right people on your teamAs you may have noticed, we love helping people succeed!

While we often help people succeed at the intersection of their life and their work, we believe these skills are of value to anyone trying to choose happiness and overcome overwhelm. And, we know you’ll get closer to happiness and more effectively be able to manage all that’s on your plate if you get the right people on your team.

For some of you, your team is the group of people who report to you or you work collaboratively with, but for others it’s the people who help you with childcare, your health, and your fitness.  

We all have teams, and making sure that the right people are on those teams can be a game changer. Let’s describe some guiding principles that can help.

First, if you haven’t already done so, we want to encourage you to watch the YouTube video by Daniel Pink that is based on his book Drive (Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, 2011). It’s a quick and fun watch that brilliantly summarizes the research on what motivates us. What he found is that people are not particularly motivated by money, but instead by autonomy, mastery, and purpose. Now, that’s helpful! And it’s really helpful if you flip the order: Purpose. Mastery. Autonomy.

When you’re thinking about getting the right people on your team, you want to consider:

Purpose

  • Is their purpose in alignment with yours?
  • Is what they love to do and how they do it a good fit with what you need done and how you want it done?
  • Is the work style and approach you want in a team member the work style and approach that leaves them feeling delighted to have contributed?

Mastery

  • Do they have the basic skills you need them to have to succeed?
  • Do they have the interest in growing those skills to reach mastery?
  • Are they invested in growing those skills?

Autonomy

  • If they bring their sense of purpose and their level of mastery to your team, can you trust they can succeed without a ton of oversight and supervision?
  • Where can they have autonomy and independence and still contribute significantly to the success of your team?
  • In giving them increasing levels of autonomy, do you feel confident they’ll let you know when they’re challenged by either a conflict with purpose or a lack of mastery?

Spend some time this week thinking about your teams—in your life and in your work—and assessing if you have the right people on your teams to make life more fun and successful. Let us know what you find.

Hugs,
Your Coaches and Allies at Carpenter Smith Consulting


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