Working as a Team
Working as a team
The idea for writing this article sprouted while reviewing notes from the last 3-years of servicing the professional community. As an admin advisor and a specialized headhunter, I’ve been blessed with thousands of hours of 1:1 experiences awarding me a unique lens and edge to the way I assist others. Reviewing my notes, I was reminded that a common hurdle many admins encounter is working cohesively with other admin teammates. This article leverages my eCornell certification, Leadership Essentials, and lessons learned.
The results I’ve seen from my work has inspired the below inspiration.
Building Strong Working Teams
Team - verb; come together as a team to achieve a common goal.
Each day, as an admin, you are presented with an opportunity to support one or more executives. The universal focus of an admin, which makes each admin at the company critical, is you help an executive(s) with their job initiatives which helps the company propel forward. While your role has the same title as others and does a lot of the same job functions, no two admins or executive(s) are alike. Therein lies the conundrum, how do you engage, foster, and build a strong team when each professional has similarities but is also unique? I would strongly recommend doing a team exercise. Try taking in this article and video, and then talking about everyone’s thoughts and desires. Understanding your peers and their ideas helps you support one another in a stronger way. Let’s get down to building a strategy.
Build Trust Inside a Team
I realize the phrase, “build trust”, comes up a lot, as it should. In order to begin the trust building layer of being a team, each needs to learn where the other is coming from. It’s an important part of the puzzle as you can’t expect a team to work together (well) if personal objectives and understanding aren’t clear. Building trust requires vulnerability.
Trust- noun; firm belief in the reliability, truth, ability, or strength of someone or something.
WHY: The powerful part to learn is the WHY behind building trust. For the obvious reasons laid out in the definition, period. All those words are connected to achieving success as a team. In order to rely on your team, you need to learn and understand the professionals you interact with, as this helps you understand what makes he/she frustrated, what makes he/she joyful, and what makes he/she have a sense of accomplishment on the job. Once these questions, and others, have answers, you have more to work with, therefore helping you better comprehend why someone is reacting, or not, to a situation. The exercise above will offer the space to be more candid.
HOW: I can be found talking about crafting a User Manual. It’s a series of questions that require someone to talk about themselves, a challenge for admins. The document can be a fillable PDF or a Google form. Consider asking what makes you happy? What makes you frustrated? How do you like to be approached? Don’t forget to add fun ones too (ex: what’s your favorite food or color). Once the exercise has been distributed, assign a due date so you can circulate results as a group at a special lunch and learn meeting to discuss deeper. Spend time reading answers to each question and plan for a Q&A giving an opportunity to elaborate or clarify. This exercise has produced trust amongst teams as well as growing empathy.
Focus areas for team building:
Work on the User Manual.
Collaborate on team focus and goals.
Understand teammate’s strengths and learning curves.
Find ways to create and acknowledge/celebrate successes.
Discover team guidelines that cover having candor, kindness, and accountability.
Accountability Within a Team
Accountability- noun; the fact or condition of being accountable; responsibility.
WHY: What is important to learn is the WHY behind accountability. Oftentimes, accountability is overlooked because adults ‘assume’ their peers can figure it out and already know what their contribution is. Assumptions create an unwelcome storm in all areas of work (and life). When assumptions are made, expectations aren’t met and then frustration becomes a part of the situation. The reason for covering accountability, through a well-thought-out plan is to save confidence, preserve trust, and be successful.
HOW: I can be found talking about crafting a mind-mapping diagram. This diagram helps lay out areas of focus, both now and in the future. When you’ve discovered, and discussed in length, your teammates’ strengths and learning curves, you can predict successes and pitfalls. This is where you have a chance to leverage empathy that results in a cohesive, on the same page team that makes working together fulfilling.
Focus areas for accountability:
Work with your User Manual.
Cover team focus and goals.
Assign based on teammates’ strengths and learning curves.
Pick two accompaniments to work towards to acknowledge/celebrate successes.
Set up team guidelines that support a healthy accountability plan.
Launch Pad:
Survey the team to learn a date to brainstorm the objective; grow stronger together.
Share the exercise article and video, then share the intake form to collect feedback.
Schedule the lunch and learn event, then create individual user manuals.
Make space/time for candidness.
Identify in a working meeting everyone’s strengths and learning curves.
Put together a 12-month, forecasting roadmap; accountability plan.
Hire EA to train your team (optional)
As a dedicated adviser to the profession and work performance champion, EA offers unique, tailored training programs customized to fit each unique role. Specific information is gathered to learn all aspects of the role resulting in the creation of a one-of-a-kind plan that fits the needs of you and/or your team.
The way your brand is positioned plays into how much (or how little) you make an impact. With the right drive and tools, you can make a bigger impact resulting in more role satisfaction.
When I collaborate with corporate admin teams, we will cover building out a roadmap, stretching (in a healthy way) teammates with learning curves to grow new habits to build out their toolboxes, and so much more.Thanks for reading. I really hope that these tips worked in your favor to be successful as a team. Lastly, take in the Admin Teams podcast episode from the Exceptional Admins show for more inspiration.