Album 4: Building a Team
This album focuses on creating a positive and collaborative team dynamic.
Transcripts
Episode 1
Transcript
The3LawsofTeamwork.mp3 - powered by Happy Scribe
You're listening to the Mental Notes Podcast. In this episode, Founder, Scott Dow, explains the three laws of teamwork.
One of the best examples of teamwork in history happened about 160 years ago in The Oregon Trail. In the mid-1980s, the only way to get out West was by wagon train. This was before the railroads. People from very diverse backgrounds would band together and endure unspeakable hardship to follow the American dream. To do it, they had to work as a team. So I'm going to use this example to explain the three laws of teamwork.
The first law is this, people have to want the same things. They've got to have the same vision and they have to be headed in the same direction. Wagon trains were made up of all types. There were fur traders and mountain men. There were missionaries and business people. There were minors headed for the gold rush and immigrants just trying to join families out West. And there were more than a few fugitives, people just looking for a fresh start.
This diverse group all wanted the same thing. They wanted to go West. They were headed the same direction. They were headed across The Oregon Trail. Here's the first one in a nutshell, if people don't want the same things they have no reason to work together. People need a reason to work together, and that reason is a shared vision.
The second law is this, people need to be worried about the same things. Here's a psychological fact. Whatever you value you worry about. If you value money, you worry about saving it. I really value my daughter and that's why I worry about her all the time. Tell me what you're worried about and I can tell you exactly what's important to you.
The people on The Oregon Trail worried about the same things. They're worried about crossing the mountains before winter set in. They're worried about disease. They're worried about floods and rivers that overflowed. Here's the second law in a nutshell, when people are worried about the same things they work better together to solve problems because they're motivated by the very same fears.
The third law is this, people need a reason for being there. Everyone has to serve some useful purpose. It was a diverse group that traveled The Oregon Trail, but everyone had a job. There were what they called "pilots" that drove the wagons and buffalo hunters that replenished food. There were cattle drivers that guided the herd and cooks the prepared meals. There were blacksmiths, midwives, and if you're lucky, a doctor. But everyone contributed in some way. Everyone had a role.
Here's the third law in a nutshell, if you don't add value to the team, the team won't engage you. They'll have no time for you. If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem.
So The Oregon Trail ran from Independence, Missouri to the Willamette Valley in Oregon. It covered about 2,000 miles, and it took about five months to make the journey. In all, about 400,000 people made the journey. They were farmers, miners, and ranchers. They were outlaws and missionaries. They were business owners and fur traders.
You can't get a more diverse group working under tougher conditions, but they demonstrated the three laws of teamwork. They wanted the same thing. They worried about the same things, and everyone had a meaningful role.
In this album, we'll explain how to promote these laws, but let's start with this. Never assume that people want the same thing or worry about the same things. Just because people work together in the same company doesn't mean that they share the same goals and values. You have to constantly reinforce and explain goals, and your values have to be meaningful. They have to resonate with each individual on the team.
A salesperson has about as much in common with a developer as a fur trapper has with a missionary. But if they want the same thing and they worry about the same things, they'll find the motivation to work together and to solve problems together.
Listen, it's easy to discount these three laws of teamwork. They're just too simple and make too much sense, right? But when you put a team under stress and the team begins to break down, look to these laws for guidance.
Remember, teams break down when they start heading in different directions. People no longer have a shared vision. Teams break down when they start worrying about different things. People no longer have shared values, and teams break down when people start skirting their responsibilities. They no longer have mutual accountability.
So focus on these three laws to navigate whatever your version of The Oregon Trail is. If you do, you can even get salespeople and developers working together, I promise. Good luck.
Episode 2
Transcript
TeambuildingOpportunities.wav - powered by Happy Scribe
You're listening to the Mental Notes podcast. In this episode, founder Scott Dow explains how to create team building opportunities.
There's a big difference between team building events and team building opportunities. Team building events are overvalued. And team building opportunities, they're way underutilized.
Think about team building events. They're a lot like family vacations. You don't do them very often, they cost more than you think, and they don't change much. The Magic Kingdom won't fix family dysfunction and trust falls won't fix team dysfunction. That's why team building events are overvalued.
Now, team building opportunities are different. They're always available, they don't cost much, and they're a chance to reinforce your team values. But they're way underutilized. We plan for vacations and team building events, but we don't plan for everyday team building opportunities. So let's change that. Let's build a plan and let's use a close-knit family as a role model.
A team building opportunity is a chance to promote, demonstrate, or reinforce team values. The key is thinking of team values in the same context you think of family values. Close-knit families are built at home, not on vacation.
The head of the family uses life's everyday challenges as opportunities, opportunities to build family values. They use family squabbles and sibling rivalries. They use unpopular decisions and unwanted changes. They use death, and divorce, and everything in-between.
Here's what you need to know. Anything that can tear a family or a team apart is a tremendous opportunity to bring it together. So here's how you start. Think through the things that can tear your team apart, write them down. They're the same things that can tear families apart. The squabbles, the changes, the unpopular decisions. These are the opportunities you're looking for. Remember, anything that can tear a team apart can also bring it together.
The second thing is this: the head of the household uses everyday occurrences as opportunities, opportunities to instill family values. Things like the carpool, divvying up family chores, or dinner time. You should, too. Every interaction, either one-on-one or in a group is an opportunity to instill team values. Things like hallway conversations and lunch breaks, chats on Teams or Slack, and even email threads are the opportunities you're looking for.
The next thing is this: healthy families have rituals and rules. Family dinner is an example of a ritual. Turning the TV off is an example of a rule. Walking the dog is a ritual. Leaving the phone at home is a rule.
You need to develop your team's rituals and rules. Here are some examples. A team meeting is a ritual. Everyone takes a role in the meeting is a rule. Onboarding a new employee is a ritual. Everyone helps interview is a rule.
Team building opportunities hide in plain sight. Challenging situations are opportunities. Everyday situations are opportunities. Your rituals are opportunities and the rules you create are opportunities.
So how do you put this into practice? When you reflect back on your week, use hindsight to spot the team building opportunities you missed because this will help you spot similar opportunities going forward. When you plan your week, look for the stressful situations you can anticipate because these are the team building opportunities you prepare for in advance.
Then I want you to benchmark other leaders. What team building rituals do they use? What team building rules do they enforce? What best practices can you apply?
I'm not saying you shouldn't have team building events. Hell, everyone needs a family vacation. But if you think you need a team building event, it's probably because you're missing out on team building opportunities.
Episode 3
Transcript
PowerStruggles.mp3 - powered by Happy Scribe
You're listening to the Mental Notes podcast. In this episode, founder Scott Dow explains how to resolve power struggles.
There's something important that a corporate boss can learn from a crime boss. And I'm going to share what it is. The Mafia is a business, and like most businesses, it's organized by geography. The New York City mob is broken into five crime families. Each is assigned different territories, and each family has its own boss.
Now the Mafia has the same business challenges you and I do. Customers cross territories; functions cross territories; decisions, disputes, and solutions cross territories, too. And the bosses often disagree. The Mafia is a classic Matrix organization. It's multi-dimensional, it's siloed, and it's cross-functional. The crime families have to work together, just like silos and a company have to work together.
So in the early 1920s, there was a power struggle for control of the New York City Mafia. The power struggle was to determine who would be the boss of all bosses. The struggle was between the old guard and the new guard, known as the Young Turks. This might sound a little bit like your company.
The new guard had very different ideas about strategy and governance. And the power struggle got bloody. Bosses that fought to be the in control, to be the boss of all bosses, ended up getting whacked and sleeping with the fishes. And yes, that's a very blatant Godfather or Sopranos reference.
So did a lot of their management team, known as underbosses. When the big boss went down, their team went down, too. So the solution was a Commission, a sort of governing body that aligned the families on strategy and governance. It's also how they resolve conflicts, and they had more than their share of conflicts.
The mob bosses figured out that coercive power wasn't sustainable. They changed their management model to be more collaborative. And the bosses that learned how to share power, how to earn informal power, they rose to power, and they stayed in power.
Now they may have ended up behind bars, but they still retained control. Many still ran their businesses from prison, and they didn't end up getting whacked. Now business can be ruthless, but there's no more ruthless business than organized crime. And there are some lessons here.
As you ascend up the corporate ladder, you're going to be sitting around the table with other bosses, and some of the bosses are going to be fighting for control. They're going to want to be that boss of all bosses, but that's a slippery slope. They won't end up getting whacked, but their careers will suffer. They may win some turf battles, but they won't last long.
So here's what you can learn from Tony Soprano. In a Matrix organization, the fight for power is a losing battle. Informal power is granted by the group. Control isn't seized; it's earned. And it's earned by acting in the greater good. It's earned by setting self-interest aside and focusing on the group's best interest.
So another quick mob lesson: Mafia bosses formed alliances. Their willingness to share power gave them an opportunity to consolidate power. This is the most fundamental of all power plays. So align yourself with the right people. Find other bosses willing to put their self interest aside people that are focused and committed to the greater good.
If they're willing to collaborate and help others along the way, then consolidate your power with them. Like any good mob boss will tell you, it's good to know that other bosses have your back. So you rise to power by leading your function well, then you get a seat at the table with other functional bosses. In that setting, power is granted. informally.
Remember, groups cede control to those operating in the group's best interest, not those who simply want to exert their influence or control. So like a mob boss, you have to work with other bosses. And to do so, you have to work in everyone's best interest, make your alliances, and consolidate your power.
Episode 4
Transcript
PowerParadox.mp3 - powered by Happy Scribe
You're listening to the MentalNotes Podcast. In this episode, founder Scott Dow explains the power paradox and how to gain informal power.
If you want to influence your peers or lead people that don't work for you, you need to know about the power paradox. I'm going to explain what it is, and I'm going to use a story about a friend of mine to do it.
My friend was one of the most powerful women on Wall Street. In fact, she was one of the most powerful people on Wall Street. She had a 35-year career defined by three major economic crises, the dot-com bubble that burst in 2000, the subprime mortgage crash in 2007, and the COVID pandemic in 2020.
And through each crisis, she gained even more power. She grew her career. She didn't gain power and lose it, she gained power and used it. She used it in a way that led to even more power, even more influence on Wall Street.
So how'd she do it? I had the good fortune of being invited to a retirement party and a who's who of Wall Street came to pay their respects. And as you might imagine, most of them were men. Each spoke, and as they did, a picture of her leadership style emerged. They described a person that was curious and self-aware, magnanimous and humble, open-minded, but very confident.
They described her as empathetic and supportive. They talked about her self-deprecating sense of humor and her team-oriented style. Now the picture they painted was a stark contrast to the stereotypical Wall Street power broker, and these were all the power brokers talking about her admiring her.
As the night went on, I had a chance to hear more detailed stories about her. These stories weren't told by her employees, her former employees, but by the power brokers she worked with that shared their power that ceded some of their authority and control to her.
Here's how they described her leadership style; she asked a lot of questions and was always seeking knowledge, she asked for feedback and acknowledged her shortcomings, she was quick to offer assistance and very interested in other people's opinions, she wasn't too proud to ask for help, and she was very encouraging of others, even those she disagreed with.
She was willing to poke fun at herself and she always showed a genuine interest in everybody else. That style, those behaviors is how she gained power and how she stayed in power. So what's this got to do with you?
If you manage in a matrix organization, you're often sitting around the table with other leaders and you're making decisions and solving problems. You're all pretty equal on the org chart, so there's no formalized power structure. So to influence outcomes, you have to be skilled at developing informal power.
Informal power is the ability to influence others without the benefit of an official leadership title over. That's what my friend did and she was a master of it, and she used the power paradox to do it. So let me explain the power paradox. Wall Street financial markets are built on incentives, and incentives are based on self-interest.
It's in your self-interest to gain power. But to gain power, you have to set aside your self-interest. That's the paradox. Your business is going to be the same way, people act in their self-interest. To gain informal power, you have to set aside your self-interest.
When you do, the group starts to listen because you're no longer a threat. It's not about you, it's about them. You become the solution, not part of the problem. This is especially true during times of crisis and chaos. When people feel threatened, their self-interests hardened and they dig in. The natural reflex is to dig in too, but then the groups at loggerheads.
My friend grew her power and influence during three financial meltdowns, and she did it by using the power paradox. A lot of her female contemporaries were digging in trying to mimic the alpha male behavior of the Wall Street power brokers. But my friend, she busted through the glass ceiling, the glass ceilings by being true to herself and using the power paradox.
The power paradox holds true for both men and women. Whatever your race, nationality, or background, the power paradox applies. Try it and your self-interests are going to be well-served just as my friends were.
She can do it on Wall Street, you can do it in your company.
Episode 5
Gratitude.mp3 - powered by Happy Scribe
You're listening to the Mental Notes podcast. In this episode, founder Scott Dow explains how gratitude becomes contagious.
Gratitude is the oxygen of all positive work environments. Without it, teams won't survive. When the boss shows appreciation, it builds their employee's confidence and it motivates them. But appreciation and gratitude are kind of like Irish coffee. The cream on top should taste good, but the positive buzz comes from the stuff that's underneath.
It's all about the caffeine and the whiskey. I want to share a quick story about someone I work with. She's a young, up-and-coming manager with a big software company, and she runs the implementation team of their biggest global clients. She's a real rockstar, and I adore working with her. She describes herself as a boring tech nerd, and she worries about her lack of charisma.
Now she has nothing to worry about. But I've been working with her for once or twice a month. For about a year. She was worried about her team burning out. So she asked me to sit in on one of her virtual meetings.
So people started to log into this Zoom meeting from all over the globe somewhere at the beginning of their day, and somewhere at the end, you could tell they were all beat. They all had really hard jobs. So she started the meeting by saying how proud she was of the team. She started with the cream, the sweet stuff on top. She talked about the recent accomplishments and the positive contributions they had made to the company.
But then she got to the good stuff. She started by going around the virtual meeting room, and she addressed each person individually. She had one specific example prepared for each person, where she cited a skill or attribute that she valued and she appreciated. And then she explained what that skill or attribute had meant to her or meant to the team. I heard about Tamara's willingness to offer others help and how that helped many of the team dealing with very difficult clients.
I heard about Sergey's rise sense of humor and how that helped her and others keep things in perspective. I even heard about Ryan's skepticism and how that kept her and everyone else honest and on their toes. One by one. She went around the room and people started to perk up. Body language changed, the energy changed and something else happened.
People started to express their gratitude about each other. It was really inspiring to watch. I spend a lot of time in New York City and New Yorkers are going to tell you, you never hear one car, horn hawk. If one horn honks, that triggers the next talk, and the next talk, and pretty soon everyone's leaning on their damn horns. It's maddening, especially when you're trying to record a podcast as you can hear the sirens in the background.
Emotions are the same way. If one person expresses frustration, everyone will sink with that frustration, that emotion. But if one person expresses gratitude and it's more than just the cream on top, if it's specific and has meaning attached, people tend to share their gratitude along with it. And magic can happen. Groups synchronize their emotions, and leaders can use that to drive engagement, even under the most challenging situations.
And needless to say, I didn't need to contribute much to that meeting. She nailed it. I asked her what led her to do that, and she said something that's worth writing down. She said that people need to be reminded that they matter, that they're noticed that what they offer is valued. If not, she said, it becomes just a job.
Now. Sometimes a teacher becomes a stuent. And in that moment she was offering me valuable coaching advice, Advice I can now offer you. Now, I'm not Irish, but I am a Scotsman.
And in this Scotsman's humble opinion, the best part of Irish coffee is the caffeine and the whiskey. It's not the cream on top. It's nice, but it doesn't deliver that burst of energy in a positive buzz. Now, I'm not suggesting we all go buy gift cards for Irish coffee for our employees. That's not the part but think of your specific acknowledgment of contributions and the meaning you attach to each contribution as caffeine and whiskey.
It's the surge, and it's a positive budge. And remember, in New York City, you never hear one car Horn blast. Share your gratitude, make it specific and give it meaning. Then let your team start honking away.