How great teams transform organizations

The Orange Revolution Book (written byAdrian Gostick and Chester Elton) Review

Communication is absolutely essential for building teams and team success. While communication can be pretty complex, at the simplistic level it is about sending, receiving and understanding messages. It is in the understanding that the water can become pretty muddy.

If a team does not understand the messages that are sent from leaders, management and owners, it will result in failed communication, a lot of missed opportunities, frustration and gapping out on the goals. I have seen this time and time again. Communication goes astray, blaming and fingerpointing surface, and goals sit on the sidelines awaiting the team's attention and focus.

Accountability is also critical in a team. Often leaders and team members don’t acknowledge the success, completions and accomplishments that have transpired. Instead, the recognition occurs when someone drops the ball, misses a deadline or makes a mistake. This recognition is often communicated through blame, finger pointing and excuses. Accountability must also include the discussions about the successes, for people to embrace accountability instead of fearing it. When I work with clients we talk about accountability being accountable to self, and to others. Accountability really is a two way street.

In Orange Revolution, it is stated that great leaders understand that recognition is fundamental to effectively focusing team members on their goals, building collaboration and team work. This brings us to what is called Cultivating the Team. In Orange Revolution, the author shares the six components to achieving world class results, those being:

1. Dream- dreams are larger than a goal and don’t necessarily require a plan like a goal.

2. Believe- team members follow the leaders’ passion and desire to succeed which inspires steps forward.

3. Risk- there has to be some risk to achieve results.

4. Measure- set standards and then measure against these.

5. Persevere- all teams fall off the track and encounter road blocks and experience change. Great teams find ways around these.

6. Tell and share stories

What are the stories that you want the team to share with others?