Have you ever been part of an extraordinary team? Have you ever been the leader of one?

I have been part of one extraordinary team in my career. Yep. One. That’s it.  I’ve been on good teams, bad teams, and okay teams. But I’ve only been on one extraordinary team.

The reason the team was extraordinary is because the 8 Traits of a Successful Team were alive and thriving.

Unity of Purpose – we understood the reason our team existed and the vision for the work we did.

Psychological Safety – we were able to ask questions, share ideas, admit mistakes and experiment without interpersonal fear getting in the way.

Constructive Tension – we trusted each other enough to respectfully disagree and challenge each other (especially if we weren’t honoring one of the other seven traits).

Meaningful Work/Impact – we knew the work we did made a difference in the lives of the people we served.

Inclusiveness – we valued the skills and talents of each person on the team and worked hard to let each person shine with their strengths.

Informal, comfortable, relaxed environment – we incorporated fun, personal connection, and celebration into our work.

Awareness – we each possessed the emotional intelligence needed to effectively manage the impact of our own behaviors as well as our relationships with each other

Personal Accountability – we took responsibility for our work and individual contributions which meant we did what we said we would do and we did our work well.

If I asked you to grade your team right now, what grade would you give? What grade would each person give the team?

If your team doesn’t have a solid A+, there is work to do.

I can help.