The secret killer of teams and growth is shame
I literally quote Brene Brown, from her book “Daring Greatly” as I couldn’t say it in a better way. The only thing I do is to extrapolate her quote on innovation to teams and growth.
Shame, fear and invulnerability are the secret killers of any team process. Only 5% of all sportteams, and this must be more or less the same in companies, reach the High Performance Phase. Most teams get stuck in the Storming Phase, forever working in a situation of distrust, gossip and bonds. Small fires erupting in bigger problems. People leaving the company on a regular basis.
Only if people feel free to speak out their thoughts, dare to be vulnerable, give honest feedback, progression is made. Most companies never get that far as the fundaments of a strong team lack. Building blocks such as a mission, short term and long term goals, clarity of tasks and roles, shared values, shared responsibility and shared rules of engagement.
Specially in time of economic growth, such as is happening right now, teams grow fast without having a strong foundation. And than when setbacks occur this House of Cards quickly falls apart.
In most of my coaching and training today I work with teams and companies on the cement, rocks and stones of building a strong foundation. A short and intense effort leading to a very rewarding outcome.
The secret killer of innovation is shame
You can’t measure it, but it is there.
Every time someone holds back on a new idea,
fails to give their manager much needed feedback,
and is afraid to speak up in front of a client you can be sure shame played a part.
That deep fear we all have of being wrong, of being belittled and of feeling less than,
is what stops us taking the very risks required to move our companies forward.
If you want a culture of creativity and innovation,
where sensible risks are embraced on both a market and individual level,
start by developing the ability of managers to cultivate openness to vulnerability in their teams. And this, paradoxically perhaps, requires first that they are vulnerable themselves.
This notation that the leader needs to be “in charge” and to “know all the answers” is both dated and destructive. Its impact on others is the sense that they know less, and that they are less than.
A recipe for risk aversion if ever I have heard it. Shame becomes fear. Fear leads to risk aversion. Risk aversion kills innovation.
Daring Greatly – Brene Brown
