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2 things to make your team better...today!

 

As fun as it might be to live in the magical world of Harry Potter, sadly we don't.  And there's no "silver bullet" to fix issues.  If you're someone who knows your team can be better and wants it to be better, here are a two that will help quickly!

  • Make RECOGNITION a resource

This goes way beyond just saying "thanks" to a team member.  Developing the ability to both give & receive gratitude authentically is a must. These human skills are a great way to increase psychological safety on your team.  With this improvement, team members will feel safe to take risks and be vulnerable with teammates.  They move from doing things to "be safe" on the team to providing evidence of their trustworthiness. It's only when people feel safe that behaviors of trust can flourish.  If your team is suffering from the growing resentment of unexpressed gratitude, recognition is the first place to start.

To diagnose your current state, ponder this statement:
"If I make a mistake on our team, it is not held against me."
-Google's "Project Aristotle"

Responses will tell you how much pumping fear out of the room through recognition is needed!

  • Play to your STRENGTHS

Jim Collins classic book "Good to Great" has come up several times recently.  These occasions have reminded me of this point he makes:

"Look, I don't really know where we should take this bus.  But I know this much: If we get the right people on the bus, the right people in the right seats...then we'll figure out how to take it someplace great."

To be our most effective (and efficient) selves we must play to our strengths. Our potential for greatness goes up exponentially when we're working in areas we're gifted to do.  Working in a weakness area, only to bring the skill up to mediocre, doesn't make sense.   Playing to your strengths is positioning for performance & contribution and is the only way to get results.  The hard first step here is that in order to gain more of what only we can do we have to let go.  The secret to concentration is elimination.

In both cases, what we're talking about is developing your character, self-reliance, foresight & courage.  Leadership skills.

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The Extension Foundation was formed in 2006 by Extension Directors and Administrators. Today, the Foundation partners with Cooperative Extension through liaison roles and a formal plan of work with the Extension Committee on Organization and Policy (ECOP) to increase system capacity while providing programmatic services, and helping Extension programs scale and investigate new methods and models for implementing programs. The Foundation provides professional development to Cooperative Extension professionals and offers exclusive services to its members. In 2020 and 2021, the Extension Foundation has awarded 85% of its direct funding back to the Cooperative Extension System, 100% of funds are used to support Cooperative Extension initiatives. 

This technology is supported in part by New Technologies for Ag Extension (funding opportunity no. USDA-NIFA-OP-010186), grant no. 2023-41595-41325 from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the view of the U.S. Department of Agriculture or the Extension Foundation. For more information, please visit extension.org. You can view the terms of useat extension.org/terms.

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