5 steps to strengthen team Competence
Over the last few weeks, I’ve been sharing an actionable roadmap for creating the conditions for team success.
Today, we’ll round out the series by looking at Competence.
In case you want to catch up, here’s what we’ve covered in this series so far:
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Alrighty…here we go…game on!
What is Competence?
Competence is the 3rd C in the 3Cs model for the conditions for success for a team.
Competence is knowledge and skills, and then behaviors and attitudes.
When we put the 3Cs together, we see a system and we begin to ask:
Have we been clear?
Have we created an environment where they can succeed?
Have we helped people to build the skills and behaviors to do this thing?
But in reality, most teams aren’t viewing performance and team dynamics as a system. They’re viewing the team as a sum of all the parts, not a team as a collective unit.
And that’s why, when there’s a miss or there’s tension, we’re quick to point to someone needing more training.
Competence is rarely the issue.
The real issues tend to live within Clarity & Climate.
How To Think About Competence
As a leader, you’re enabling the conditions for success for your team.
To gut check how your crew is doing with Competence, consider these:
We listen to understand each other.
We actively participate within the team.
We address and resolve tension quickly.
Team members deliver on commitments.
We coach each other to help achieve a goal.
We have the right technical skills to do the work.
Team members give each other feedback with the intent of helping others and helping the team.
Pause here.
Reflect on a team you’re involved with.
Maybe your management team? Maybe the team you lead? Maybe a cross functional project team?
Could you answer “strongly yes” to the points above?
What opportunities do you have to bring this list as a point of discussion with a team?
5 Actions to Strengthen Competence
The root of Competence comes down to this: skill and will.
The following actions can help you ensure folks are able and willing.
1. Reflect On Current Dynamics
What comes up when you think these through?
What do I observe in the way people listen to one another?
What level of participation do I see across the whole team?
What ways do I see people quickly resolving tension and conflict?
What are our peer feedback and coaching norms?
Identify 1 action for each and then stack rank their priority.
What will you focus on improving first?
2. Recognize What You Want Repeated
What gets recognized gets repeated. When someone takes time to coach someone through a challenge, recognize it. When there’s tension and folks show up to quickly, kindly, and professionally resolve it, recognize it.
Look for instances of people having the skill and the will, then privately and publicly applaud the effort.
3. Correct Behavior
Real time feedback for undesirable behaviors is a strong way for a leader to ensure they’re enabling a healthy and productive team.
Someone gets interrupted? Ensure the mic gets back to them. And find an appropriate time to have a caring and clear conversation with the person who interrupted, especially if it’s a pattern for them.
4. Align on Communication Norms
Openly discuss people’s communication strengths and tendencies. This is a workshop I’m doing with two teams over the next 4 weeks.
Talk about how your communication changes when you’re stressed. Share how you like to be approached with suggestions for improvement. Create alignment on how folks want to be when there’s inevitable disagreement or competition for resources.
5. Offer Ongoing Training
Ensure people have the ongoing growth and development they need to execute within their roles.
Keeping skills sharp, learning together as a team, and emphasizing the importance of skill growth will ensure folks are able. And when they’re able, and the Climate is right, and Clarity is had, folks are more willing.
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At the very core of a successful team is a shared mental model.
And teams that don’t align, don’t perform.
As leaders, we need to enable conditions for success, we need to model desired behaviors, and we need to facilitate conversations about how we’re working together as a team.
My hope after this 4 part series is you have more tools in your toolbox to enable, model, and facilitate so you strengthen your team as a collective unit.
I’d love to hear from you…what’s standing out as you think about the team dynamics we’ve covered over the last few weeks?
Comment below and let me know!
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