As we go deeper into the winter and the excitement of the New Year wanes, teams often need a shot in the arm to get them to a more optimal level of working well together. Here are a few tried and true tips that we’ve seen work powerfully for our clients:
1) Bring in someone new. Teams stagnate when all denominators stay the same. Inviting a new person to attend and participate in just one meeting can shake things up. For instance, having someone from customer service share his/her viewpoint at a sales meeting can provide a fresh or forgotten perspective.
2) Start with Intention. Ask people to articulate in a few words the most important thing they are looking to accomplish that week. This can be shared in a group email or at the beginning of a meeting. As a practice, creating this clarity brings the intention into better focus while also keeping everyone informed of what each other most needs.
3) Shift the environment. Go out for a meeting, change rooms or move around where everyone sits. This gets people out of being in the complacency zone and back into fuller engagement.
4) Show The Team’s Progress. Visuals of specific metrics of what is working and what has been accomplished bring an opportunity to celebrate successes of all magnitudes. When focus only remains on what isn’t working or what still has to be completed, a department can forget how powerful it is as a team in getting things done well.