How to Help Your Team Take Flight

I’m always a little dubious about “leaderships lessons from” articles. From the Civil War … from Ted Lasso, of course … the Chilean mine rescue … Star Wars. You get the picture.

And here I am sharing “Five Leadership Lessons from Ultimate Frisbee.” Maybe it’s because I spent too much time in high school playing Ultimate. Not on an organized team; I might have been cutting class a lot. But anyway this resonated for me.

Because it talks about some attributes I see in organizations I work with, and that I try to help them nurture by helping them take a foresight approach to their mission. Strategic foresight done well is a team sport. Baking that mindset into your team helps make them perform like the one described in this piece.

The key is authentic everybody-in collaboration on considering the “alternative futures” for the organization (or for the new project we’re undertaking, or … ). And then aligning as a team on what the desired future looks like, and how to get there.

Take the article’s first lesson – “take responsibility (everyone is a leader).” If everyone has an authentic voice in considering where we could go, and in deciding where we will go, they’ll naturally lean in to playing a leadership role in making that future happen. Different kinds of leadership contributions, suited to their particular strengths. That’s critical, because by themselves the capabilities that the “formal” leadership team brings to the game will never get you there.

The lesson on communication resonates in this context as well. If everyone is part of thinking through the paths we might take, and what will get us down the path we’ve chosen, each teammate will be sensitized to different risks, and signals of being off course. And when they raise the flag on those, the team is more likely to be open and responsive to the input.

Set personal goals? Lesson three, check. One mark of a good scenario, or of a “vision story” for a team, is that everyone can see themselves in it. How they as an individual and their particular role fits in. And they can do that much better when they’ve been part of crafting the story. They’re able to pursue their own goals, knowing at the same time that that’s not just about their own success, but also part of how the team succeeds.

Here's a couple of resources on bringing your team together to create a vision story. One from my former colleague Jim Kerr. Another from an entrepreneur who created one for her start-up (full disclosure, not a client of mine, I just appreciated what she shared).

If you and your people are doing all this together, you’re fulfilling the most important responsibility of a leader: creating the kind of culture the organization needs to thrive and that brings out the best in your people. You’ll see these attributes manifest in every team member and in every aspect of your work together. And celebrating success together will come naturally.