Leading the Way - Creating a World Series Team

Leading the Way

How leadership works on the ranch.

Contributed article by B. Lynn Gordon. Leader Consulting - leaderconsulting.biz

CREATING A WORLD SERIES TEAM

September 2019

Living in a state bordering the home of the Minnesota Twins baseball team, I have witnessed the excitement of the thrilling and winning season for the Twins as it continues to grow. World Series fever is building as the team moves into the final stretch of its successful regular season. To have the success the team has experienced to this point is representative of being a highly functioning team. Every individual on the team has to perform at his best, from the pitchers, to the catchers to the hitters. The team is built around a skill set that each of the players can bring to the table. Each player has an ability to achieve the goals set out by the team management, and holistically, the individuals bring their strengths together to build the depth of the team skills. What would make a World Series level team on your ranch?

FOSTER A TEAM ENVIRONMENT

As I discussed in my August “Leading the Way” column in The Stockman, learning about what motivates you, your values and your strengths is key to helping you be a functioning member of a team. Ranch teams can consist of you and your spouse and/or your children, your employees or siblings involved in your family ranching operation. No matter how you look at it, once there is more than one of you, there is the semblance of a team.

Building on self-awareness learned from an assessment of your personality traits, the next step is understanding others on your team. What are their values, motives, natural strengths and the things that energize or de-energize them? Are they motivated by a concern for people, performance, or process or a combination of these? How does this compare to what motivates you?

Accepting and understanding the differences of team members will lead to a highly functioning team environment. Even if you have not had the opportunity to have a personality trait assessment conducted, focusing on understanding others is the foundation to genuinely accept the differences individuals bring to a situation and prevents us from making judgements based only on our own perspective. Truly appreciating and valuing different points of view, fosters healthy discussions and debate.

TEAM ELEMENTS

Creating a collaborative team environment starts when the team has a common purpose and clear, agreed upon objectives. These objectives should resonate with all team members. This becomes more feasible, if we understand the characteristics and motivations of each of the team members. What additional elements are needed to build a World Series team for your ranch?

1) Trust. Teams who work well together, trust each other. Having the ability to recognize we all have different values and different communications styles, rather than associating these differences with a hidden agenda or hidden message is key. This starts with being able to dig deeper and understand the motivations behind a person’s behavior, working style, and personality to create an environment of trust.

2) Open Collaboration. Everyone needs to show up and be present to be part of the team. By understanding who you are, and the perspective and strengths you can bring to the team and being open to the values and perspectives others bring to the team, the opportunity for more transparent communication and collaboration can exist.

“Creating a collaborative team environment starts when the team has a common purpose and clear, agreed upon objectives.”

3) Inclusiveness. Having the ability to be tolerant and inclusive. Busy ranch schedules can sometimes hinder the opportunity to take the time needed to allow for input from others to contribute their ideas (inclusive) and can limit our ability to show our willingness to listen (tolerance). For example, a rancher with a more domineering personality, may not realize how often others on the team would like to contribute their ideas, because he is focused only on his working style and objectives. However, being more aware of the style of communication preferred by others on the team, possibly a less direct style, could result in the rancher taking the approach of asking more questions, gathering more input, to being able to build a more team-focused consensus.

4) Productive Debate. It is inevitable that individuals in a team will have different views and will often approach tasks from different, sometimes competing angles. This can be productive and should be encouraged; however, the common objective of the team should always be the team’s focus. Teams sometimes avoid healthy debates, because of the breakdown in trust across the team. A greater understanding of an individual’s values makes one more aware of the potential triggers of conflict. The goal is to have healthy opposition without it resulting in conflict.

5) Responsibility. Successful teams understand the strengths and opportunities for growth of the individuals on the team. Recognizing this, individuals challenge themselves to accept the responsibility to do what they can individually to fill any gaps and collectively to help the team.

6) Engagement. In teams with diverse personalities and ideas, the bottom line is compromise. The inability to reach a compromise, results in conflict which inhibits the team’s ability to achieve their goals. Engagement across all individuals on the team, is indicative of trust, collaboration, inclusion, tolerance, productive debate and responsibility.

B. Lynn Gordon, Ph.D., Leader Consulting, LLC. Sioux Falls, SD.

Lynn is an agricultural freelance writer and leadership consultant with an extensive background in the livestock industry. She can be reached at lynn@leaderconsulting.biz or through her blog at http://www.leaderconsulting.biz

September 2019

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