Date Published April 9, 2019 - Last Updated December 17, 2019
In The Foundation of a Team, I focused on the importance of strong trust and respect as the foundation of every successful team. Specifically, I talked about the value of vulnerability trust.
In that article, I touched on five interpersonal attributes that enable successful teams to efficiently reach their goals. Today, I’ll discuss the first of those five elements; the need for every successful team’s members to possess harmonizing skills.
Gregg will share the 5 Behaviors of Successful Teams at HDI Conference & Expo!
Join us!
To illustrate the importance of harmonizing skills, I often use music as an analogy. If you listen to the greatest music of all time, in whatever genre you enjoy most, you will notice something incredibly valuable. While the variety of instruments and voices are, individually, wonderful, it is only when they work together, in harmony, that the real power of the music becomes evident.
For instance, in the Queen hit, Bohemian Rhapsody, the operatic portion that Freddie Mercury was able to pull out of just three voices (Freddie Mercury, Brian May, and Roger Taylor) is incredibly powerful. According to separate interviews with Brian and Roger, the song featured 180 separate overdubs. This allowed each of the three singers to record their own harmony multiple times. In the end, those three voices, harmonizing together, sounds like an entire choir performing. This is the power of harmony.
Sports teams also need harmony. If everyone on the team had the same skills as the quarterback, the team would not perform at optimum levels. The team requires the skills of every player, in every position, working together—in harmony—to be successful.
If your team is all about new ideas, you will come up with lots of ideas that may, or may not, work or be executed effectively. When a team is unable to identify or find possible solutions, problem solving is an uphill battle, and your team will most likely become stagnant.
These very same concepts apply on your service desk team. The diversity of technology, variety of hardware platforms, and wide array of software programs requiring service today make it virtually impossible for everyone to be trained to the expert level for everything.
The diversity of technology makes it virtually impossible for everyone to be trained to the expert level for everything.
Great harmony is critical for every team when it comes to problem solving and decision-making. Powerful service desk teams identify problems and opportunities, then evaluate their options before moving forward. They subsequently come up with a variety of possible solutions, review the likelihood of success for each possibility, evaluate the necessary trade-offs, decide how to proceed and, finally, they execute.
In situations like this, some people are much better at identifying detailed symptoms, while some are outstanding at understanding the broader view, allowing them to easily identify possible solutions. Others are great at working through logistics issues, finding the challenges associated with various solutions, or implementing probable solutions.
Beyond technical skills, have you ever noticed that some people are better at communicating with certain people, and that some might be better at communicating with others?
We all have unique skills. When teams possess diversity in their members’ skill sets, they operate with harmony and are transformed from average production to a powerful, effective, and efficient team. When teams utilize their differing skills effectively, they become synchronized because they are operating in harmony.
Remember that transforming your team is a process that requires five critical interpersonal attributes, working together. Next time, I’ll discuss the importance of utilizing healthy conflict and dialogue around ideas to further build upon the foundation of trust and respect.
Gregg Gregory is America's teambuilding mastermind, specializing in building winning cultures at every organizational level. A Certified Speaking Professional (CSP) with more than 35 years working at all levels within in corporate America, Gregg has delivered more than 2,000 keynotes and teambuilding trainings to more than 500 companies in the past 20 years. Named an HDI Top 25 Thought Leader in 2017, his expertise and articles have appeared in hundreds of business and trade publications, including SellingPower.com, Boardroom Magazine, and Drake Business Review. Follow Gregg and Teams Rock on Twitter @TeamsRock, Facebook, and LinkedIn.