Team Building

Years ago, I brought in a new sales manager, David. I sat in the sales meeting giving David total control of the sales team I had managed for ages. I knew these sales folks—knew them well. I knew their strengths, weaknesses, and idiosyncrasies.

I introduced David. His background and string of major successes in his career – impressive. The team was captivated by his list of triumphs. I was selling the group on what this new manager would do for them. Then I let David take the floor.

David told of his career, what he had accomplished, and why he was so excited about this new opportunity, and doing some serious team building. It was going perfectly.

Then David asked each team member to introduce themselves. First, Chuck talked about his number of customers, the dollar volume he’d sold, and his closing ratio. Everything was about his business successes. All seemed typical; it was going great.

Then David asked Chuck what I thought was a shocking question. “What are you passionate about when you are not working?” he asked. In my 30 years of coaching sales teams at that point, I had never asked personal questions of a sales group. It was a business meeting, and I was always all about business. I thought, “Getting into their personal lives in the first business meeting in front of the entire team when you are introducing yourself – is that smart? What could go wrong?”

To my amazement, Chuck’s face lit as he told of his passions. “I love scuba diving,” he said, puffing his chest.

I found myself sitting there with my mouth hanging open. I was blown away. Chuck went on enthusiastically telling the team how he had found the sport and what it meant to him and his family. They all listened intently. I could see the pride in his eyes as he told of the amazing experiences he had deep in the salt world. I had no idea.

Then the next salesperson took their turn. He started talking about business, and then was asked, “So what are you excited about when you are not working?”

“My Grandkids,” he said. I watched him open up to the group just as Chuck had done. “I have six. Three are school age and the others are little. I love to take them on trips. Maybe to the beach. Maybe to the mall to buy little trinkets. Anything. I love pushing their stroller. I love being with them!” he said proudly. I could hear the love in his voice, straight from his heart. I felt so stupid. I didn’t even know he had grandchildren.

The next salesperson loved playing baseball. Who would have ever known? Not me. I had never asked. My mistake.

With David’s approach, I witnessed team building on steroids. The team got to know each other more in these few minutes than in all the months we had been together.

This same team building approach can be used any time you are working with people – get them talking about the things they love. Teachers, coaches, managers, and anyone who wants to build a solid team should use this team building approach. One on one, in a small to medium group and with a crowd, you can accelerate the bonding process by getting people to talk about their passions. (Nothing beyond PG-13)