Myths about the team
Let's first remember what a team is. A team is a group of people united by a common goal, where common rules are set and all participants interact with each other. For example, if you are a participant in the project "Duyunov's motors" and part of a large team, you have open information about everything: what other participants are doing, what they are responsible for, how to get feedback. And you are a partner of SOLARGROUP or are ready to become one, which means you are building your "team in a team". Then it will helpful for you to learn about the tools that exist and to ask about the experiences of different people.
There are a lot of tutorials and support materials for you in the back office:
"Partner Work Methodology"
Stories of SOLARGROUP partners
Promotions for partners
We hope you are applying them, developing and already achieving results. And if not, it's about time you started!
To make it easier for you, let's address the most common myths about teams.
Myth 1. In a good team there is always a friendly atmosphere.
No! Getting into a new team, everyone experiences stress and discomfort. And that's okay, because one gets into a situation of uncertainty. A friendly atmosphere is something to strive for, which means you will have to make an effort to create and maintain it. And overcome obstacles (see Myth 2)!
Myth 2. There is no conflict on a good team.
Of course, there are. There are different people on the team, they have different views and positions, different experiences and their own opinions about everything. Moreover, sometimes conflict is a source of development. And a good team is not one where conflicts are avoided, but one where everyone learns to resolve conflicts in a constructive way.
Myth 3. All team decisions are made by the majority.
Not exactly. Decisions are made based on what the situation calls for. If you set an unchangeable rule "decisions are always made by the majority," you risk never settling. And vice versa, if you set the immutable rule "decisions of the leader/head are not discussed," then the team will quickly disperse - who would want to work in a team where they are not heard or ignored? The optimal option is to listen to everyone and summarize. Decisions are announced by the leader and he or she gives time for objections. If no objections are received in the time allotted - voila! This is the majority decision. But! Depending on the situation, either the voting method or other options can be used. The secret of a good team is its flexibility.
Myth 4. The team can be formed during a team building event/training/meeting/webinar.
No! Team building is a systematic and consistent effort. It cannot be done in a single event. Informal team-building activities will speed up the process and facilitate it, but it's not them that form the team, it's the joint work.
As you can see, you have nothing to fear! Try it out, form your own team, become a member of other teams. There are no immutable rules, each team is unique. Explore useful materials in the back office - and choose what you're ready to put into practice.
And also, play! For example, when building a team, where not all the participants know each other personally (which is most often the case, because many people work remotely), experts recommend playing the "Lemons" game. In some trainings the game is called "Oranges" and "Fruits", it is recommended that the team come up with its own name and suggest that participants change the rules. Each participant introduces himself/herself and says a word that begins with the first letter of their name, for example: my name is Lisa, I like lemons. Each subsequent participant lists all the previous ones and introduces himself/herself. For example: we have Lisa, who loves lemons, Alice, who loves oranges, Paul, who loves parmesan, and I'm Filipp, I love dates. And so it goes until the participants stop making mistakes.
Playing is not silly. Such games really help to create an immediate friendly atmosphere, the participants will remember each other and have time to get used to each other's manner of communication. There are quite a few team-building games suitable for the format of short online meetings.
A team is not only productive joint work, a good team is interesting and fun!