Create a workplace where relationships thrive.
Because talent doesn’t work alone.
We’ve all seen it; we need to deliver on a high-stakes project, so we bring together our A Team, a collection of the brightest, most talented individuals we have; and it bombs. The team that, in theory, will deliver brilliant results deteriorates into back-biting, recrimination, conflict and an abject failure to deliver. Why?
Conflict.
As we’ve seen in a previous post, innovative, disruptive teams must have team members with differing views and, if unchecked, this can lead to conflict. We have discussed that, by understanding where our own, and other’s feeling of self-worth comes from, our Motivational Value System (MVS), we can enable healthy disagreement whilst avoiding conflict.
So, what happens when we take that approach outside a project team and apply it across your entire organisation? What happens when we create a truly connected culture? Every organisation has a unique culture, some loose and ill-defined, others explicit and well-documented. When we think of organisations like Microsoft and Apple we can all imagine what it’s like to work there.
But whilst organisations like those are founded on a charismatic leader and disruptive products, it takes more to make them the ultra-successful organisations they are. As Steve Jobs famously said, “It doesn’t make sense to hire smart people and tell them what to do; we hire smart people so they tell us what to do”. But there’s even more to it that that. It’s not just about having smart people; it’s about having smart people who work well together.
Now, more than ever, organisational structures are fluid. Teams and working groups form and re-form, both formally and informally, to address the challenges and needs an organisation faces. It’s vital every team works to maximum effect which can be a challenge, especially when the team is cross-functional. The reality is, for example, the technical team have different priorities to, say, the procurement team or senior management.
However, if everyone knows their own, and other’s MVS, we can ensure every interaction is respectful and mindful of the other person’s feelings of self-worth. And by acknowledging and accommodating the other person’s MVS we can frame our communication to be in line with both our and their values and reasons. We create a genuinely connected culture.
But it’s not easy. In complex and ever-changing working relationships, it’s hard to keep tabs on what everyone’s MVS is, especially if we’re working under pressure. Our Talent Effectiveness Platform provides the support you need.
The application holds vital relationship intelligence of everyone in your organisation. As teams are formed you can map the entire team, identify the collective MVS profiles and create a composite strengths profile for the entire team. Not only does this enable you to frame your communication in the most appropriate way but also to identify how well balanced, or not, the team is. For example, if a team is heavily weighted towards a performance MVS will it give enough regard to people and process? Is the composite strengths profile appropriate for the task at hand? If not, can you recruit the missing strengths into the team?
By creating awareness across the entire organisation you build a collaborative culture that will deliver optimum results in a mindful and trusting way, every time. The recipe for a great organisation.
