Don’t neglect getting to know your team on a personal level.

How well do you know your team? If you’ve invested in your staff professionally, perhaps sponsoring the Leadership Journey™, you may be familiar with things like Myers-Briggs Type, Listening Style, and preferred Conflict Mode. You also know how well they support goals, levels of accountability, and hopefully desired career paths.  This is all good, but how well do you know them personally?

Investing time to know about life outside of work builds trust and strengthens relationships. We suggest building in perhaps 5 – 10 minutes in team meetings (team size is obviously a factor), but start the meeting with something fun, interesting, and informative.

Here are some ideas for questions:

  • How many siblings do you have?
  • What’s your favorite family tradition?
  • What’s your favorite holiday?
  • Do you have a favorite vacation destination?
  • How do you like to spend your time outside of work?
  • Do you have a bucket list? What’s your priority?
  • What was the first concert you attended?
  • How do you feel about country music?
  • Are you married?  If yes, how did you meet your spouse?
  • Do you have children or maybe even grandchildren?
  • How many states (or countries) have you lived in?
  • How many countries have you visited?
  • Do you have any pets?
  • What movie have you seen 5+ times?

We all need to be viewed as people, not just as an employee or consultant. There’s a constant need to keep people engaged and for team members to have a sense of belonging. Gallup reports that 33 percent of American workers are engaged at work, 52 percent claim they just show up, and 17 percent say they are actively disengaged.

As a leader we can influence these numbers. What are you doing to learn more about your team members and help the team learn more about one another? Don’t neglect getting to know your team  on a personal basis, it makes a difference!

A leader is someone who creates infectious enthusiasm.
— Ted Turner