What sandpit are we playing in?
What sandpit are we playing in?
The business was growing fast and it seemed there were new players in the market every day. The Pandemic had meant a few suppliers hadn’t been able to weather the storm, which was having an impact on the supply chain, not to mention the lag time for getting a product or raw materials from overseas had increased dramatically. There are now some new regulatory requirements to be considered along with a new economic landscape. There’s the continued battle of getting great talent into the business and it feels like we have a never-ending list of vacancies that we can’t fill.
Photo by Smit Patel on Unsplash
These challenges are not that unique to any one business. In fact, most organisations will deal with these at some point and a lot more! All of the things mentioned above define the context an organisation operates within. It’s the ‘sandpit’ they are playing in.
Senior Leadership or Strategy teams will define the context for their organisation and use a number of different tools to assist with scanning their environment – a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) or a PESTLE (Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Legal and Environmental factors) to name a few. These are all incredibly useful tools and enable a business to gain clarity on the current environment they are operating within.
But what about further into the organisation?
We often want our teams within the business to be high-performing and we often, maybe, share the business-level context information with them. Now that’s good information for them to have, but does it define their own sandpit? The answer to that question is, often not.
When we want our teams to be able to increase their performance, the first thing they need to understand and gain clarity on is the context they are operating within. What does their sandpit look like on a daily basis and how does that interact with others outside and inside the business?
When it comes to defining context, it’s useful to consider a cascading approach.
Image by Deb Bailey
When teams can define their own context by considering the type of work they do and the outcomes they need to achieve and providing these link back up to the next level in the organisation, we are creating clarity and alignment. A clear line of sight from what any team in the organisation does, to how that fits into the overarching strategy for the business.
Conversations within teams regarding context bring a huge amount of value, especially when the whole team is able to be involved. We always need to remember that high-performing teams do things together, they don’t have it ‘done to them’. If you want to build a culture of high performance then make some space for your teams to discuss the sandpit they are playing in, it’s the first step on their journey.
Photo by Wolfgang Hasselmann on Unsplash
Context doesn’t stand still though. The sands are always shifting. Conversations regarding context are not a one-time event so keep the communication lines open and specifically schedule time for the teams to have these discussions. These conversations inform and educate on the realities of what the team is doing and whom they are serving. It’s like completing the jigsaw puzzle so everyone can see the bigger picture.
Need help?
If you are looking to increase the performance and results of your team, we should chat to see if my Creating a Winning Team programme would be of interest to you.