Eight Steps To Build A Powerful Team

Take some quality time to read the book by C. Elliott Haverlack, Unbunde It, because it explores the issues you face as a leader with a twist that is different from many other leadership books.  Throughout, the book offers suggestions on how to overcome the burden that complexity creates in our lives and businesses.

Most intriguing for me is Haverlack's straight-forward, unbundled insights on teams.  "The healthiest teams trust each other," explains the author. "When we trust, we tend to be more transparent and are more likely to share the hurdles we need to leap. And, once trust becomes a competency, accountability comes much more easily." And, accountability is the key to delivering results.

Haverlack's eight-point plan for a powerful team is:

1. Engage a group that shares your core values.
2. Set aspirational yet achievable goals for the company and every individual.
3. Create an environment that encourages and rewards trust.
4. Empower every individual to create and achieve greatness.
5. Persuade them to stretch.
6. Love them when they fail.
7. Create an environment that encourages and rewards self-discipline.
8. Have the courage to exit those from the team who do not fit.

Other particularly useful sections in Unbundle It are the ones on:

• Tips for excellence in the email world
• Ground rules for meetings
• Coaching

Another of my favorite parts of the book is what Haverlack titled, The Silence Is Deafening.  He writes, "One of Colin Powell's leadership principals is, 'The day soldiers top bringing you their problems is the day you have stopped leading them.They have either lost confidence that you can help them or concluded that you do not care. Either case is a failure of leadership.'"

Haverlack continues to say, "We can apply this same sentiment to business. If your employees stop sharing their thoughts and concerns with you, you are failing to lead. Allowing your people to think you're incompetent or uncaring is not acceptable."