All the Feels: Bringing Joy to Teams

In our All the Feels series, we want to unfold key mindset characteristics and behaviors of happy and successful teams. Digest the following five qualities and determine how well you and your team are implementing these.

Shared Vision

Effective teams translate the big picture into daily operations. They convert embryonic visions and values into consistent action patterns. The team leader continues to surface the shared vision to the group, referring to it regularly. Through collaboration, individual efforts combine to create a degree of commitment that furthers the mission. If a discussion or direction is off target, team members carefully pull it back to achieve the task.

People Development

The stronger the team members, the more effective the team, and the resulting product and service are of greater quality. A determination by the leader to engage people development creates a cooperative spirit set on building and enhancing individuals, including through their faults and weaknesses. Team members willingly invest, take stock of their own gifts and abilities, and see what they have to offer to someone else. Teams know the value of helping to develop one another.

Clear Purpose

Visions, missions, objectives, goals. Effective teams define and agree upon a clear purpose and focus. A performance challenge tends to coalesce a team. In fact, teams often fortify around such unified challenges without any help or support from management. Conversely, teams without such clear goals or unity usually fail to become effective teams.

A lucid shared vision unifies the efforts of the team. Without it, you cannot attract and keep quality people. Having a clear purpose and inviting creativity bring out individual passion and a performance that highlights the team’s unified efforts.

Convincing Collaboration

Convinced that something bigger, better, and greater can happen, team members bring their endeavors into harmony. Each member recognizes that “plans fail for a lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed” (Proverbs 15:22).

Interdependent workers seek ways to make a meaningful contribution to the group. Their part may be a mere five percent of the entire endeavor, but they find genuine fulfillment in their part. They are consummate team players. Teams must rely upon group collaboration if each member is to experience optimum success and goal achievement.

Open Communication

Lastly, open communication helps a team stay connected, focused, and energetic. Information and ideas flow like a river between teammates. No one has a corner market on information since each contributes whatever data they possess. Non-judgmental sharing of ideas creates a safe environment. If sarcasm, innuendoes, or ridicule are inserted into conversations, then the exchange of knowledge will likely halt. Good leaders are wise to monitor and protect the flow of respectful communication that values others and brings clarity.