The key to team problem-solving

Posted: December 1, 2017 | Categories: Leadership, Team Building

One of our favorite family traditions for the holiday is making and decorating Christmas cookies.  We like to make it a special event, and this past weekend we had our two adult sons and their wives join us in the project.  Our goal was to put our creativity into the cookie decorating and afterwards take pictures and make a Christmas card.  That was our objective.  We weren’t sure how we were going to get to it.  That is where team collaboration came in.

Kelly, Kevin, and David began their art work on the cookies.  Nicole got on the Internet and designed a Christmas card.  She selected several, and deferred to the rest of us to make the final selection.  We did, and within an hour, all the cards were made and we picked them up at the store.  What teamwork!

Big deal?  Yes it is.  Each person in our group came in with an idea of how the project should go.  All six of us have different personalities.  Some of us are high key, some low key, some Type A, some Type B.  Our personalities did not get in the way.  When one person would make a suggestion, another would add to it or offer a modification.  It was back and forth synergy.  We were all working together towards an end goal, and we worked in concert to get to the main objective.

This is how teams are supposed to work together.  Sadly, how often do we see just the opposite?  Sometimes people are not willing to subordinate their ego in favor of drawing from the team.

The founding fathers of the United States had big egos, and they often drove each other nuts.  They were smart enough to enlist in a cause that was bigger than their egos, and we are reaping the rewards today.  The next time you feel tension rising among your team, ask yourself, “What is the end result?”  If you don’t know and agree on it, take time to align.  You will come up with a better solution, and you’ll get there quicker.