In the preparation of the autumn event BusinessCon we meet a lot of great people. At the last so-called pre-BusinessCon, I discussed with Peter Svoboda, CEO of the company NetDevelo, on the characteristics of successful teams. He asked me what was The key to the success of the team RainFellows. There's definitely a lot of those things, but I got 3 + 1 basic right away. I honestly think they can help in the growth of any team. Let's look at them...

1, Work in a team, work in pairs

“Team team team team, I love the sound of that word...” — Denholm Reynholm, CEO Reynholm industries, series The Aytyans

I've never been a freelance consultant. I started my career working in a team and so for many years some things seemed ordinary, normal to me. Things that are not common. Like, I have experienced colleagues around me that I can rely on at all times. In front of which I can be my and admit that I do not know something and if I can do something better, they will openly tell me and help me move on. The ingrained habit of working in pairs allows us not only to be fungible, but also to combine our different strengths.
I meet a lot of solitaire consultants who are really great, but in most cases I feel a certain tension about them — they lack lightness, creative indiscretion, and often even the courage to embark on something really big, outside of all comfort zones. Our team for each of us works like a huge source of energy and courage to go beyond their own limits and thus grow very quickly.

2, Constant Reflection and Objectivity

“You RainFellows are totally soaked with that agility...” — Petr Martinasek, Lean/Agile coach, Tieto

If I had to say one thing that we have deepest in our DNA, it is reflection — feedback. It works on a daily basis both internally within our team and externally with anyone we come into contact with. Each session with clients ends with a reflection, each work in a couple and also each team activity. In addition, we lead regular retrospectives (weekly operational, quarterly tactical, annual strategic) that allow us to stop, look around and take the right direction. Reflection helps us grow and continuously innovate our services and how we operate as a team. Adapt to whatever is coming.

3, Future-oriented

“The best way to predict the future is to create it...” — Alan Kay, IT visionary

For as long as our team existed inside the corporation, there was also an effort to break that internal team -- spreadsheet load -- apart. In vain 🙂 We never waited for what others would do to us, but created opportunities to be valuable. I think that's a very important lesson that we later took to the business. We don't wait for opportunities, but we create them. An example of this is the autumn conference. BusinessConthat we organize. The aim is to build a platform for sharing experiences and building trust and thus business among the owners of medium-sized companies. BusinessCon will allow us to be of benefit to a much larger group of people. People say this is a very ambitious plan, but I know that thanks to our team and partners we can get it done. We are creating our own future.

plus 1, Team culture and a great leader

“Where shared values and strong intent reign, the most wonderful things arise...” — David Logan, book Birth of a Tribal Leader

Values such as openness, learning, innovation and continuous improvement, finding and delivering value, human attitude, pro-activity, respect and belonging are a natural part of all members of our team. We have a great leader who constantly challenges us, supports us, teaches, but most importantly, keeps the intention, vision and reminds us of them by example. This team culture allows you to realize all the previous points and more to enjoy it 🙂 The leader and we support each other to stop toiling and start playing to get into flow and kept it. It is very easy to create the most amazing things.

What does the situation look like in your team, unit, company? Do you have a similar experience? What are the key things you think about in relation to your team?
Write to us at napiste.nam@rainfellows.cz.