Chuck Noll, former head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers, once said.

“On every team, there is a core group that sets the tone for everyone else. If the tone is positive, you have half the battle won. If the tone is negative, you are beaten before you ever walk on the field.”

Look back at the teams you have been on and think about how the team dynamic worked, and how much this statement rings true not only for a team, but for the entire organization.

Workplace Excellence

An article published in the Harvard Business Review found that workplaces excel when characterized by positive practices:

• Caring for, being interested in, and maintaining responsibility for colleagues as friends.
• Providing support for one another, including offering kindness and compassion when others are struggling.
• Avoiding blame and forgiving mistakes.
• Inspiring one another at work.
• Treating one another with respect, gratitude, trust, and integrity.

You can look at an organization as a group of teams, so it shouldn’t be a surprise that the same attributes that contribute to an organization’s excellence are also found in the different groups within the organization. By applying these positive practices, both the team and the organization benefit by:

• Increasing positive emotions, which broadens people’s relationships and amplifies their creativity and ability to think creatively.
• Providing a buffer against negative events, like stress, by helping others bounce back from challenges and difficulties.
• Increasing loyalty to the team and the desire to make the team successful.

At Momentum, our consultants have seen this play out in many organizations. Organizational excellence can be achieved simply by addressing one team at a time. Each team can be improved by addressing one team member at a time, starting with your own!

The Power of Attitude

As a member of a team, the energy and tone you bring to the team contribute to the overall tone for the team. Your attitude and tone have the power to either lift up the people around you or to drag them down. You can instill confidence and the belief that you will be successful as a team, or contribute to lower performance and the possibility of failed projects. This is true for all team members, not just the team leaders.

One negative play or one penalty at the wrong time can start the team into a downward spiral. A player makes a mistake and starts to feel defeated; if that starts a chain reaction that spreads to others on the team, you will not be successful.

Successful teams will rally around a player that just blew an assignment or dropped an easy pass. They want him to forget about the mistake, let him know that they believe in him, they believe he’ll make that catch the next time. Whether they realize it or not, his teammates are helping to provide that buffer against negative thoughts or events to help him bounce back, and they’re setting the tone for the team.

Our consultants use this strategy to boost attitudes within their teams. They take the time to learn about their colleagues within the client site and support team members when mistakes are made. Identifying the root causes of mistakes and delays and addressing those issues with support, compassion and respect changes perceptions from the “blame game” to learning opportunities and areas for improvement.

Create a Winning Team

Attitudes cause a chain reaction, and the change can be quite rapid. We’ve all seen the big momentum turning play in sports that causes a team to transform right before our eyes. Suddenly a team can execute the plays that they couldn’t a few minutes before, with no missed assignments or dropped passes. The players have the same skills and abilities but the tone has changed, the attitude has changed – now, they believe they can execute. That spreads from teammate to teammate, and suddenly you have a whole team who believes you can succeed.

These are the teams that are successful, teams that work together, support each other, and encourage each other to succeed, teams that have individuals that set the tone. You have to believe that you are part of a winning team before anyone else will believe it. That can be hard to do, and it’s hard to believe that an unsuccessful team can turn around. Sometimes, you need objective expertise to help see the positives and to kick start that chain reaction. Our consultants can provide this expertise and help turn your team around, too. Contact us today to get started!