Okay I am super excited about this, I don't usually write in first person or something like that, but I have the feeling that this is the start of something big. We had a session in office today that allowed us to talk about our random realizations and I randomly presented something. Hearing others speak about their realizations made me realize that there is so much we know but we do not express because we do not have a platform. That was like a random realization inside a random realization. Randomrealizationception. (Sorry that was my last joke. I promise)
Before you start reading, the idea that I am going to express is something that worked for me. It may or may not work for you. You may have already thought on these lines and you maybe 2 or 3 steps ahead, which means you can get back to me and tell me where exactly on this curve are you?
Okay so here goes. Over the last year, I have worked in a lot of teams and it is really amazing to see how much I have learnt and grown over this time period. It also helped me build teams and work with new people more efficiently. Until recently, I was doing it intuitively without realizing the power of team building. Only when someone mentioned that I could think one level deeper as to what I did that made these teams come closer, did I try to put my thoughts to words.
So the thought is this: "Everyone who belongs to a team/group has a role to play."
Think of your family. There are 4 people say. Everyone has a specific role to play because of which they exist in that group. In my family of 4 people, say 10 years back- My dad played the role of the person who was the leader, my mother played the role of the person who took care of us, my brother played the role of the guy who needed to be cared for and I.. well I played the role of the guy who was noting all this and making mental notes. (Sorry again :P) The best part is that these roles keep changing, and everyone's role around them keeps changing too. Which is perfectly okay.
Go and think of every group that you felt that you belonged to. You played a distinct role in them. There were never 2 attention seekers or 2 funniest people in a group. There was always one person who played their role to perfection. Not dwelling further on this point, let me give you one last example, think of the sitcom FRIENDS. Phoebe was the weird one, Chandler was the funny one, Monica was the leader, Ross was the one who gave everyone information and wanted to be the smartest one, Rachel was the attention seeking one and Joey was well.. Joey. Everyone played distinct roles.
Hope my point is clear. So now when you reverse engineer this, you can think of how to build teams around this idea. A good team is one where everyone is playing some role or the other. Not just Job Description wise but even nature wise. Everyone has some specialty that they bring to the table. Think about it again. Take a moment. Think of the teams where you felt weird or you felt you did not fit in, It is because you felt you couldn't contribute anything to it or gain anything from it.
So now that you have the realization and the idea about what I think of groups, here's what worked for me. Maybe it'll help you too. So there are two kinds of groups. 1- New groups/teams and 2- Already established groups/friends circles/teams.
Let us start with the first kind of group/circle. In an ideal environment, people will quickly adjust and realize what role they play and gel with each other (without their knowledge. That's my favourite part!!!) As a leader, if you feel that someone is an outcast, you now know where you can help them. That way it will help them figure out new skills and roles and it will help them blend in.
Similarly in an already established group, team or friends circle, the quicker you make them realize the scope for them to be a part of the group, the quicker they blend in.
So that is the idea. Sorry for the pedestrian language. I wrote this article in under 20 minutes by penning down my thoughts. Here's what I want from you. Tell me if this helped. Not as an ideology necessarily but as something that that made you think. If it gave you an "aha" moment, then I am really glad. I would love to write a part 2 and take it to the next step and probably even customize it for a few situations to help you build teams better, but for that I need to know if this helped.
Thank you for reading.
Before you start reading, the idea that I am going to express is something that worked for me. It may or may not work for you. You may have already thought on these lines and you maybe 2 or 3 steps ahead, which means you can get back to me and tell me where exactly on this curve are you?
Okay so here goes. Over the last year, I have worked in a lot of teams and it is really amazing to see how much I have learnt and grown over this time period. It also helped me build teams and work with new people more efficiently. Until recently, I was doing it intuitively without realizing the power of team building. Only when someone mentioned that I could think one level deeper as to what I did that made these teams come closer, did I try to put my thoughts to words.
So the thought is this: "Everyone who belongs to a team/group has a role to play."
Think of your family. There are 4 people say. Everyone has a specific role to play because of which they exist in that group. In my family of 4 people, say 10 years back- My dad played the role of the person who was the leader, my mother played the role of the person who took care of us, my brother played the role of the guy who needed to be cared for and I.. well I played the role of the guy who was noting all this and making mental notes. (Sorry again :P) The best part is that these roles keep changing, and everyone's role around them keeps changing too. Which is perfectly okay.
Go and think of every group that you felt that you belonged to. You played a distinct role in them. There were never 2 attention seekers or 2 funniest people in a group. There was always one person who played their role to perfection. Not dwelling further on this point, let me give you one last example, think of the sitcom FRIENDS. Phoebe was the weird one, Chandler was the funny one, Monica was the leader, Ross was the one who gave everyone information and wanted to be the smartest one, Rachel was the attention seeking one and Joey was well.. Joey. Everyone played distinct roles.
Hope my point is clear. So now when you reverse engineer this, you can think of how to build teams around this idea. A good team is one where everyone is playing some role or the other. Not just Job Description wise but even nature wise. Everyone has some specialty that they bring to the table. Think about it again. Take a moment. Think of the teams where you felt weird or you felt you did not fit in, It is because you felt you couldn't contribute anything to it or gain anything from it.
So now that you have the realization and the idea about what I think of groups, here's what worked for me. Maybe it'll help you too. So there are two kinds of groups. 1- New groups/teams and 2- Already established groups/friends circles/teams.
Let us start with the first kind of group/circle. In an ideal environment, people will quickly adjust and realize what role they play and gel with each other (without their knowledge. That's my favourite part!!!) As a leader, if you feel that someone is an outcast, you now know where you can help them. That way it will help them figure out new skills and roles and it will help them blend in.
Similarly in an already established group, team or friends circle, the quicker you make them realize the scope for them to be a part of the group, the quicker they blend in.
So that is the idea. Sorry for the pedestrian language. I wrote this article in under 20 minutes by penning down my thoughts. Here's what I want from you. Tell me if this helped. Not as an ideology necessarily but as something that that made you think. If it gave you an "aha" moment, then I am really glad. I would love to write a part 2 and take it to the next step and probably even customize it for a few situations to help you build teams better, but for that I need to know if this helped.
Thank you for reading.
