The best place to start with building trust and being vulnerable within a small team is to start with the self-awareness. Why? Well, then you are open to hearing feedback and can work to create a relationship built on trust and relatability. Oftentimes leadership can feel like a one-sided relationship, whether you are in a large or small team.
Recently, I welcomed Bill Perry, founder of The Innovatus Group, to my podcast. Bill is often described as a Sherpa. Yes, a Sherpa. And Bill is the real deal. He offers extremely personalized executive development, coaching, and team training. During our time together we talked about small teams, how to bring trust and integrity to a team, as well as some challenges small teams face.
So, what is one of the biggest challenges small teams face?
One of the biggest challenges to small teams is that the leaders tend to wear multiple hats. Shocker, isn’t it? They’re doing the thing that they’re passionate about and at the same time trying to manage a growing vision, increasing opportunity, maintaining some level of innovation and creativity. They simply lose their hearts somewhere and lose sight of their mission.
How can they address this issue head-on?
It’s easy for a leader who wears multiple hats to lose heart for the thing that gave them so much joy. Leaders and leadership teams need to focus on freeing up marginal space, focusing on their why and understanding what motivates them, so they can get their heart back in the game.
This topic speaks to me because I am in the midst of some of those feelings myself, as in losing sight of what brings me joy because I have so many things to focus on at once.
I have arrived in my career.
I am writing a book.
I’m working hard.
And yet, I experience a little bit of, “the arrival fallacy,” which is when you’ve arrived, you think it’s all going to be laid out in front of you and it’s still hard work.
There’s still conflict, there’s still disappointment, and there’s still some tension around what you have to do.
It’s not perfect.
But my time with Bill was a good reminder that sometimes as a leader, thought-leader, or entrepreneur, you have to go deep, you have to look within yourself, you have to understand your motivators and your goals, all to remind yourself why it’s important and why it brings you joy in the first place.
If you’re interested in listening to a conversation about working human, leadership, and hearing from someone who brings his whole heart to the conversation, check out my full conversation with Bill Perry on this episode of Let’s Fix Work.