Creating an effective team of motivated people, which represents stage 2 of Link-up’s 3-stage model for building a High Performance Team, can only get underway once all the issues and misunderstandings within the team have been understood and dealt with...

... like a soccer team ready to tackle a new season, you've got all the right players, in the right positions, the coach and players understand each other, and everyone has signed up to take on the challenges ahead.

I.D.™ comes into its own 

Take a closer look at the ingredients essential to building and motivating your team (on the right).  Even without serious issues within the team to sort out, knowing the I.D. of each person, knowing what makes each person tick, is still critical to the success of stage 2.  Armed with the knowledge of what drives and motivates each member of the team, you can: 

• Build a team vision that makes people feel part of something, because it connects with what motivates them
• Put in place performance measures that each team member can respond to
• Find the recipe for motivating each and every member of your team to do their best to meet the agreed goals and objectives
• Get the right people working on the right initiatives 
• Put in place the right processes for staying on track and making each other accountable, because you know upfront where the team is likely to fall down. 

With the knowledge that comes through I.D., not just for each person but for the team as a whole, there is no more need for guesswork when it comes to finding the right way to build and motivate your team. 

The missing link

There is however one piece of the teaming puzzle that is often missed and without it, a team will always struggle to be truly effective.

Playing team is a notion that makes sense to most people, but unless you really need to collaborate to get your job done, a lot of the time your team is just paying lip service to the idea.  It's what you 'should' do, it has a feel good factor, but really, does your team have a totally compelling reason to work together?

Why should your team ‘team’? 

The key is to get your people working together without even thinking about it, so they're playing team because they need to, not just because it's a nice notion.  We take the team through a process of understanding each other's roles and the potential linkages, and since there’s every chance that what one person is doing will impact on another, your team starts collaborating out of self-preservation.  Two team members, who until now might have been merely tolerating each other, suddenly realise they need to talk.  

Now they're interested in how the other person operates; now they want to take a closer look at the other person's I.D. profile and find the best way to work with them.  

Now that's teamwork.  

So what does it take to build and motivate your team?

All the right players in the right positions, ready and willing to play

A vision that means something to the team 

Clear business objectives

Protocols for working together as a team

Individual goals and initiatives aligned to the vision and objectives

Short term performance measures and regular checkpoints - accountability!

An understanding of who's working on what and where the crossover points are

A compelling reason to play team

Our team is really starting to hum.

We're hitting our targets and others are starting to take note. 

Our team members are motivated and excited by their own growth and development.

Now let's really get moving and turn this team into a High Performance Team!