BY ZAC WILCOX

Everyone wants to have an effective, productive, cohesive team, but how often do we get there? Despite some of the smartest people in our organizations putting their time and energy into a problem, we rarely seem to have a solution. Why is that?

Imagine the best team that you’ve been on. Write down the reasons why it was the best. We’ll come back to that later.

We believe that there are two sides to business. The smart side, and the healthy side. Too often all our effort is focused on the smart side of the business, even in building our People Strategies. Higher pay, better bonuses, more paid holidays, better benefits, ongoing training, free food at work, hybrid work, and more. The smart side of business also includes all of the ‘knowledge’ aspects of work. Marketing, manufacturing, patient care, community programs, and so on. The smart side of the business won’t get you ahead though, because knowledge is ubiquitous. Any gains from the smart side of business are short lived because everyone quickly catches up.

Now, equitable pay is non-negotiable. You have to pay enough so that your employees can pay their bills and put food on the table. But after that, pay is a satisfier, not a driver. No one will turn down more pay, but that won’t be a reason that they stay in a job that makes them miserable, nor will all the “perks.” In fact, they might just keep your employees from quitting, ensuring that all they’re doing is the bare minimum at work every day, not becoming the high performing team members we want.

So then, if the smart side of the business isn’t what separates successful organizations from unsuccessful ones, then what is?

The healthy side of the business is focused squarely on increasing morale and productivity while minimizing politics, confusion and turnover. That is accomplished by focusing on four simple disciplines, the first of which is creating a cohesive team that has high levels of trust, healthy conflict, commitment, accountability and a focus on team results instead of individual results. When we practice these simple (but difficult) behaviors, we’ll be able to move quicker (because of trust), make better decisions (because of our healthy conflict), have more time to get things done (because we don’t have to spend time convincing people), course correct quickly (because we hold each other accountable), and have high levels of agility across the organization (because we’re focused on organizational success, instead of departmental).

Now, let’s go back to those qualities that you wrote down about the best team that you’ve been on. Which category did they fall into? A healthy team? Or a smart team? I’m willing to bet a lot they fell into the ‘healthy’ category.

So if the best teams that we have been on are healthy teams, and if we know that people quit their boss, not their organizations (which again emphasizes that benefits are a satisfier, not a driver) then why do we focus so much on the ‘Smart’ side?

Because it’s easier. Organizational health is simple, but definitely not easy. It’s difficult and requires a lot of discipline and consistency. It’s also much more difficult to measure but so much more meaningful.

So how do we get there?

Here’s a few ideas to think about how you interact with your bosses and colleagues:

1. What do you know about each other? Find out something new about the people you work most closely with. Be vulnerable with each other.
2. Care about and know who they are outside of work. When is their anniversary? What sports team are they a fan of? What is their family like?
3. Pick a fight – conflict with a trusting team is nothing more than the pursuit of the best possible answer. Without trust, conflict is always destructive.
4. Enter the danger. Holding people accountable feels relationally dangerous, but it’s critical for high performing teams. Enter into it with respect and empathy.
5. Put the organization first. It’s tough to think about the needs of a different department or team before your own, so stop thinking of your team as your team and start thinking of your organization as your team – do what’s best for the organization as a whole, even if it means temporary pain for you.

It’s time to change the way we think about our employees and retention and stop trying to buy their loyalty. Because it doesn’t work.