Why your team isn’t performing to the highest standard

Last Updated on December 8, 2020 by Guest

Are you tired of negativity ruling your team? Fed up with them doing just the bare minimum? From one business owner to another, I sympathize. There is nothing more draining than a dysfunctional team. When I was in the army, I experienced what it was like to be part of a championship team. I learned how they were created, how they’d stick together and perform to the highest standard. In this article, I will be sharing my knowledge of how you can transform your existing team into a championship team.

Let’s first take a look at you, the business owner.

When was the last time you sat with your team to touch on the vision of the company? And I don’t mean the two-sentence version that everyone has memorized. I mean the juicy detailed short and long term vision.

As the leader of the company, you are responsible for creating, sharing, and safeguarding the vision. You and your team need to have clarity on where it is you are taking the company.

It doesn’t help just sharing this with your team once. It’s something that has to be revisited frequently. The juicier, the better because that’s what’s going to keep your team motivated when obstacles arise. Write it down and hang it up. Make a vision board or even think of an activity you can do together if you have to. Anything to clearly show where you and your team are moving toward. Because, if you don’t have your vision on top of mind, how can you expect your team to have it on top of theirs?

Now let’s take a look at your team. The fact that you have a certain amount of people working under one roof who get paid from the same bank account doesn’t make them a team. Maybe you just have a group of individuals who show up every day to fill their 9 to 5 until they are 67.

So what’s the difference between a mediocre team and a “championship team”?

From my experience, That’s a “Code of Honor“. A Code of Honor is a set of rules, values, and responsibilities which each team member has to abide by.

A Code of Honor will, at times, not make everyone happy, but that’s not why it’s designed. It’s designed to create a safe space in which people can express themselves. Sometimes truthful expression can be painful to receive, but because space is created, it, in return, builds trust. When people feel trust and safety, they can deliver their best work. Also, rules keep the standards high and create an efficient culture within an organization.

Something that I learned while I was in the army is when there are no rules, and things go wrong, people tend to make up their own rules. When this happens in combat, it’s a matter of life or death. Apply this situation to your company, and you will notice that a lack of clarity can become expensive.

When I receive calls from companies and organizations that want to transform their teams from a mediocre team to a “championship team”, I first help them develop a Code of Honor.

Here are some of the most common points that are important to most companies in their Code of Honor:

• Never abandon a team member in need
• Open, honest, and direct communication
• When in doubt, take action
• Everyone has to sell
• Celebrate all successes (big or small)

When setting up your Code of Honor, you have to consider the following.

Firstly, your team is used to operating in a certain way. They, without you knowing, have created a culture.

If you now spring your new set of rules on them, what you will create is a whole lot of resistance. This is something you want to avoid because the more resistant your team is, the less likely they will conform to the new standard.

What I recommend you do is: Talk with your team. Tell them you stumbled across an article where you read about the importance of a Code of Honor. Explain to them why it is essential. Also, mention that you are grateful they are on your team and you want the best for them. That you would like their support on building your very own Code of Honor. Give them two examples of things to include and then ask each team member to add a point that they feel would be important to add. This way, you let them come up with the rules.

Allowing them to take ownership of the process and making it a team effort instead of you telling them because there is nothing more annoying to your team than you telling them. 

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