Monitoring the team's culture is a key skill every manager needs to develop. Even if you're not a direct line manager, matrix leaders need to do the same thing. HOW you do that is critical to your success.
A recent post by Kim Scalamandre-Lee with a quote by Steven Covey about listening inspired these thoughts. When we listen, we tend to think how we're going to respond, rather than focusing on what the other is saying. This nuance shifts our brain to making it about ourselves, rather than the one who came to us.
True listening is the main key to great leadership. Listen with intent to hear, THEN form your response. It's ok to take a few minutes to think or even ask for time to think about it.
The second key is honest, effective, and consistent communication. Again, take the 'self' out of it. What messages does your team need to hear? There are times when you can't share all the information you know, that's ok, but let people know there are messages you can't convey at that specific time, but you will when you can.
Third, assess and monitor the culture by having real conversations. Be authentic when you ask "How is it going?" Better, yet, don't ask that question, ask "What is something that's creating extra work for you?" Maybe, "What is something that worked unexpectedly well for you this week?" Slightly changing the questions from the autonomous how are you or how was your weekend will yield more sincere results.
Finally, take action as a result of the conversation. This can take the form of acknowledging, recognizing or correcting. Most leaders are all over the latter. It's easy to correct. However, often overlooked at the end of a conversation, or even meeting, is acknowledging and recognizing. Simple words like: thank you for sharing, I appreciate your thoughts, or great job helping the team over that hurdle go a long way to forming a culture that everyone wants to join.
Just like with cars there are different parameters that need monitored to ensure optimal performance, team dynamics need to be checked regularly. As each car has different ways to display fuel level, temperature, oil pressure, there are different ways leaders can oversee their teams. Providing team leaders, either line or matrix, with a framework to monitor and assess are concepts are covered in my book "The Drive to Lead."
