The Sad Truth About Teams

5% Teams That Believe They’re Achieving Their Full Potential

The Problem Is Clear

We’re All Complicit

You say you own your team’s success but you don’t invest to overcome challenges, don’t speak up, and don’t tackle the root causes of your collective underperformance. Why? When you’ve tried, people take it personally, get emotional, and become defensive.
Average Is Avoidable

The average training company will run a team building session, but it won't fix the underlying challenges. It temporarily masks the issues and you’ll still experience them and their limiting consequences in the future. That’s why team building is a repeat business!
Foundations First

Our leading-edge research is safely applied to dispel the assumptions and remove the barriers that prevent your team from achieving its full potential. It’s cathartic. It brings peace. It’s overdue. Our approach makes 10X success your new reality.

40% Team Members Who Say They Challenge The Status Quo

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26% Team Members Who Say They Care About Their Colleagues

The Five Foundation Fixers

Five Proven Steps To Help You, Your Team, And Your Organization To Win Bigger, Better, And Faster

Team Breaking steps

Step 0: Setting Up For Success

As you start to consider how to help your team remove the foundational issues that have held you all back, please keep in mind that this advice is offered to you by professionals who do this many times each week. It’s our role, as certified facilitators and coaches, to create the environment that enables this proven methodology to work.

We take our role very seriously; we love seeing teams breakthrough the barriers that have held them back for years. And even more so, we love hearing about the exponential results (and 10X careers) our experiences deliver.

That said, if you aren’t fully confident you can achieve these results, please reach out for a free consultation so we can either help point you in the right direction to do it yourself or offer our services to achieve what is truly possible. Just get in touch.

Step 1: Look Back To Leap Forward

Choose a point in the past where things didn’t go well for you and your team.
It doesn’t have to have heat, doesn’t have to hurt anyone, or get personal.
It’s all about preparing to find the lessons that will help you in the future.
You’re looking for what we call the Critical Inflection Point.
It’s a point where you collectively made bad choices as a team.
Ask everyone to write down their choice of a particular project, event, or experience.
It can be anonymous, but it must be specific.
As a leader, review the options and then have the team vote to take one forward.

Step 2: The Art And Science Of Team Breaking

Strictly speaking, this step is the Team Breaking process.
Your facilitator must assure everyone feels psychologically safe to candidly share.
Focus solely on the particular project, event, or experience. Don’t stray!
Everyone identifies challenging behaviors and ways of working that failed your team.
For each one, explicitly state the impact of that poor behavior or way of working.
Create a long list of all the ways of working that failed you and the impact of those.
- Example failure: We avoid speaking up about critical topics.
- Example impact: We made poor decisions that increased cost, effort, and risk.
Remember; it’s not personal so focus on how you weren’t winning together as a team.

Step 3: Focus On The Foundation

For each issue and impact, list out what would have served you better as a team.
Ask, “How should we behave together in the future and what would that give us?”
One by one, state what you would collectively do instead for each failure point.
In our example about not speaking up:
- An alternative way of working might involve using a specific term to signal candor.
- Or you could make it lighter by using a commonly agreed ‘safe word’
- Or you could agree on using a specific symbol or soft toy or sound.
Each of these says, “I’m going to speak up about a critical topic, please support me.”
Your list will mitigate all of the identified failure points from steps 1 and 2.

Step 4: Make A Deal

In the prior step, you co-created a set of new behaviors and ways of working.
Before you practice these as a team, you need to put them into an easy-to-follow format.
Essentially, you’re creating a new social contract that you’ll all agree to follow.
The contract solves the challenges of the past, and heralds in a new day.
You can then add in any new tools, processes, or meetings that will support your team.
Most teams start and end with tools rather than the right behaviors; see what they miss?!
Once codified, you’ve cracked the code on your teaming competencies!

Step 5: Take Me To The Pilot

Any contract appears solid until you need to rely on it, so we’ve got to test and iterate.
Together, choose a specific project or initiative and agree to work in the new ways.
To give it a fair trial, it’s better if it includes everyone in the team.
Here are some example results we’ve helped teams achieve over the years:
- 5X sales in three months and with less effort
- 38% faster delivery of key technology, consumer products, and more
- 12-20% reduction in cost
- Elevated positioning at the executive table
- More joyful work
- And supercharged careers along the way.
Share your successes and reach out if you have questions on how to get started.
We’ll even help you do this with your team if you’re looking for support!

Our Proven Methodology

1. Diagnose

We use our research insights to create psychological safety and then listen to the wisdom in your team. In doing so, we define how to be of service to your team and help open your team to change.
2. Coach and Facilitate

We deliver high quality, high touch experiences that deliver immediate value and set you up for long term success. In as little as a few hours to series of sessions that replace your regular staff meetings over a year, we partner with you every step of the way.
3. Sustain

We leave you with the tools and practices to be successful, and we’re always around to support as you bring new people into your team or face even bigger challenges.