How to Make Your Team ‘Super Bowl’ Worthy

Reaching (and winning) the ‘Super Bowl’ is the goal for NFL teams. Teams who make it to the championship game have prepared and mastered their skills. Each member focuses on what they do best and perform at optimal levels. Each member also relies on and trusts everyone on the team to do their jobs to the best of their ability. Together, they achieve maximum productivity and enjoy the victory.

Well, you and your team all have ‘super-bowl’ talent just waiting to be unleashed. All it takes is preparing and mastering your skills. Unfortunately, many teams prepare and develop the wrong people for the wrong skills.

Many teams fall into the trap of focusing on skills their people are not naturally talented at doing; teams spend too much time trying to develop weaknesses instead of accepting the natural talents/gifts of their people and utilize them to their fullest extent possible.

All too often, we know what exactly what our natural talent is, yet we remain silent and keep them hidden because they may not align with our current job. The sad thing is by remaining silent, the entire team ends up suffering. When you multiply that by several people on the team remaining silent and not being placed in a job that amplifies their strengths, you can begin to get an idea of how damaging this style of management can be.

I have worked with a variety of teams, from small businesses of 3-4 people to large corporate teams, and one thing I always find is that every team can improve by making a few minor adjustments. The moment I love seeing is when a team realizes how simple this process can be.

I use the DISC Personality System. This system has four primary personality behavioral groups. The results of the assessment tells individuals personality behavioral groups they are in. The results also give you a breakdown of strengths, communication techniques, and greatest ‘areas of opportunities’ (often referred to as weaknesses).

Working with teams, gives me the opportunity to focus on the gifts of each personality group. For example, the “D-style” provides direction and keeps the team focused on the agenda. The “I-style” provides an entertaining environment and is very sociable. The “S-style” provides safety and ensures the team is stable. Finally, the “C-style” provides detailed logistics and ensures the team is completing the job correctly.

Knowing which group you fall in is only the beginning for your team reaching super-bowl caliber. When you start to dissect the results and look at everyone as one team, you can see where everyone on your team can thrive. It becomes obvious what team members are misplaced in positions that contradict how they were designed to operate. When team members are misplaced, it causes stress, conflict, and disengagement within the team.

More importantly, when people on your team are misplaced, they cause your team’s productivity to plummet. Imagine if a kicker on a NFL team is asked to play the lineman’s position. Naturally, a team would never ask a kicker to place in a lineman’s position; however, when your team members are misplaced, that is exactly what you are doing.

The bottom line is that we all have special talents and gifts we were naturally designed to perform. If your team can match up your people to their greatest skills, your team will begin to produce beyond your wildest expectations. Morale and engagement will rise, and people will enjoy coming to work. I challenge you to start figuring out how you can better use each other’s talents & gifts. This may involve a few minor tweaks, or it may require serious transformations. Either way, it is well worth your time and effort. If you don’t know where to begin, give me a call; I can get you pointed in the right direction!

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