Calm

Your team wants calm.

People excel when things are known and the future is predictable.  Your team has confidence in what they are working on when they are left alone to work on it.  Folks put in time and effort if they believe that time and effort is worth something.

Think back to crazy times, uncertain times, or fast-paced, whip-lashed times.  During these times things were uncertain.  Were you working on the correct project?  Was your boss going to cancel what you were working on?  Did you jump from one idea to the next to the next?  How much did you accomplish during these times?  Of what you did accomplish, how much of that was good, quality work, work you were proud of?

When people are confused or are bouncing around from thought to thought, they are in an uneasy state.  Thoughts, ideas, and tasks do not get solidified or completed; they stay loose and suspended, and your work is more prototype than it is production ready.  People tend to wall off and defend what they have, they are risk adverse, and they tend to hunker down.

When the path in front of you is clear, you are confident and able to get tasks completed, thoughts can be realized, and ideas brought to light and given form.  Supporting pieces can begin to find their place such as budgeting, time management, and resource gathering.  When things are better understood you can ask for help and explain what is going on for that help.

Making things calm, dare I say tranquil, allows people to settle in.  It allows people to take risks and make investments such as time, resources, and energy into their work and goals.  Calming things down allows people to have confidence that their efforts will be worth something and not just a waste.

If your team is struggling, start by taking note of how calm or noisy the team and their environment is.  Are people jumping from one task to another?  Are they receiving changing directives and priorities?  Are team members or coworkers coming and going?  Or, are they able to focus on a quantifiable number of projects, with goals defined and stable, and with a team that is reliable?

If things are crazy, begin to settle things down.  As leader, play defense and block out as much noise as you can for your team.  Question directives, focus the work on the important projects, bring in resources to aid, and problem solve retention issues.  You may need to divide the team up a bit with some folks focused on stable projects and teams, and a few folks focused on the noise, until they can get that under control.

Teams and people excel and advance in calm.  Calm environments, backed and supported projects, and reliable teammates lead to success, especially compared to chaotic, uncertain situations.  Help your team obtain that calm, and you will see your team grow and succeed.