question under the question, to what's not being said, and to what I call the "tender agenda"- the place where, nourished well, vulnerability creates magic. You seek to understand, get curious when feathers are ruffled, and assume good; certainly there's a positive intention in there somewhere. Find it and you're likely to find gold and deeper intimacy as a team.
3. You're clean and clear about agreements, roles, and timelines. You co-design agreements for working together well; how you'll be in meetings, what "time integrity" means to all of you, how you'll agree to disagree, feedback processes, back channels, etc. You are clear on who's doing what and by when. Those pesky things that so easily get away from us in the "busy-ness" of your team get clarified straight up and early.
4. You're connected to purpose and values and vision as a team--and you keep it all alive. You spend heart and mind time to discuss and align on the purpose of the team--while you're all there; the values of the team--what code you'll live by; and your vision as a team--where you're all going. You explore these, lock them in, live by them, and then revisit and bask in them regularly.
5. You create space for fun, inspiration, and dreaming. You play. Yes, you play. And you play well. You go out for drinks, or tea, or good food, or ropes work, or whatever floats your boat, but you play. You make time for things completely unrelated to work; hot topics, your teammates' dreams, things that make each of you go hmmm. Inspiration lurks everywhere--let go of work to allow for more of it.
So, how are you showing up as a team? What would you add to your own list of needs and team magic? How are you nourishing the mind, body, and spirit of your team so you can show up even more powerfully for those you lead, create better results, and have more fun while doing all of it? Hit up one (or all) of these this week and I'll see you next week to dive into the "Container Game." Ready? Go.
This article first appeared on Inc.com on February 23, 2015