What are the key ingredients to create really strong cultures? In this week‘s Basic Bananas TV episode, Franziska is back with a #bookrecommendation and a few quick insights into how to create uber high-performing, happy teams.  

Key Points:

0:59 Everyone in the group talks and listens in roughly equal measures
2:16 Maintain eye contact + energetic conversations and gestures
2:32 Direct communication with one another (not just the team leader) is key
2:41 Carry on side conversations within the team  

How are you creating stronger bonds within your team?  

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Tony Hsieh of Zappos, image by JD Lasica via Flickr (https://www.flickr.com/photos/jdlasica/3007696576/)


Franziska: Hi there, and welcome back! Today, I have got a book recommendation for you. And also a few quick insights into how to create really high-performing happy teams. And the book is called The Culture Code. And I’ve just been reading this over the last week, it’s by Daniel Coyle. And it’s full of really good insights, studies, and looking into different types of cultures and what makes them high-performing, and cohesive. And I love this stuff. I’m obsessed with culture building. And I really do feel that at Basic Bananas and The Business Hood, we have an amazing culture. And it’s because the teams are really, you know, going through this, and I can see the teams are doing what has been proven to be some of the key ingredients to create really strong cultures. So I want to share with you quickly a few points here. The first one here is everyone in the group talks, and listens, in roughly equal measures, keeping contributions short. And this really, it hit me a little bit because I had dinner the other day with a few friends. And the dinner conversation was mainly dominated by one person. And it~ I could have easily noticed that if we had had a little bit more conversation between everyone, I think we would have been a better team. Of course, it was a dinner conversation. So it doesn’t really matter. But in your team, is there someone or even maybe you, that is talking way more and constantly than everyone else, if so, maybe you can see if you can change that a little bit and make sure that everybody has something that they contribute. One thing we do actually is, in our team meetings with all our team, and we run this virtually, now, we get everyone to share some celebrations. Sometimes we get around to share an emotion, sometimes we get around to share a learning from the last week. And the reason why is so that everybody contributes and everybody feels heard. Now, the second one is members maintain high levels of eye contact, and their conversations and gestures are energetic. So again, this is obviously something that you as the leader of business can initiate, and help others do the same. And the third one is members communicate directly with one another, not just the team leader. And the last one I’ll share here is members carry on side conversations within the team. So actually, one of the other points in his book, which leads to that last point is that you want to facilitate~ this is something that Tony Hsieh from Zappos, founder of Zappos did really well is, you want to facilitate coalitions within your team. So you want to have space, if you do work in a communal space, where people can congregate and bump into each other and have side conversations, whether it’s at the watercooler or the kitchen or, or in the backyard. You want to enable that rather than, you know, going into your office and thinking, ‘Oh, why is everyone always so chatty?’, of course, you want to get work done too. But you actually do want to allow people to have side conversations because it will lead to a much stronger team, because also the stronger the bonds within your team are, the stronger your team will be as an in what’s it called~ as an entirety. So I hope this is helpful. I definitely recommend reading this book. I’ll share more with you a little bit later on when I finished it. It’s, it’s good. It’s really good. And I’ll share more book reviews with you too. So thanks again, thanks for being here. And if, if you know, as always if you know another business owner who would benefit from this, feel free to share it with them and I’ll see you next time. Bye!