Defining and doing what is essential for your team
What is defined as essential in your team? Photo by Lora Ohanessian on Unsplash
Social and physical distancing restrictions have brought about a very interesting question - what is essential?
More than ever before, it has been a part of the community conversation. Only travel for essential reasons. Only shop for essential purchases. Only essential workers should not work from home. Only children of essential workers should attend school.
It makes sense. I'm noticing that there are a range of way that "essential" has been interpreted (or ignored when it doesn't suit individuals or groups). There is a direct connection between this behaviour and the performance of teams. The best teams are clear on what is essential, they agree on what is essential and they execute on it. Other teams are unclear on what is essential or members choose not to execute on those when it doesn't suit them.
In a world where we have more options, possibilities and connections, we are not short of good things that we could do. What happens is that we get stretched thinner across more projects and either do them sub-optimally or burn out (in some cases both). In his book, Essentialism, Greg McKeown explores this idea and describes essentialism as "the disciplined pursuit of less". He goes so far as to say this:
"The Way of the Essentialist isn’t about getting more done in less time. It’s not about getting less done. It’s about getting only the right things done. It’s about challenging the core assumption of ‘we can have it all’ and ‘I have to do everything’ and replacing it with the pursuit of ‘the right thing, in the right way, at the right time’. It’s about regaining control of our own choices about where to spend our time and energies instead of giving others implicit permission to choose for us."
The last months have presented an opportunity to better consider what is essential for all teams. To declutter our working lives by removing the things that were not adding value so that we can add more value, take actions that really matter and to do that sustainably. Another quote from McKeown fits well here..."Essentialism is a mindset; a way of life. It is an idea whose time has come."
Driving an Essentialist approach in your team is not easy, but it will positively shift your performance. This time is a great chance to make the shift.
Two questions for you to consider this week:
What is essential in your teams?
Does everyone in your teams agree on that?