542 | Leading Teams: Combativeness To Collaboration

The Chris LoCurto Show

Use the timestamps below to guide you better as a leader or individual:

• Combativeness vs. collaboration. 0:00
  • Today's episode is all about team dynamics and leadership. The journey from combativeness to collaboration within teams is coming up next on the chrisliccardo show.
  • Why combativeness can lead to tension and communication breakdowns.
  • Many times, teams feel like they have to be in a competition or that their priorities are more important than others.
  • Collaboration promotes innovation and creates a more positive work atmosphere.
• People default to a competitive mindset. 4:10
  • People default to a competitive mindset, especially in the workplace, and don't naturally lean in the direction of collaboration.
  • Competitive mindset creates one of the worst things in any business, silos.
  • People who are focused on only their area or their role or leaders. The shotgun approach, when multiple people focus only on their areas.
  • Why creating silos is a problem.
  • Two people in his early years of leading he hired that he regretted because of how focused they were and how destructive they were to the rest of the team and how they impacted the team.
  • The two silos, the two islands, plus all the other team members.
• How do I get out of the islands? 10:23
  • How to get out of competitive combative team members and break down the brick walls of not wanting to work with other team members.
  • How to have tough conversations with team members to say, you work for me, you don't work for yourself.
  • One of the islands silos moved in the direction of collaboration pretty quickly. The other one took a little bit longer, but eventually they recognized if they cared about the other people, those people were there to support them.
  • It took months of making this happen, not overnight.
• Understanding the importance of collaboration. 15:27
  • Team members had better relationships and a more positive working environment. It took a lot of work and effort to make that happen.
  • Team leaders need to understand the importance of collaboration.
  • The goal is to bring five silos together and foster an open communication, vulnerability and ability to care about other people.
  • The one thing that does not fly around is the saying, that's not my job. We do this together, we move in the same direction.
• Team building exercises. 20:22
  • Team building exercises that can be done on Google or online, such as games or activities that require nobody to have a title.
  • All kinds of team building exercises available.
  • In Tennessee, leaders go through team building exercises to see what it's like to work with a team in a collaborative or combative style.
  • As people start to recognize what it is like for a team to work together, they can start to translate that into their own projects.
• How to foster and nurture trust within your team? 24:35
  • Your job as a leader is to foster and nurture trust within your team or your teams, and how to do this.
  • How to build trust within a team.
  • Working with different personality styles can be conflict, not understanding personality styles, and not recognizing why someone seems to be competitive or combative.
  • Communication is the number one reason why businesses fail, and it is the most common reason why they fail.
  • People will start to recognize the thing that's been holding them back, which is understanding other people.
  • People want to hear from you. Send us your insights and questions.