January is typically the time when we reflect on the past year and plan
for the new one. What went well last year? What needs to change? Where do I
want to be, and what do I want to be doing by this time next year? How will I
get there? Goals. Objectives. Plan of action. We do this as individual contributors, and as
leaders.
But how often do we do it as a team?
If you want to take your team to the next level, it’s important to take
a step back and assess what the team needs. How do you, as a team member or as
the team leader, rank the team in areas that contribute to team success –
communication, achieving goals, openness to ideas, work efficiency, respect?
When I engage with an organization to use Lumina Spark with one of
their teams, I begin by asking the team 5 key questions. This gives me a
baseline, and helps identify the areas where the team is most in need of
development. In order to move the team
forward, we need to know where it’s been. I then ask each team member and the
leader, to write down one thing the team could do to develop to the next level.
The data and ideas resulting from this
exercise add context to the work we do during the Lumina session, and help us
arrive at a team initiative by the end of the session. The work is practical
and relevant.
If you want to move your team to the next level in 2016, I suggest you
go through this exercise to rate your team on the 5 key areas of highly
successful teams. You may be surprised at what you find out. And it will help
you identify and prioritize initiatives to make things better.
Rank your team on the 5 Key
Areas for Team Success:
Use a 1-5 scale ranking with 5 being the highest score.
1.
Effective communication of the team
2.
Team’s effectiveness toward task/goal completion
3.
Team’s openness to team members’ ideas
4.
Work efficiency on the team
5.
Respect among team members
Then, ask each team member to answer one qualitative question on the
team: What one thing could this team do to take itself to the next level?
On one team I worked with recently, nearly every person identified
“clear roles and responsibilities” as ‘the thing’ that would help move the team
to the next level. This was also reflected in the scores from the 5 questions,
where “work efficiency” scored the lowest, no doubt due to confusion around
roles and responsibilities.
The most successful teams are those made up of individuals with diverse
skills and experience, different personalities, and varying points of view.
Lumina Spark helps identify differences and similarities and provides insight
to any gaps on the team. For example, if the majority of the team is strong in
“big picture thinking” the team may generate a lot of ideas, but have
difficulty executing on those ideas.
Lumina Spark produces breakthroughs for team transformation. A Spark
team assessment will not only highlight the gifts and talents of your team
members ‘collectively’, it will uncover the “hidden gems” on your team – those
strengths that lie dormant because they were perceived as not required or not
of value in this situation. These hidden gems can be leveraged to make the
team more effective and achieve the team initiatives in an easy way by getting
into the flow. Qualified Lumina
Practitioners are helping teams get into their flow every day. It’s easy once the team becomes
self-aware.
If you’d like to learn more about Lumina Spark and how it can help your
team, please contact me at info-us@luminalearning.com
or 888.827.8855.
