In school, I had a band teacher who used to say, “How do you get a better band? You get better players”. While there is surely some truth to this concept (orchestras hire musicians with the best auditions and companies work to attract graduates from top universities), pure talent and skill will only get us so far. Realistically, this concept only applies to niche fields where people have characteristics that make them inherently better at some particular thing (being 7 feet tall and good at basketball comes to mind). Otherwise, the idea of “to get better, you have to simply be better” has diminishing returns when each individual is considered an average (or slightly better than average) performer on their own. At some point, an extra sliver of excellence in any one individual is insignificant in everyday life and irrelevant when trying to build better teams (similar to how studying 4 extra hours to get a 98% instead of a 95% on the exam is likely not worth your time).

Now that we are beyond the point of looking for sheer talent, let’s think about an average person with true grit. Basic skills provide a strong foundation, but most success is built, not born. It’s easy to have a pessimistic view of others; however, upon a closer look, I think we would be pleasantly surprised to see a lot of people are willing to work hard if they believe it will lead to commendable results. Let’s assume the best. The team we are trying to build up is a group of people with slightly better than average skillsets and true grit. What can we do to improve what we already have? How do we build better teams?

1. Encourage individuals to play to their strengths – satisfaction is heightened when doing something you are good at
2. Encourage honesty and safety – avoid asking questions with a tone that implies you already know the answer (no one likes to feel trapped before they can even think of a response)
3. Create space for positive learning opportunities – make training feel fun rather than like a chore (it helps to make learning aesthetically pleasing, inspirational, and game-like)
4. Encourage people to pair up and work on tasks together – there’s power in numbers, this can feel more fun instead of working on your own, and easily distracted individuals might “lock in” when they feel someone depends on them
5. Remind members that their contributions matter (because each one provides unique value!) regardless of the speed they are able to contribute

Providing positive affirmations and shielding your team from constant storms has much more power than you may think. We’re all just people, and we all appreciate a little pat on the back sometimes. We aren’t all music prodigies. We’re doing the best with the cards we’ve been dealt. Recognizing these 5 points and scoping them to fit your team dynamics brings you closer to building a better team. After all, “success” itself, especially in these qualitative fields, is hard to define, hard to measure over time, and can be cyclical by nature. Cue the mantra: “trust the process”.