It's All About Relationships

By Dr. Cloud Scout Lee

Let me know when you’re ready and I’ll start the clock”.  This is a common statement we make when we present our teams with “their first team challenge”.  Invariably teams interpret “you” as themselves individually.  They immediately divide into small pairs or groups to complete their task.  The result is low scores in efficiency, accountability, appreciation, integrity, and quality. Only as we perform together as ONE TEAM do we experience high scores. Our success depends on our working together as a team.  

 Inside today’s talent management culture, “you” means the BIG YOU, the whole team.  It is this paradigm shift from “Me” to “WE” to “ONE” that serves as the bedrock foundation for our success. Through Team Development we are moving our teams from acting independently to acting inter-dependently.  Our next opportunity for improvement is the shift from ‘reaction to” into ‘in relationship with”.  Team building is designed to grow interpersonal relationships, clarify team members’ roles, and align team goals with organizational goals.

Team building is essential for many reasons, most importantly improving communication.  Surveys reveal that most low company-wide scores are in the area of “communication”.  The word ‘communication’ has taken on so many meanings that it no longer connotes specific actions.  When we say “we need to improve communication” are we talking about more one-on-one face time or are we talking about ‘face time’ on our iPhones?  Are we talking about emails, eConnections, texting, phone calls, flyers, posters, or announcements made at brief meetings?  We can now also Yelp, Tweet, Facebook, Instagram, or get Linked in.  The word ‘communication’ has become so diversified that it no longer helps us to simply ‘improve communication’.  What do we mean by “we need to improve communication”? 

Simply stated, ‘communication is the ebb and flow of information’.

The quality of communication is always obvious in ‘the result that it gets. If we did not get the result that we were seeking, we must learn to accept the onus of responsibility as the ‘communicator’.  It is our responsibility to tap every avenue possible to get the desired result.  To this end, we erase the word ‘communication’ and replace it with RELATIONSHIP!  The specifics of sharing information happen best INSIDE QUALITY RELATIONSHIPS.  Thus, our greatest opportunity for improving communications is in GROWING QUALITY RELATIONSHIPS.  Into varied relationships, we can diversify our style of sharing information to exactly fit the relationship.  No matter how we are sharing information, we are always having “conversation”.  It is easy to gauge the quality of the relationship, by the quality of the “conversation”.  The conversation IS THE RELATIONSHIP!  Team Development is the golden tool for growing quality relationships!

We are a SERVICE CULTURE”.  The difference that makes the difference is this:  Great product, good feelings, and great relationships with everyone.  Into these relationships, information will easily flow all the way around our organizations and directly impact our success.  Remember, erase the word COMMUNICATION and replace it with RELATIONSHIPS.  Now let’s get busy growing very high-quality relationships. Improving our relationships is a fundamental step in our success.  It’s ALL ABOUT RELATIONSHIPS!  Embrace team building as a constant process for building relationships and watch your teams transform into a powerhouse of productivity and positivity.