Have you ever had to unite a divided team?
Uniting a group of divided individuals can be challenging. With the right approach, you can get them to come together stronger than before. As a basketball coach for 35 years, I had a few seasons where the team members did not see eye-to-eye. How I handled those situations helped me gain perspective on conflict resolution amongst a team. Have you ever had the tough task of uniting a divided group? What leadership methods did you try? Did it work? In the #CJJblog this week, I give you some tips on how you can unite a team after it turns on itself. Enjoy.
- Address the problem. Don’t ignore the elephant in the room. You must face it head on and talk about it together.
- Be clear with yourself. What is your personal mission statement? Are you being true to who you are during the discussion? It might help to write down your top three values and think about how you are following those values, even when things get tough.
- Leadership team. Make sure the leadership team is united, consistent, and true to their words. Is your coaching staff or team of VPs leading by example?
- Stay calm. At least on the exterior, don’t let your emotions show. What is your best calming exercise?
- Team mission. Discuss this consistently and make changes throughout the year, if needed. Are your current conversations in line with the team mission?
- Open door communication – Keep everyone on the same page by doing three things: 1) Hold individual meetings, 2) Hold small group meetings, and 3) Hold full team meetings.
- Team building. Do activities as a team outside of the office or gym. This is a great way to build trust and allow the relationships amongst your team members to thrive.
- Focus on trust. Share your truth at all times and find out exactly how others feel as well. It also helps to admit your mistakes and share them with the team.
- Common goal. Once you’ve found a common goal, or common ground. Use that to your advantage when uniting a team that has been divided.
Did You Know? Coach Jim Johnson is running a “Stay-at-Home” sale on his book, “A Coach and a Miracle” through June 28th! Click HERE to get your autographed copy as well as a free bookmark.
Life Tip: A house divided cannot stand –Abraham Lincoln-
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