How Leaders Create a Successful Team
Likely due to social media, people today are living more in the open than ever before. The desire for information is just as strong as the need to share it. Glassdoor allows employees to rate their bosses and workplace in public, and companies like Airbnb and Uber encourage both the host/driver and the customer to rate each other. After studying hundreds of modern teams for their new book The Best Team Wins, Chester Elton and Adrian Gostick found a common practice. Some of the most successful teams they studied have a need-to-share culture where privacy was replaced with a radical transparency.
What Is a Need-to-Share Culture?
A need-to-share culture is built around transparency. Team members always have the right to speak up, and they are encouraged to do so by their leaders. Elton and Gostick explain that employees connect better with leaders who are open and transparent and it leads to the whole team to be more collaborative as a result. Having a culture where the whole team participates in decision-making also tends to reduce stress, increase trust, enhance creativity, and it allows people to own challenges and solutions.
Questions Leaders Need To Ask Themselves
In order to see if you as a leader are being transparent and building a need-to-know culture, ask yourself these questions from The Best Team Wins:
- “Do I share everything about our team performance, goals, and challenges with my employees? Or am I keeping things to myself that need to be shared?”
- “Do we have a designated place to post our team goals and current performance levels clearly for all to see?”
- “Am I consistent about involving my people in decision-making with issues, especially those that affect their work?”
- “Do my employees have a say in setting goals that are important in their jobs?”
- “What platforms do my team members have to voice their ideas and concerns?”
- “Am I showing my employees that their opinions and ideas are appreciated?”
Click here to read the original article written by Chester Elton!
