Week 2 Day 2 In recent post, I have focused my content on the 9 key attributes of winning teams. Each of these individual attributes either support trust building or commitment building. More detailed information can be found in our Craver Camps White Papers. These white papers are available by request through email. Today however, I want to shift gears and discuss the three stages of team development. Give me a few paragraphs to set this up. Todays training was not one of our best. The task was to conduct a four mile equipment run (as outlined in previous post) a 20 rope climb and introduction to Swiss seat. (an improvised harness that enables soldiers to travers both laterally or horizontally on a rope system.) The standard for each team member was to complete the four mile run at a 10 minute mile pace, 40 minutes in total. The team looked solid up until the two mile marker. At this point, one of our athletes began to fall off pace. Because this is a team event, the failure on the individual negatively affected the performance of the entire team. (we at the Craver Camps teach this as the definitive answer to what a Team actually is.) The inability for the one athlete to perform to expected standards served as a platform to degrade trust among the team members. Team members began to verbally express their frustration in the seemingly sub standard effort of the athlete that could not maintain pace. This is extremely significant!!! When communication between team members become sophisticated in nature it is significant to the signs and symptoms of our team being in the second stage which is the Enrichment stage. the perception of what is being communicated will ultimately be either positive and support growth through trust & commitment or it will be negative and unfortunately degrade trust & commitment. In this specific instance, the information that was being communicated from one team member to another was negative in tone and did not support my intent of the team building process. The situation did not allow me to step in and take action immediately so I tabled the discovery for the time being. Upon completion of the run, the team finished with a total run time of 52 minutes well off the prescribed pace. We immediately transitioned into the next event the 20 rope climb. During the execution of the rope climb, my athlete that was identified as the primary instructor was not capable of ascending the 20 rope to standard. The inability of the athlete to perform the task to standard ultimately meant that the team failed to meet yet another standard. Ironically, the athlete that could not complete the climb was the same athlete that had earlier condemned the performance of the athlete that had failed to meet the run standard. Once again, time constraint did not allow for me to step in and take action. Once all the other athletes attempted and completed the 20 rope climb we quickly transitioned into introduction of the Swiss seat procedures. Unfortunately, not one single athlete had adhered to my instructions last week in taking time to secure the equipment necessary to conduct the training. Once again THE TEAM FAILED OR DID THEY? Seemingly all was lost for the training event in terms of improving the cardio vascular & the metabolic conditioning of our athletes. However, huge strides were made in the area of team development. Specific instances of communication & examples of integrity & accountability tell me exactly where we are in terms of team development. As a coach, it is imperative that I both recognize this stage and quickly take action to deal with the deficiencies. After all was said and done, we sat the team down for a very informal pow wow of sorts. I used this informal forum as an opportunity to highlight that the degree of failure can never be measured by the performance or lack there of by one individual. The fact is failing is failing. A team either succeeds, or a team fails, there is no middle of the road. As a coach, it is imperative that I clearly model integrity & communication to improve trust. We discussed how each individual had let the entire team down, we also discussed the responsibility of the person communicating is to only provide constructive criticism that supports individual growth and not to send a message that is demeaning nor defeating in nature. As a coach, it is imperative that I remain patient. I know through experience in order to be effective in my role as the leader, I have to address the needs of each individual team member. Slowly, our athletes will recognize the merits of working together, that ah ha moment when I becomes we. Winning is a systematic process. I love my life, I love my job... What an awesome day!
Posted on: Wed, 06 Nov 2013 17:49:22 +0000
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