Clear the Decks
Something’s amiss….
Your team isn’t saying mean things to each other — but there aren’t alot of positives floating around either. There’s tension in the air — probably because you and your team are burned out from working too hard, for too long — and there doesn’t appear to be light, or a rest area, at the end of the tunnel. You haven’t done anything fun, or really laughed for……..ever it seems. Also, you feel the emotion “between the lines” of the tasks and communications happening with your team. There is a “heaviness” in the air — and you’re not quite sure what to do about it.
Sound familiar? Well, if it does, it may be time to CLEAR THE DECKS!!
Regardless of how effective you feel you are at getting the tasks of running your business done, you need scheduled, planned times to disconnect from the hectic day to day of your business to step back, evaluate, breathe and look at the big picture. When you do this, you have the opportunity to CLEAR THE DECKS of different points of view, hurt feelings and issues that have been swept under the rug in order to get the urgent things completed.
Here are a ideas for how to do it:
1) Once a month, take your team out to lunch — have broad discussions as to how they feel and what’s going on.
2) Once a quarter, take a day and do something fun with your team. Disc golf, river rafting, golfing, family fun center — whatever — do something fun. I suggest having a short session in the beginning of the day where you reconnect the team with the vision of your business — and get input on the strategic direction and the issues you are facing — then, spend at least 2/3 of the day cutting loose and having fun.
3) Make sure you are having regular 1:1s — and that you are leaving some of that time open for team members to share their thoughts and feelings about the way things are going.
Of course — to be truly effective at CLEARING THE DECKS — you need to do it regularly and in a completely open environment — where all thoughts can be freely shared, discussed and processed.
Good luck!!
Want help scheduling a CLEAR THE DECKS session? Contact me!
