Growing Your Team

Context: Your team thinks it does good work, day in and day out. But you feel that things could be much better. Maybe the team is in denial about some problem, or maybe the work needs to move to the next level for some reason that you see and the team doesn't yet. In any case, every day seems more of the same old thing instead of a day in an adventurous journey. You want to be on that journey, and the business needs you to be on that journey, but the team is unconcerned. Basically, the team needs to grow to the next level.

Therefore: Create an environment for your team to discover the need for change and to architect its own change. Play the role of coach, not director.

I am trying this pattern out with a technical team that is (from my point of view) stuck at its old level for too long. Right now they are doing their third self-defined R&D project for an external sponsor and it is behind schedule by a lot. The first two were wildly successful, and so the team thinks of itself as doing good work day in and day out.Anyways, I'll post here from time to time to keep you up to date as I try out this pattern with the team.

See LeadershipPatterns