Connecting, Building Relationships and Team Success

Quality of relationships between the team members is one of the determinants of success as a team – be it project, process improvement initiative or an organization building one. Success of projects/initiatives is generally attributed to processes and rituals. Processes are crucial but not sufficient. It is people who work, co-operate with each other, demonstrate trust, work as a team, share a common goal, exercise their ‘discretionary effort’ and make things happen.

Leader’s role is very crucial here. Leaders can simply do transactional communication ("Do this form by end of tomorrow and lets review it then") or truly connect with their team members. Connecting skillfully with people means:

• understanding them (and their value)
• their aspirations
• their communication preferences
• what they bring to the table
• building mutual trust
• listening well to everyone
• communicating your values
• understanding complementary skills
• how each one of them can play to their strengths
• invest in their development

With this understanding, leaders have to weave a web of relationships amongst the team members by doing right communication and necessary team building activities. When team is connected, they understand and appreciate different roles and how each role impacts the success.

Success happens when the team members feel that they belong to a team, actively participate and work towards team’s success. In my experience, people forget the success of projects/initiatives on a long run, but they always remember the fun they had while executing the work. People cherish relationships they build while working.

So critical question today is – How are you leveraging relationships in your team / projects / initiatives?