Team Improvement: Aiming For Utopia
People tell me that work is never going to be perfect. That no matter what role you have, there are going to be problems. No matter what organization you work in, there will be issues. Logically, I know this to be true. There are problems in every workplace and every team. But then, there are also leaders that spend too much time fixing team problems, rather than on the work itself.
What I aim for is not a place where everything is perfect and everyone is happy all the time. I aim for an environment that encourages team improvement. Didn’t get it right this time? Great, next time we’ll do better.
Here are some phrases I hate. “That’s just the way it is here.” “That’s the nature of the industry.” “That’s how we’ve always done it.”
I hate these phrases because they are powerless, victim statements. They show that people have given up on team improvement. They say that no matter how much we try, nothing we do will work. Why bother trying if it’s just “how it is”?
Aim for team improvement, even in your own small context
We aren’t all working on the SpaceX program with Elon Musk. Some leaders are working in companies that wouldn’t rate a mention on the world scale. Some are working in industries that are in the dark ages. Others are working in companies that supply components to other organizations, not even clearly seeing their work have an impact on the end customer.
No matter where you work, improvement should be a key driver. Utopia may not be possible, but why not aim for it? We should be trying to improve every week, every month and every year. Even if our team sells toilet accessories.
Team improvement plays a key role in helping you drive, motivate and keep your team members interested.
Team improvement initiatives provide goals
When you’re leading an operational team, life can become fairly mundane. Your team is asked to produce things or provide a service. The team does the work. Then it starts again. It can seem like a never ending workload. Team improvement provides targets to aim for which may not naturally exist.