In Hidden Potential / The Science of Achieving Greater Things, Adam Grant offers his guidance about how to build a team that reaches its potential:
“The people to promote are the ones with the prosocial skills to put the mission above their ego – and team cohesion above personal glory. They know that the goal isn’t to be the smartest person in the room; it’s to make the entire room smarter.”
This idea makes so much sense, it seems obvious. Unfortunately, we see few CRE teams that are built around this aspiration. Instead, we often find conditions that seem to contradict this intent:
- The team’s mission is not clearly defined – “just make more money!”
- Compensation is tied to the team’s financial performance, which often cannot be directly influenced by several team members.
- Or, making more money trumps all other elements of team performance.
How can team cohesion thrive when the team’s mission is poorly defined? What if team members want to make the entire team smarter but there is no investment in thinking through how to get there?
These are the challenges we often address in our coaching of teams. If you can’t point to a specific effort in which you’ve tried to make the team’s collective skills accretive (1 + 1 = 3), then you need our help.
Want to hear how we’ve helped other teams get smarter? Contact us today.
