Resonance Episode: What Actually Builds Great Teams

In this final episode of season 2, Steve, Randy and Mike delve into the complexities of team building, emphasizing its necessity in modern organizations. They discuss the importance of trust, communication, and understanding individual strengths within teams. The conversation highlights the role of leadership in fostering a cohesive team environment and the challenges that can arise during team activities. The hosts also explore the significance of a unified vision among C-suite executives and effective communication strategies that enhance team dynamics. In this conversation, the speakers explore the dynamics of teamwork, emphasizing the importance of shared experiences, character, and communication in building effective teams. They discuss how creativity and a higher purpose can enhance team dynamics, while also addressing the risks associated with team-building initiatives. The conversation highlights the non-negotiable trait of team ability and the significance of character in achieving success within organizations.

 Takeaways

Team building is essential for organizational success.

Trust and communication are foundational to effective teams.

Every team member should have a voice in discussions.

Understanding individual strengths enhances team performance.

Leadership plays a critical role in team dynamics.

Team activities must connect to a higher purpose.

Avoid superficial team-building exercises that lack substance.

Cohesion within teams leads to better outcomes.

C-suite alignment is crucial for organizational clarity.

Effective communication fosters a collaborative environment. Teamwork begins with shared experiences.

Repetitions and rehearsals are essential for team building.

Creativity can enhance team dynamics and engagement.

Character is a crucial element in team success.

Team ability is a non-negotiable trait for effective teams.

Expectations must be managed in team-building initiatives.

High-performance teams can yield significant results if managed well.

Communication is key to maintaining team cohesion.

A higher purpose can drive team motivation and effectiveness.

Character strengths should be recognized and utilized within teams.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Team Building Dynamics

02:49 The Importance of Trust and Communication in Teams

05:53 Understanding Individual Strengths within Teams

08:53 The Role of Leadership in Team Building

12:00 Navigating Challenges in Team Activities

14:53 The Impact of Team Cohesion on Organizational Success

17:58 The C-Suite's Role in Team Dynamics

21:02 Effective Communication Strategies for Teams

23:24 The Dynamics of Teamwork and Shared Experiences

26:56 Building Trust Through Repetition and Experience

28:34 Creativity and Higher Purpose in Team Building

30:03 The Importance of Character in Team Dynamics

34:14 Team Ability: The Non-Negotiable Trait

40:49 The Risks of Team Building Initiatives

43:54 Communication and Higher Purpose in Organizations

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

This is Resident, a podcast with leaders that unpacks the power of songs, talents, and strategy.

SPEAKER_03 0:13

We believe the great leadership begins with deep listening not just to others, but to the still small voice within.

SPEAKER_00 0:21

It's not just about being a successful leader, it's about being soulfully aligned as well.

SPEAKER_03 0:27

In a world moving fast, resonance invites you to pause and reconnect with purpose, people, and possibilities.

SPEAKER_01 0:33

We'll dive into some cool stories, celebrate with friends, and dig deep into the music too.

SPEAKER_03 0:44

So whether you're leading a business, a team, or just trying to lead your own life with more meaning, this is resonance. Resonance, resonance.

SPEAKER_00 0:55

All right. Guess what? Your lucky day, you have found Resonance, the podcast. And I'm delighted to be here. My name is Randy Harrington, but with us, of course, Steve Azar. And he's not at home. He is off at another undisclosed location. Look at that. Quite beautiful. Absolutely fantastic. Looks like Arkansas, I believe, yes. And uh uh fantastic. And then, of course, Mike, the monk guy, Farrell, still hailing from South Dakota. Good to see you guys. It's been a couple of weeks since we've talked. Good to catch up. Uh, so today uh we're going to jump into a topic that uh I think everybody has danced with if you have been a part of any organization of any size, and that is this thing that happens when you look at your email and all of a sudden you find out that you have a team building day that's coming up on like next Thursday, and you start hearing the people in your office like, oh, what is this? Oh man, yes, we have to do team building. Team building, what does that mean? I don't want to go do team building. Oh my gosh, what are we gonna do? We're gonna go play silly games and it's gonna be a nightmare. So welcome to team building. That's our topic today, and teams in general as an organizational necessity. And I'm just gonna go ahead and say it. It's a necessity moving forward in this Bonnie world. So, you know, what however you feel about being on a team uh is going to determine a lot about where you can be professionally as we move forward. That's what I'm saying. I'm just gonna go ahead and get it out there. Azar, have you had any I know you've done like team building work and and and gatherings for big companies like United and others? Tell me uh what was that like when you when you pull everybody together? I I did get to, by the way, good morning, boys.

SPEAKER_02 2:38

Good morning. I did get to uh experience seeing back in the day United Airlines. I would uh go in and put on shows, but we we met each other on the golf course. We had great conversations about a lot of other things besides music. And one of them said, he goes, uh my buddy Ken said, Hey, why don't you come in to one of our conferences, play golf with some of the key folks, uh, and maybe maybe do a little storytelling. Then it led to the next morning, uh, why don't you break the ice before we do the team building thing? So I was like sort of uh like getting everybody in the spirit. Like I go, why am I the guy? But I realized kind of hanging out in this process, first and foremost, the ability to break the communication gap first. And can you get on like a playing field that is comfortable for everybody where they forget why they're there and then and then they then they really open up? It sort of reminded me of songwriters getting together for the first time and being vulnerable to each other. It takes a second to let that person all the way in until you trust them, you know? And so I think trust is a very important part of it as well. In my world, we don't have team building, we have team reminders. So it's almost like many, little mini reminder building. So it's it's like probably a a tenth of what we're talking here, where on the calendar we get together before maybe it's been maybe it's been two months, and let's talk about everybody's job, what everybody's supposed to be doing. Do we have any complaints? Anyone you know sometimes things build up with certain people in a show. You're kind of clearing the air a little bit. Clear it's more about clearing the air. And uh we do it under coffee and in the green room or wherever. And even with my resident show, each group, so front house, uh chef, cook, backhouse, everybody, my guys, production, everybody gets together and everybody comes on their own. They come together, takes about 30, 45 minutes, and then you're sort of refreshed and you're ready to go. And it's amazing how things run better. And you didn't even know they needed to run better. Right? So we get you get a little stale, you know, and you drop balls on little things that are little things that make a big difference. So uh for me, I have seen the corporate side and then versus my side, and they're they are extreme, extremely a little different, but I think it goes all the way back to how can you set the stage to allow everybody to be able to communicate and feel good about it and relaxed about it.

SPEAKER_00 5:01

Yeah, yeah. Well, I think you hit on a bunch of stuff there, uh, really. You know, just kind of setting the ground for a team to be able to open up, uh, I think is is a big, big deal. Farrell, what are you thinking?

SPEAKER_03 5:12

Well, uh, you know, I think it's interesting as we talk about team building, one of the most important aspects is is first and foremost making sure that everybody gets a seat at the table. You know, Benedict talks about this all the time, and that you have to give everyone the opportunity to give input, to talk about what's going on. And and if you don't do that, you immediately break the trust in that team. Uh if you've got somebody that's dominating the conversation, or you've got the CEO or the president or whoever that isn't really listening to anybody, they've already made their decision, they already know what they're gonna do. That breaks the trust. And and when you break trust, you lose cooperation, and then all kinds of bad things start to happen. And so I think it's I think it's important that as as you bring these teams together, you're giving everybody the opportunity and the space, the safe space, to say what they think and and to, you know, give ideas and share ideas and those kinds of things, because if they don't have that space, then then you've created a vacuum. You've really got a leader, you've got nobody else that's that's on the same page. So I think that's really important. You know, the other aspect that I see a lot in my work with teams is making sure that those teams, that those individuals on their teams understand their own strengths and how they fit within the team's strengths. You know, I do a lot of work, as you guys know, I do a lot of work with with strengths finder and really looking at how those how those individuals fit within the framework of that team to identify where they're going to be strong and then maybe where some of the gaps are gonna be as well, you know. And I think it's really important that that as teams build and grow, you make sure that as you're bringing new people into that team, they fit. They fit from a standpoint of they're filling in maybe some of the gaps that you need. They're stronger in particular areas than other members of the team. But I think that's a really important aspect of team building is understanding that each individual has their own strengths. But if we mesh those strengths together, we create a much stronger team.

SPEAKER_00 7:14

Well, and this goes back to you know, elementary school, right? Uh picking, picking teams. Yeah, you know. Uh so you're you're the team captain, and then everybody lines up and and Azar, I imagine you got picked pretty early on. Farrell, I bet you did too. Yeah, yeah. And I was the guy in the back who was like kicking dust around with it. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. I, you know, I would I'd get picked first for the chess club, right? That was where I was. That's my well, hey, listen, I'd take it. I'd take you first.

SPEAKER_03 7:43

I'd take you first for the team, boys.

SPEAKER_02 7:47

But what they're doing kickball versus I'd take the chess guy way more in life than the kickball guy. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 7:58

Well, but I I think that what's going on when you're making when you're picking those teams is you're looking for capabilities, but you're also looking for your friends. And you know, so you are you really are trying already that sense of team culture is present. And I think that's really a good place for us to to to kind of start with this, is to say one of the things that I get crazy about is what I would call faux or fake team uh team building. There's nothing to me worse than corporate communication that's all about, hey, we're gonna build teams. Come on, everybody, let's build a team. But there's no heart and soul and value behind it. It's really all just a way to exploit people a little bit more. It's a kind of a rah-rah feeling that feels like for a lot of employees, often a waste of time. And so the the one thing I want to suggest at the very outset is don't waste people's time, money, and energy. Don't go buy logo shirts just and believe that if everybody's wearing the same logo shirt, that we're all, you know, gonna be the same. It's just it's just not the same. So so there's gotta be something there from the leader. And guess what, Farrell? I bet this goes back to that vision thing you keep talking about, that grounded piece, right? I mean, how connect the dots between that and the development of a team framework.

SPEAKER_03 9:11

Well, I think I think it starts, you know, you guys have heard me talk ad nauseum about this, but it it starts with that higher purpose vision. Uh, you know, what are what are we, why are we there? What are we trying to accomplish uh beyond just making money or or profit or market share or whatever the heck it might be? You know, I think it's understanding what that higher purpose vision is because that's the glue that holds them all together. And if the if the leader of that team hasn't got that clearly defined, it gets very difficult to find the glue to bring them all together. But if they're all on that same page, so you know, you think about a team building exercise, and it could be, you know, running off into the forest and doing something and swinging on zip lines or God only knows what else they've they've come up with, climbing mountains or whatever, you know, that's all good and well. But if there isn't some purpose for it, if it doesn't connect to that higher purpose vision, then all it is is activity. It really doesn't do anything. And and and for those that don't do the activity well, you're building resentment. And so I think it's you know, I I think it's one of those things that it's gotta, whatever that exercise is, whatever it is you're doing, it's gotta tie into that higher purpose vision. Because if it doesn't, you're just grasping at straws. You know, you're gonna have a few people that are gonna enjoy it, you're gonna have a few people that are gonna that are gonna think it sucks, and uh, you know, you're not really gonna get any team building out of it whatsoever, yeah, other than the t-shirt they get to take home.

SPEAKER_02 10:41

Let me ask you guys something. Uh first of all, you made me uncomfortable there because there's I get it. So if you bring all of these people in and you want them to climb a rock, you know, some people aren't comfortable with climbing a rock. Right. So you've already set some, and I know what you're trying to do. Everybody's gonna do this together. Well, I I don't know if I agree with that. Second of all, that's to me not listening to everybody. You guys are talking about everybody's gotta have a seat at the table. Well, that's not giving John Doe a seat at the table if he's got major knee issues, you know, or hip problems.

SPEAKER_00 11:13

The facilitator will have some line, like I would always say, Oh, this is challenge by choice, right? This is challenge. Okay, okay, but you But you can smell that a mile away too, can't you?

SPEAKER_02 11:23

You know, hey, John, Jay, John didn't do it. You're right, yeah, right. And they're talking they're trying and they're talking, it's the joke in the office. Oh, you would never mind, why would we talk to you? You didn't you didn't climb the rock. Right, right. So, so, but I think a bigger thing is, first of all, go back. I love how you stripped it all down, Randy, and went back to the time you were picked in a as a first grader by your peers. And that says a lot about where we are today. I mean, it's it's a reminder of sort of that. And then I can remember not being picked first or second or third and going like, oh, I'm gonna show them. That's that's a big so in a way, it's kind of good not to be picked early because it puts a chip on your shoulder. And in life, in life, you need a little bit of a chip on your shoulder to to overachieve and do great things.

SPEAKER_00 12:11

But see, that's an azar move. You took a negative piece of information and you said, uh-uh, buddy, I'm gonna come back at you. Whereas a lot of people don't have that that natural sense of kung fu. They they hear a negative thing and they go, Oh, I suck. I'm a terrible person. Yeah, all that self-talk is blah, blah, blah. I'm just gonna scuffle over to the side and go take drugs and lay on the floor. Yeah, yeah, I'm gonna tell you.

SPEAKER_03 12:34

Apart from a team perspective, it's like, well, they don't want me. I don't need to participate. They're not they're not interested in having me along for the ride. So you know right.

SPEAKER_02 12:43

You know, you know what's funny is you can't tell me that you don't know someone in your life every, say, decade or every decade and a half that someone was not the worst in the group. And just say golf right now. The best player of all of us was the worst at one point. And he whips us up left and right, my buddy Ken. He's gotten so good, and he's doing all the right things. But at one point he was the worst in the group. Now he takes us all out. And so, and and we're how old are we now? So it took him uh, you know, 35 years to be better than all of us, but he is right now, and so it's just interesting to see how it mattered to him, right? He's a president of a bank, very successful, great leader on a president of a hundred boards because he's really good at it. He's and he's a listener, he's a great listener, and he's one of my best friends in the world. We had a lot of success together in sports as teammates, and I know what he's made of, but I couldn't understand why he couldn't get over the hump of golf. And then when he finally did, I was like, oh, there he is, you know. But he worked really hard. So along along the line, musicians, I've seen musicians that did not have the talent that did, and I was one of them. I mean, it took me a long time. I worked harder than the folks with the natural just really I think I was born to write, but to put it all together in song and then entertain and all this, at some point you you have to do it a lot, and you have to be concerned about what you're doing. Now, break break it all down. You talk about teamwork on stage. I've had bands in my lifetime a lot. Now, it's been a long time because I at some point I was able to really pick and choose, not let the not choose and pick me, right? Not that I had no choices when I grew up in a certain area, and there was always a link or two. But you would always be concerned about that bass player missing that line, or that drummer missing that beat, or that guitar player missing that lit. And you have that on your mind, like, why can I remember their stuff and they can't remember it? And it and it was because they didn't care. They didn't care about everybody. And so at some point I was able to stumble across and and have the ability to pick and choose. And that's why I've got Jason, who's been with me 31 and a half years, Chris 26 and a half years. My other guitar player retired. Uh, you know, I mean, my drummer passed away. I mean, there's stuff that my my other drummer over two decades now. I mean, I love the fact that we've been able to find people. But guys, it takes it takes getting to a certain place to be able to create a team that allows you to feel that comfortable wherever you are in the office, on the stage, in the studio. So it's a little bit of a trick, but I really love today's conversation. It's triggering a lot of things, and I'm gonna go back to having coffee. I'll shut up.

SPEAKER_00 15:16

Well, the bet that you're making, if you're a leader and you decide you think you need a team, what you're really betting on is the notion that if everybody is working together, shoulder to shoulder, with one single purpose, you know, many hands make light work kind of stuff. But the the bet you're making is that it's catalytic, that you're gonna get, if I've got five people on my team, and if I've got five people working, that's five people working. If I've got five people on a team, I have some exponent. I have five times five. I'm getting some kind of benefit, some kind of extra value, synergy, or whatever you want to call it that's gonna come from that team. And if you don't have a need for that, then don't have a team. I mean, that that's the when people just want a team for because they think it sounds like a good idea, maybe not so much. You know, now what I will say is that when we're talking about the C-suite, you know, your chief uh executive officers, I I personally believe uh that there's no option. That that C-suite has to be operating as a one voice unit. Otherwise, the organization's got no clue what's actually. For lay for layman folks like us, explain C suite. Okay, C suite is your chief executive officer, your chief operating officer, your chief financial officer, chief people officer. Anytime you have a C in front of your name like that, so that's the the buzzword for the C suite. All right, and all of these people that are really the senior leadership. Yeah, what is your leadership? It's all the chiefs. All the chiefs. All the chiefs. And and so if those chiefs, if if one chief has one message and another chief has another message and another chief has another message, then guess what? You've got a fragmented organization that's not really understanding what the heck is going on. The board of directors needs directors needs to have one voice, and the C suite needs to have one voice. And hopefully those two are very aligned. Right. And if you've got sharp alignment there, and that that that C-suite is operating as a team, and that means that they're listening, they're they're as a team, they're digesting information, they're making adaptations and adjustments, you know. So all of that stuff is going on. But when you have fragmentation at that level, it's an organizational nightmare. And the one of the worst things that I'm, and Farrell, I know you see this a good bit, is when, you know, the you'll get hired into a situation and they'll be like, well, you know, we don't know why everything is screwed up, but uh, we've got we're doing everything right. Why are we screwed up? And what you find is that the the team concept has been put out there, but nobody's backing it up. And there's maybe five of the people on the C-suite that are really behind everything. Go team, go team. But there's one IT guy, or there's one CFO, or there's one whoever that's an outlier, yeah, and they're just kind of arms crossed. And that one individual or two individuals not buying in, they won't, and but they won't say, No, I'm not buying in. They'll act like it, they'll walk, right?

SPEAKER_02 18:11

They'll walk. I've had band members on stage like that in my life. It's like quiet. Quitting, you know, it's a it is an awful feeling for everybody. Everybody. And you've got to just clap. You gotta say, sorry, go play on another team. You're that's right. Right.

SPEAKER_03 18:25

That's that's and I think what happens when you get that when you get that one person that that goes rogue or you know isn't participating or whatever, it fractures strategy. There's virtually no way to have a solid strategy if everybody's not on the same page. And when those things happen, then what you see is you begin to see pieces of the strategy fall apart. And sooner or later the entire strategy falls apart. And so I think that's what's so important in understanding the communication amongst the team and then the communication from the team to the next levels of of you know, whether it's five people or whether it's five thousand people, that communication down then is is vital. And I think the I think if if I look at the experience that I've had with with great teams, especially those leadership teams, one of the things that they do really, really well is they let information filter to them. That's right. Right. They let let people come to them. It's not them pushing down on them, it's uh it's the groundswell coming up to them, and they're dealing with that information as it comes up to them as a team based on what their strategy is, based on the fact that they've got a higher purpose vision that says this is this is the direction that we're going. And so I think that's what you see a lot of is you see with great teams, you see great communication. And I think you can look at all kinds of sports examples, you know, whether it's football or basketball or everything, you know, you look at, you know, you look at some of the great sports teams, they are so good working together. If it's a basketball team, they're so good at working together, they know exactly where somebody's gonna be at any given moment to pass the ball or to to defend or whatever the case may be. And that's where you see great teamwork is is because the communication has been so good there, they know exactly what the others are doing. And unfortunately, you don't see that a lot, at least in my experience, you don't see that a lot in business.

SPEAKER_00 20:28

Um you see Yeah, there's not the investment in the in the rehearsal and the time and the practice that that's required for that, you know. And so it's and that's that's the other thing where it's like, well, somehow there's just this expectation, oh, some it'll magically occur. And that begs the question, how do you make a team? And how many times have you been hired, Farrell, when when the when you hear this from the from the CEO? Well, I've got three new people on my you know leadership team now, and uh, you know, I really want to get them to come together. I really want them to and so and I say, well, what you need to do is get Azar and Farrell and I in a room, and then we're gonna we're gonna have a ball with those people, and it'll be amazing. But that's that's another that's another story. That's the live version. That's the last version. That's the live version.

SPEAKER_02 21:13

Yeah, plug. I know look at me doing a plug. Nice very nice. I know. I mean, I barely noticed.

SPEAKER_00 21:22

So good. Uh oh, it was so exciting that we lost Farrell. He just blew up. Oh, where'd he go? We lost our man. I know.

SPEAKER_02 21:29

I think it was because it's funny that you and me are still able to communicate without the leader of the band. He's like the leader of technology. Interesting.

SPEAKER_00 21:37

Let's see what I in my imagination he just like shot off into the cosmos, and so and so here he comes back.

SPEAKER_02 21:44

Let's see, hold on one second. Let's see what he said. Well, I love what y'all are talking about here. I you know, it's funny. It's so funny how as I listen to you guys talk about sports, and I've always compared sports and music for certain reasons, but but I I I think About that team element and an office, no different from the five people in the office have to work together like the five people on stage, or the five people in a recording studio, or the five, you know, the three to two people writing a song, whatever it is. It's really interesting how they are so joined at the hip and so close to each other and similar in the things that you have to do to be successful. I mean, it's almost like there's no difference. I mean, so I I I know, you know, I feel like sometimes the office can be a little sterile compared to the stage with the smoke and the lights and you know, all the stuff that we get to experience to make us look better than we are. Smoke and mirrors, but the truth is very similar in regard.

SPEAKER_00 22:37

Absolutely. And and and so the I I think the the the first thing to underline if you want to build a team is that it begins and ends with the concept of shared experience. That having us all read something is fine, having us all watch something is fine, but it's only going to be when we go do something and experience something. And then also I would underline that we need to we need to run repetitions of plays or scenarios that are likely to unfold for us.

SPEAKER_02 23:08

So yes, that's called rehearsal in our world. Okay, exactly. Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 23:13

You know, and so yes, if we know that that you know there are certain kinds of fraud that are out there, you know, like ransomware, for example, should our C-suite run ransomware scenarios where we go, okay, yeah, let's let's test it in the same way you do a fire drill or anything else. So I think that you also want to have experience actually running repetitions for things that are likely to occur or have the potential to occur. And then I think you want to run repetitions about just getting to know each other. So I've had the great experience of working with retired Navy SEAL team officers for probably 25 plus years now. And the thing that I enjoy about them is I'll say to them, I'll ask the question, okay, so how would you, if you were going to take these group, you know, this, these, these seven people and the the they're saying, Hey, I really want to get these people to get come together fast and really become one, what would you do? And this was an honest answer that was given to me. Well, if it was me, I'd shave their heads and put them in a room and leave them there for a week. Well, like a new and unique leadership I don't know. I don't know about that. Uh that's I don't I don't know that that would work at uh you know at ATT or wherever. But it would it would work. They would be bonded. Uh I can I can guarantee you that those people would have a story to tell.

SPEAKER_03 24:35

Or there'd only be two left, one of the two. Yeah, yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 24:40

Well, but I mean that's it. So the the the the idea is that when you have when you're when you're trying to build a team, you want to create a shared experience. And that's one of the things that I think we've always enjoyed talking about is the idea that if we could get those five leaders and bring them into a room and make a lasagna together, that is that's gonna be pretty good. If we set it up right and we get them in the right frame of mind and we understand the metaphor that's at work there as it relates to cooking and planning and work, whatever.

SPEAKER_02 25:11

And we also have fun and we get creativity and being able to create together. That's a that's a set, that's another level, guys, you know, besides the sounds and the fragrances and the and I know I sound funny they're saying that, but it's the truth. Who doesn't you the three of us get excited when we know the old's hot and we're throwing the holy trinity on it, right? What is it? What is it? It's like you it's it's like you've never seen it before, right?

SPEAKER_04 25:34

Right.

SPEAKER_02 25:34

Yeah it's like wow. But but the creativity to me of being a part of a creative moment together of anything that you're making from scratch, from the beginning, from the inception. No, I mean that that to me allows everybody to start at the same place. That's right. Yeah, right. That's right.

SPEAKER_03 25:51

And and I would I would even take it a step further. I would say that bringing that creative experience together, but then looking at it from a standpoint of a higher purpose vision. Let's say that we bring all of that together, but the real mission is to feed a group of homeless people.

SPEAKER_04 26:09

Right.

SPEAKER_03 26:09

Give them the most incredible experience they've ever had. Or a group of employees or whoever, whoever it is. But but again, it's all good and well for the three of us to cook for, you know, seven leaders leaders, you know. But now let's let's really put that on steroids and let's figure out that higher purpose vision. Let's say, how do we, why do we do this? We're doing this for something bigger than us, bigger than the leadership team, bigger than whoever it is, you know. And when you begin to assign that to bringing that leadership team together and being creative like that, whether it's food or anything else, you know, even even in the the live experience that we talk about, Steve, where they're gonna sit down and and write a song with you, you know, the higher purpose of that is that they're going to have that leadership anthem that we call it, uh, that they can take back to their organizations and share with their people. You know, that's when we get that, when we get that vision attached to that creativity, now you create magic.

SPEAKER_02 27:08

I love I love that. And and let me let me can I jump a little bit off of something, but it has a lot to do, I think, with what we're talking about. You're talking about a lot of things you are are bringing up, or it revolves too around character, someone's character. Like, so I gotta give you two instances. So if you can find five people in a room that have great character, even if they're in totally different worlds and they don't make sense for your company, but maybe they have great character, it'd be amazing how that may be a better recipe for success rather than the five people that are supposed to fit perfectly because of X and O's. Okay, so a couple couple examples of of character that I've seen lately that have really knocked me out. One, Seattle. They just won a Super Bowl, and they take the number two back from Notre Dame in the first round. And everybody's going, What? What have you done? The general managers on TV going, what have you done? You just won a Super Bowl. You didn't need a tellback. And da-da-da. And he goes, Well, he had character, the best character we've ever seen. And we said, Well, we're gonna figure that out because that's the kind of person we want on this team. Besides being extremely athletic and talented, wow, and extremely that they everybody was saying they should have taken, you know, he should have been taken maybe a round later or whatever. But you just won the Super Bowl. You are right now the best team in the world, and you took him. Why? And he just said, character. And so he goes, We know that we're gonna be able to work with him, and we know he's gonna work hard enough because of his character to be extremely successful. And that's what we're looking for as players on this team, and that's what we have, and it needed to match. We didn't need to bring some great, great, great, the most incredible athlete in the world that had no character. We brought a great athlete in that had all the character in the world. Two, I gotta tell y'all this story, and it's worth sharing to anybody out there listening. My nephew, Nick, I haven't been paying much attention to text messages and all this, so I didn't see it like it on surface, was with us and uh celebrating my mom's 90th this past weekend. And and we're celebrating my father-in-law's 90th here. So back-to-back weeks. Anyway, uh such a blessing, such great people in our lives. But Nick was at Thanksgiving this year, was driving, and he saw a blind man with a little cane walk into a car and fall and collapse. Wow. He stopped his car, went and got him, knew he was pretty, you know, disoriented, put him in the car, took him home for Thanksgiving. They got him cleaned up. Not only has he taken him on as someone in a life that matters, he found, he looked all over the country, where do they hire folks with impairment, blind impairment, totally blind. And he found a place in St. Louis that hires the blind. He found a place that will house, he's got an apartment now. And during the day, we talk, we were in our kitchen. He called Nick three times to ask him about some things that he needed to do. And Nick is, it's like he's all in. And you're talking about character and getting to see somebody that I mean, you know what I mean? How many people are gonna take someone home at Thanksgiving? Right, uh that's homeless. And then that that is true character to me. And that's a good Samaritan all over again. We're watching something biblical proportion, and he hasn't let him go. He matters in his life now. We got to talk to him. He was so wonderful and gentle and how grateful he is for Nick. And he had some things he had to deal with, and Nick was helping him. And I was going like, Nick, is this every day? He said every day, but I love it, and I love him. But I just think character when you're talking about walking into a room. Yeah, if you do if you have one person that's lacking that element, how the heck can you how can you win?

SPEAKER_00 30:27

Right. We were we were talking about the frogmen, and uh, if you they actually have a form uh when you go to basic underwater demolition school, buds, to try and become a seal. This is the famous place where more than 80%, usually 80 to 90 percent of a class will ring out and quit before it it all gets done. But this this notion that when when they're looking at a potential candidate to be a frogman, these days it's incredible. A lot of these guys have advanced degrees, they speak multiple foreign languages. They're these are not just knuckle draggers out there, these are people that are they're being recruited very seriously for intelligence operations and God knows what. So, anyway, they've got all these technical capabilities on the left-hand side of the page, including things like are you a good shooter? Are you are you a good athlete? How are you as a swimmer? Are you a good runner? And so let's say you've got five stars, you know, going up and down here over on the left side. And on the right is a huge block and it says team ability, team ability, one word, team ability, and then you get a rating there. If that rating is low, it doesn't matter how good you were on the left side of the page, you're out. You don't have the character, to your point, to be on to be a frogman, to be a seal. You don't cut it at the fundamental level. Similarly, let's say you've got scores over here on the left, but you're crushing it in team ability, right? You, you, you are the guy. You, I want to be on this team more than anything in the world, blah, blah, blah. I'm gonna, this is, this is it. They'll they'll take a chance on you there because they know they can train for all this stuff on the other side of the page. So for them, that that fundamental element of character is not negotiable, and it's not something they think they can always train into you, right? This is about do you bring it or do you not bring it? Do you have it?

SPEAKER_02 32:12

It's more innate, right? It's an innate, sort of uh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. A real you know, you have you have a you have a body of work your whole life that that if you you know, you sort of are yourself, and if you start to lie or you start to cheat or you start to do this, it sort of follows you in everything you do. And you just sort of it's who you it's unfortunately, it's it's maybe you can come out of it and maybe you can develop character, but man, sometimes I just think people have character their whole lives.

SPEAKER_03 32:39

Yeah. Well, and and it's interesting because that that whole idea of character, and we've talked about this on a previous podcast, but this whole idea of character is nothing more than exercising virtue. Sure. It's really putting the putting the work in uh and creating a virtuous life, a life that's well lived, as Aristotle would have called it. And and character is all about how you do that. And, you know, one of the great tools, and you guys have heard me talk about that, is the values in action inventory, which actually identifies your character strengths. And it's something that I use with leadership teams all the time. Because when they begin to understand each other's character strengths, and when they begin to lean into those strengths as a team versus an individual, now you can see really, really great things happening because all of them understand it's all it's all good and well to know their talents, and you can find out their talents with Clifton. But when you begin to understand their character, that's a whole nother level of understanding that gives them um the ability to work together and understand where where their strengths are and how to utilize those strengths as a team, not only or as an in not only as an individual, but as a team as well. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 33:49

So uh two two big warnings as it relates to teams and having team culture or building team culture. See, I'm gonna go back maybe uh 20 years on this one, but I think it's just fine. So there was a large corporation uh up in the Pacific Northwest that really invested heavily in an ongoing three-year team building push. And this is a union-based entity, and they were doing some changes in the way compensation was occurring, and they were they were folding in this team building angle along with a compensation change. And, you know, I was a consultant along with some other uh I I learned a lot of things. There's some pretty high-powered consultants on that team. I was the junior guy by far on that team. But anyway, I got to be there and see all the stuff that was going on. And boy, we would go in and work at one of the locations, and it would take four days, and we had them on an off-site, and we did whitewater rafting, and we did all this kind of stuff, and it was amazing and fantastic. But holy smokes. And at the end of the sessions, man, the the what we call the smile sheets when the the participants were like, this was the best experience we've ever had. We finally got to say our piece. This was really amazing. Oh my gosh, everything was incredible. And they did this work in about 70 of the locations that they had in the Pacific Northwest. And they were planning to get to the next 30% like the next year. At the end of the first year, I went to about half of those sites and did a follow-up survey. So now it's six months, seven months after this event. How's it going? And I will tell you that the bitterness and the hostility and the anger that was expressed to me in those sessions blew my mind. Wow. I was expecting things are yippy skippy, and look at us, we're doing all these amazing things now because you know, management invested in this, and now here we are. No, no, no. The I could and then I go to the places that didn't have the training and they were fine. The places that had the training deeply screwed up. I mean, way screwed up. Why? Because they felt like they were promised something in that team building session that did not show up on day one. So they go, they have this. Here's how management's gonna be, here's how we're gonna be. We all agree to this, handshake, kumbaya, aren't we fantastic? And then it's Monday, and nothing has changed.

SPEAKER_02 36:08

And so expectations, because there's expectations for those folks, and they don't get ever met.

SPEAKER_00 36:15

It was the big, big middle step anger to management. Yeah. Yeah. There was there was not only anger, it was just like, this proves you're a lion's sack, right? Yeah, right. You tried to hoodwink us with all of this. So, and I know that that program that they did was crazy expensive. I mean, you know, a lot of money went into producing this thing that essentially shot their business in the foot. Wow. So the lesson to be learned there is don't don't bring something up unless you're willing to talk about it. Don't don't say you're gonna do something unless you're gonna do it. You better commit to a future of like, wow, really do this and make it good. So that's warning number one. Warning number two comes from uh Steve Allberg, uh Commodore of the Navy SEAL team's there for a good bit down in Coronado, California. And and he he was famous for saying in a Fortune magazine article, he said, having a high performance team in your workplace uh is a lot like getting a tiger cub for Christmas. It's cute and cuddly the first year, and then the next year it will eat your children. And and I think that's a pretty good way to say it. So if you have a high performance team, what does that look like? Sometimes called tiger teams, sometimes called skunk works, and this is how it sounds. Okay, you're in this office because we have a big problem with data security, and you're the team that's gonna make it happen. You're gonna fix this and you're gonna do it on the DL. I've given you here's here's $200,000, and you've got three months, and I want you to go in. I don't even want to see you until you come back with a solution that's gonna solve all of our problems. Now, you know, go and here's your your t-shirts with a black Z on them, you know, or something kind of ominous, you know, that sets you apart. And so you've got your top people out there and they're doing their thing, and they're and what are they doing? They're walking around, I can't tell you what I'm doing, but I need you to get me this and I need you to get me that, and I need you to do it now, right? So they're all of a sudden taking over the culture of the organization. They see themselves as we're all that in a bag of chips. It's you know, it's a little bit of what we're seeing with the Homeland Security walking around. They have that same kind of that same kind of attitude, that swagger, yeah, I'm gonna pepper spray you unless you give me that data. Come on, man. And so what happens when you have a high performing team that is just cut loose on an organization, bad things are so there there are ways to do it and there are ways to do it wrong. And I guess what I would say is if you do it wrong, you are going to pay a serious price. High performance team can deliver amazing results, but it's like taking testosterone, or it's like you know, jacking yourself up kind of artificially. And so you have to protect your core culture for the organization.

SPEAKER_02 38:43

So those are the two Well, it all goes to me, it's still going to come back to communication. It meets character, meets win, win, win. I I just feel like you're saying a lot of things that this whole podcast today, we've talked about a lot of things, and when it lacks communication for all, for everybody. You know, would you say everybody has a seat at the table? When a few people don't, or one person doesn't, or six people don't, and even if it's a thousand people and one or two don't, it really affects things. Somewhere along the line, you're gonna feel the chink in the armor. And then we talk about higher purpose vision always going back to that. If everybody's not ready, every everybody's not on the same page of higher purpose vision. Why are we doing this? What is our purpose? I mean, I love that. The first time I ever read that in your book, Mike, I was like, oh my gosh, that sticks with me. And so you can't say it enough in this podcast. If we say it a million times, it won't be enough because it all goes back to that. And I think I think all these other elements uh tie into that. And if it's it sounds like a lot of companies lack that or they lose that. They have it in the beginning and they lose it somewhere along the line. Maybe the people they hire or the decisions they make. Very crucial in the survival of a business, especially now, especially with where we're heading next show with AI, my favorite subject. I'm gonna come off the top of the roof here in the creative side, but I know that's where we're heading next. It's the next episode, and I I think it's a good way for us to say bye to everybody.

SPEAKER_04 40:03

All right, perfect.

SPEAKER_02 40:04

We're gonna bring us on, Steve. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 40:08

We flipped it in. Yeah, we we've got another episode of resonance in the books, guys. So again, you can find us on all the major platforms. Uh, you can also find us at resonanceleader.com. And there's also information there. If you ever want to bring the three of us in live, we've got a a leadership experience that we can do for you, including Steve's uh Steve's amazing performance and and uh the ability to actually sit down and write a leadership anthem with him. So it's really an honor.

SPEAKER_00 40:38

I would challenge anybody to send us their worst team building experiences. Very good. I would love, I would love to read the the horror stories that I know are out there for things that were done under the name of team building. But with that, we will see everybody next time. All right, bless you, boys.

SPEAKER_01 41:14

Find us at resonanceleader.com.