Here’s an exercise that’s a real eye opener.  For some of you, this may even leave a bad taste in your mouth.  Take a look at the results your team is getting.  Make list of the results, good and bad, and begin to think about what these results tell you about your team.

Specifically, you are looking at their results and their behaviors to determine what is important to them.  What do they value?  What habits have formed?  It is vitally important to the success of your team, your company and you that your team build supportive habits.  But step one is figuring out the habits that already exist.

As you look over the list of results and behaviors, what values and habits begin to jump out to you.  Do they value getting results?  Is there a habit of taking responsibility?  Do they want to be liked more than they want to do what it takes to get things done?  Do they play it safe, take too many risks or have they developed a habit of finding a healthy balance of taking strategic risks and avoiding unnecessary risks?  Do they value doing the same thing or are they innovators?  Are they in the habit of being successful or unsuccessful?

Theses are tough things to consider, but to begin to move in a new direction, you need to know where you’re at right now.  More than likely your list will include both habits that support and do not support your team in being successful in their environment.  This list is the first step in moving them in the direction of being even more effective.