Courageous Teams

Courageous Teams A new perspective on better teamwork. Equip your team with the foundation to face the challenges of today's rapidly changing business environment.

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When we talk about , it often sounds as if there is only one type of . You either work as an individual, or within a t...
10/06/2021

When we talk about , it often sounds as if there is only one type of . You either work as an individual, or within a team. But when you look a bit better you see how many different ways there are to categorize teams.

Two dimensions I like to look at when trying to better understand are:
(1) Goals (or OKRs / KPIs) > Are they set for individuals or for the team as a whole?
(2) Activities > Are team members doing similar activities or diverse?

If you plot these two dimensions against each other you'll get the matrix in the image below. Let's illustrate each quadrant with an example:
(a) In a Sales Team members activities are quite similar, and in most sales teams individual employees have their own individual sales targets
(b) Members of a Safety Team on the other hand might also have similar activities, but the team unites behind a team target: reducing the number of incidents to zero
(c) A Management Team (or Leadership / Executive Team) consists of a variety of roles: Business Unit leaders, Finance managers, HR, IT, etc, often with strong individual goals and performance metrics
(d) In a Project Team however, the variety of roles (developer, market research, product management) unite behind one common objective: to deliver the project

This distinction is important because each quadrant faces unique challenges (see image) and opportunities for effective teamwork. You first have to know what type of team you're dealing with, before being able to fully understand the forces at play and before designing steps to unlock the team's full potential.

Which of these quadrants does your team fit in? And what are the main challenges your team faces?

PS: if you want to learn more about effective teamwork, join our Courageous Teams Challenge. Starting July 19th, your team joins teams from around the team in an 8-week journey to become courageous. Your team will spend 2 - 4 hours per week. The program is packed with live webinars, video tutorials, workbooks, team facilitation guides, assignments and of course our proprietary team assessment. For more information check academy.courageousteams.com/courses/ctc

DOES TRUST HAVE TO BE EARNED? Or do you trust first, and then see what happens?I had this discussion with a team of clie...
09/06/2021

DOES TRUST HAVE TO BE EARNED? Or do you trust first, and then see what happens?

I had this discussion with a team of clients. Some team members were adamant that you have to start with trust. It needs to be there and is a starting principle.

Others were more hesitant to give trust and rather first see which way the wind blows. If others behave trustworthy, they'll give them their trust.

Is trust cheap or expensive? One of my clients said: "the cost of being distrustful is more expensive".

It is a tough dilemma, and really a 'chicken or egg' story. What we do know is that trust is fundamental to great teamwork. It is one of the conditions you need to establish in order for your team to flourish and be courageous.

So what's your view? Do you start giving trust from the start or do people need to earn your trust?

PS: if you want to learn more about building trust in your team, join our Courageous Teams Challenge. Starting July 5th, your team joins teams from around the team in an 8-week journey to become courageous. We cover everything from envisioning your future, evaluating your current performance to shifting mindsets and beliefs, creating winning change plans and executing on this change right away. It will take 2 - 4 hours per week. You'll get live webinars, video tutorials, workbooks, team facilitation guides, assignments and of course our proprietary team assessment. Click link in bio for more information!

Trust is an interesting phenomenon: Some people you have worked with for years still haven't earned your trust, but some...
09/06/2021

Trust is an interesting phenomenon: Some people you have worked with for years still haven't earned your trust, but some people might have gained your trust at the instant.

Last week I visited the eye doctor, and within an hour of first meeting her, she was putting a tube in my tear ducts. How could I allow someone who was not much more than a stranger to do such a procedure, risking some of my most valuable senses: my eyes?

It made me wonder, how does trust work? Read the full story in our latest blog: academy.courageousteams.com/blog

PS: Interested to learn how to build trust in your team? Join our Courageous Teams Challenge, an 8-week online program starting on July 5th, helping you build high performing, courageous teams. For more info check out: academy.courageousteams.com/courses/ctc

To be courageous as a team, you need to have six roles covered. It doesn't mean that each person can only take on one ro...
16/04/2021

To be courageous as a team, you need to have six roles covered. It doesn't mean that each person can only take on one role: individuals might have affinity with multiple roles. The beauty of doing this in a team is that the likelihood of a team to cover all the roles is so much higher than for one individual to cover all the roles. In teams you often have individuals with different risk appetites, who can balance each other out, finding exactly that courage equilibrium you're looking for. Happy Friday!

Courage is a balance, not one end of a spectrum. Too little courage will keep you in your comfort zone. Too much courage...
15/04/2021

Courage is a balance, not one end of a spectrum. Too little courage will keep you in your comfort zone. Too much courage and you risk falling off the careless cliff. Somewhere in the middle lies that fine balance we call courage. You will see it takes effort to stay in that balancing point. Daily life affects your team and keeps challenging your balance. That is ok, it is part of your growth to reflect as a team where you are at in your courage journey.

Finding your courage means finding the balance between being comfortable and being careless. You can recognize where you...
14/04/2021

Finding your courage means finding the balance between being comfortable and being careless. You can recognize where you are on that spectrum if you assess your team's behavior. The character traits for a courageous team are:
🔹 Grit
🔹 Perseverance
🔹 Candor
🔹 Passion
🔹 Vulnerability
Too much of any of these will make your team lean towards the careless side. Too little will keep your team in its comfort zone. And it also depends on who we are interacting with as a team. Sometimes we can be more careless with certain stakeholders and more hiding in our comfort zone with other stakeholders.

One of my favorite drawings is this one. When I first saw it, it really opened my eyes. But having done lots of research...
13/04/2021

One of my favorite drawings is this one. When I first saw it, it really opened my eyes. But having done lots of research on courage and your comfort zone, I started to realize something was missing. Too much, too far out of your comfort zone, is where it will get dangerous. You pass by that area where the magic happens and you risk falling off the careless cliff. Not everything outside your comfort zone is a magical place. Now it is up to us to help you find where exactly the magic happens, and where the careless cliff starts.

There is so much value in working together as a team. What has been most valuable for you? Share your example of your be...
11/04/2021

There is so much value in working together as a team. What has been most valuable for you? Share your example of your best team work in the comments below! 👇

Why is courage important? Because everything else depends on it. Without the courage to do so, your business will not tr...
10/04/2021

Why is courage important? Because everything else depends on it. Without the courage to do so, your business will not transform. Without the courage to do so, you will not enter new markets. Without the courage to do so, you will not innovate. Aristotle understood it so well: it is the quality that guarantees the others.

What to look out for to build a Courageous Team? We have created the Courageous Teams framework, with six elements, repr...
09/04/2021

What to look out for to build a Courageous Team? We have created the Courageous Teams framework, with six elements, representing all aspects of a courageous team:
🟢 CONDUCT > Is our team behaving in a courageous manner? Does our team conduct lead to courage?
🔵 CHARACTER > Is our team's personality balanced between being in our comfort zone and being careless? How courageous is our character?
🟣 CONDITIONS > Have we created the right team environment to be courageous? What team conditions make us courageous?
🔴 COMPASS > How will courage help us achieve our irresistible aspiration? What is our compass for courage?
🟠 CONNECTIONS > Are we courageous in all our stakeholder interactions? Are we courageous when we connect?
🟡 COURSE > Are we using the appropriate speed? What is our course to courage?

Courage is not a new concept in business and leadership. But it is widely misunderstood. During our research, we recogni...
08/04/2021

Courage is not a new concept in business and leadership. But it is widely misunderstood. During our research, we recognized many myths going around about how to be courageous in business. And we are replacing these myths today with four new beliefs:
🟣 A fine equilibrium, not one end of a spectrum. It's not just about getting out of your comfort zone, it is also avoiding to fall off the cliff of carelessness
🟣 It is a team effort, not an individual triumph. Too often still we value those lone wolves that do bold things, but if they can't bring the organization along, there will be no long term value in that
🟣 It is a teachable behavior, not a fixed trait. We were all born courageous. We can all become courageous. And together as a team we can help each other be courageous.
🟣 It is a holistic approach, not just increasing risk. If you look at the definition of courage, there are many facets to being courageous. Risk is one of them, but it is only one of them. Without a link to your vision, considering multiple alternatives, stretching your resources, embracing your fears and getting to action, you are not really courageous (yet!)

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