As we finish out the first quarter of 2014, I can’t help but reflect. 2013 certainly ended more dramatically than I expected. For those who follow entreQuest, you probably know that Emily and I were in a horrific car accident in October. Since we are doing amazingly well and healing beautifully, this blog won’t be a woe-is-me story about that. Instead, as is more my style, I’d prefer to reflect on what I’m grateful for and focus on what I’ve learned from this event.
I’ve always felt as though I knew what makes a good team—I mean really, it’s my business to help people get their teams back in shape or up and running. But, my experience this past year has not only solidified what I always knew, but it has also taught me a few new things that I’d like to share with you today.
Regardless of the type of team, be it a trauma team, a surgical team, my team at entreQuest, or your team in your own business, in order to really gel, to get through a crisis, a good team needs three things: a common goal, belief, and loyalty.
Take my trauma team (who graciously saved my life) for example, their common goal was to get me stable so that I had a chance to get better. They BELIEVED that they could. And while I think belief can be the determining factor, you can’t function as a good team without loyalty—loyalty to each other, meaning each and every one of them has the other’s back, no matter what. But that’s not where their loyalty ends, they are also loyal to the common goal and to the belief (to keep their patients stable and well). As evidenced in all my interactions with this team, they definitely showed their loyalty, especially to their patients.
So, how does that translate to your own team? Well, I’ll use entreQuest as an example. Prior to October, entreQuest was a fully functioning team. Emily and I were happily members of that team—working towards our common goal, to help small-to-mid-sized businesses, grow regardless. But then, in a blink of an eye, everything changed. We were in an accident and the team had to learn to maneuver and survive without us. Much like a trauma team must function in crisis-mode all the time, entreQuest was thrust into a crisis-mode of our own.
There is no doubt that the entreQuest team shares a common goal and more importantly, has the belief that we can help our clients to achieve more than they ever thought possible. But it was only when the going got tough, that we were able to prove that we had the third, and arguably, most important element: LOYALTY.
I’m thrilled and completely humbled by how much loyalty we have. Not only has our team been able to stick together, work hard on our business, and grow our clients’ businesses, but our team has been incredibly loyal to Emily and me. They have stuck with us through every aspect of our recovery. And, although we still have a long road ahead of us as far as therapy and healing goes, we know they are happy to have us back because we are part of the team.
All of us at entreQuest have these three things: we have a common goal, we have belief, and we have loyalty—to one another, and to our clients.
I urge you to look at your team… Do they have what it takes to stick together and to be successful? I believe whole heartedly that entreQuest knows what it means to be a great team. We’re one of the best I’ve seen—and I’ve been privy to some pretty phenomenal teams lately.
Because entreQuest knows what it takes to be a great team, we can help you build your team, be it through talent acquisition or restructuring what you currently have into a great team that is built on a shared goal, belief in that goal, and loyalty.
Carrie Root is a Project Manager at entreQuest and works in conjunction with eQ’s Business Consultants and clients throughout the life of a client engagement to engineer the plan based on vision set, act as quality control for all projects and deliverables, as well as mobilize internal resources.
