Great teams are honest with themselves.
They know what’s important and what’s not, and they don’t pretend to do things.
Honesty and clarity cut through the confusion and indecision that slows down lower performers. It allows focus.
Honesty is a super power.
How a team deals with trends is a gauge of team culture, and honesty.
What do they see, what do they follow, what not?
Which trends get attention? Which ones don’t?
Is there confusion between what’s popular and what’s important?
Trends are often positive and virtuous, at least on the surface. That’s why they’re popular.
Sustainability, Diversity, Employee engagement, Safety, Continuous Improvement, Innovation, Customer first, Agile, Lean, Empowerment, Digitization, AI, etc. can all be trendy. You know the list.
The problem trends are those that we say are important, but aren’t visible in our actions.
Things we say we want to follow, but somehow don’t put into action.
Like Sustainability, Diversity, Employee engagement, Safety, Continuous Improvement, Innovation, Customer first, Agile, Lean, Empowerment, Digitization, AI, etc.
The problem isn’t that we adopt popular ideas, it’s when their only purpose is to get attention, while the real behaviors of the team don’t change.
If they were real, they would become objectives, and part of the whole team’s focus, with real action taken.
They wouldn’t be trends any more, they’d be on their way to being achievements.
Great teams don’t say things are important that they don’t believe are important.
They have things they focus on, and things they don’t.
They also have the courage to admit they aren’t working on some some things. They know what their real objectives are, and aren’t troubled if they’re not popular.
Or at least they stay quiet about them.
They’re honest.
“…the problem trends are those that our words say are important, but aren’t visible in our actions…”
Are there any objectives your team has set, that don’t seem to get priority day to day?
By priority we don’t mean posters, or public messages or prepared speeches. Priority means action to achieve them takes precedence over other goals.
Like increasing costs to reduce carbon footprint, or improve safety, or improve employee engagement..
Or slowing down a product release to ensure quality, or disrupting customer service to implement a digital transformation.
The choices you make betray your real priorities.
Does your team have stated objectives that don’t get traction in day to day work?
Do you have policies or objectives that you don’t believe are really serious?
Are any there because they’re trendy?
How do you treat them?
Is discussion open in the team about any gaps between objective and reality?
Or are they left unsaid, the elephant in the room?
Do leaders acknowledge the gap, even privately? Does the team know that they’re just for show, or pretend they’re real?
Are there any trends that your team are not following, and not pretending to follow?
Do you think that saying something is important, yet not acting on it, helps the team achieve their other results?
Does it reflect positively on leadership?
If you’re not keeping up with a trend, are you out of step, or just honest?
If you follow a trend, do you commit to actually make it work?
How do you treat Trends?
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“I might be wrong, but at least I’ve thought about it…”