Staff Culture and Team Leadership

Your breakout room

You have about twenty minutes. Give each question roughly five minutes, and keep it about your own team, not teams in general.

Before you start. Pick one person to keep time and one person to bring a single sentence back to the large group: the most useful thing your room discovered.

Where is your team on the curve, and which basic is weakest?

Name where your leadership team actually is today: work group, pseudo team, potential team, real team, or high performance. Be honest, not aspirational. Then name the one of the Seven Team Basics that is weakest, and where you see it show up.

Which part of genuine community is thinnest on your team?

Know deeply, serve willingly, or do life together. What would it take to strengthen it this term, and what has kept you from doing it so far?

Which CARE cornerstone would your staff say is missing?

Connection, affirmation, responsibility, or environment. Not the one you would pick for yourself, the one your staff would pick if they answered honestly.

What toxin have you been tolerating?

Every culture is shaped by what we create, reward, and tolerate. Name one thing your culture has been tolerating, and the part of it that is yours to address.

Before you leave the room

Each person names one action: what you will do, by when, and who you will tell. An action without a calendar block is just a wish.

Quick reference

The frameworks from today's teaching, from Lead Every Day by Mark Miller and Randy Gravitt.

The team performance curve

Where the team is	What it adds up to
Work group	1 + 1 + 1 = 3. A collection of individuals.
Pseudo team	1 + 1 + 1 = 2. Trying to be a team without the basics.
Potential team	1 + 1 + 1 = 3. Building the skills.
Real team	1 + 1 + 1 = 4. The basics are in place.
High performance	1 + 1 + 1 = 10 or more. The basics plus genuine community.

The Seven Team Basics

Create role clarity. Who does what, and the leader's role versus the team's.
Establish team purpose. Why this team exists.
Set team goals. Three to five stretch goals.
Build a team scorecard. A few numbers everyone can see.
Conduct great meetings. 75 percent performance, 25 percent community and development.
Solve problems together. A shared way to define, find the root cause, and act.
Improve decision making. Command, consultative, consensus, or delegated. Say which one before you decide.

Genuine community

Know deeply. Learn each other's stories. Community is cumulative.
Serve willingly. Be intentional, be proactive, do the unexpected.
Do life together. Show up, celebrate often, mourn with them.

The three culture rules

Aspire. Define the culture you want in clear, vivid terms.
Amplify. Celebrate and tell the stories of the behaviors you want repeated.
Adapt. Confront the toxins that poison culture, early, before they set the tone.

Common toxins. Apathy, paranoia, mistrust, self-deception, failure to listen, countercultures, unhealthy competition, and a slow loss of discipline in how things are done. The leader controls the valve: name it out loud, address it early, and stop allowing what you say you oppose.

CARE: engagement is a level of care

Connection. Real conversations build real bonds.
Affirmation. Genuine, specific thanks, expressed often.
Responsibility. Real ownership of goals, methods, and decisions.
Environment. What people need to win, physically and emotionally.

Your six-week practice plan

Two worksheets to work through after today, on your own or with your leadership team. Each one ends with specific actions, a date, and a person you will tell.

Master Team Basics and Build Genuine Community

Your team's place on the curve, your strongest and weakest basic and community element, and one action for each.

Download the worksheet (PDF)

Win the Heart, Then Win the Day

Gauge the level of care on your team, mark your strongest and weakest CARE cornerstone, and commit to one action.

Download the worksheet (PDF)