Learning From Those We lead

There were times when I thought I knew it all: fresh out of college with a diploma that said I was educated, reporting for my first assignment with a shiny 2nd Lieutenant gold bar that said I was in charge, or stepping into an HR Director role with years of experience already under my belt.

I thought I knew more than everyone around me.

Photo credit: iStock

Thankfully, I was smart enough to know better.

Leaders wake up every day and step into a leadership learning lab yet far too many miss the opportunity to learn from others. My leadership training came in different modalities: on-the-job as an officer in the U.S. Army and in the form of classes, seminars, and certifications courses. By far, the most valuable leadership training came from my interactions with those I lead.

Do leaders lead while learning or learn while leading?

Read more at the Lessonly blog.

Building Team Connection

As a leader, I tend towards necessities over niceties: hire smart, be respectful, offer unwavering support, and get out of the way. Let your team do what it does best and it will thrive.

This is all well and good except that a team is not an "it."

Photo credit: iStockphoto

There is a lot we can talk about when it comes to teams. For today, let's take a small bite and talk about connection.

Teams will not perform at their best if the team members are disconnected from each other. Connection doesn't just happen so leaders must create opportunities for team members to interact positively with each other.

Think communication.

Create opportunities for relaxed and natural communication for your team:

• Have a 10 minute morning huddle that is short on business and high on interaction.
• Incorporate peer-to-peer recognition into daily huddles, team meetings or activities.
• Involve every member of the team in weekly updates and keep your agendas loose.

Think fun.

Create non-cheesy opportunities for your team to let their guard down and laugh.

• Have a weekly riddle with a small prize for the first to guess the right answer.
• Revise the break schedule so the team can take a break at the same time.
• Break the routine. Get out of the office, the building or prescribed roles.

Do the ideas above seem simplistic? Think again. Actually, don't think again. This is not difficult, don't try to make it so. You don't have to do this on your own. Actually, you can't do this on your own - you need people to make this work.

Take your all employee survey scores seriously, ask questions, listen to the responses and take action. Let your team do what it does best and it will thrive.

You can do this.

Building Team Connection by Lisa Rosendahl first appeared on lisarosendahl.com