How to improve teamwork skills with one simple trick!
Many experts spout endless theory about growing and sustaining great organizational cultures. More specifically, they write various articles or how-to books that follow a handy six-point guide that can transform your work environment and the efficiency of a team. However, none of these experts mention the simple solution about how to improve teamwork skills.
You want to know what a great organizational team looks like? Then follow the joy!
How to improve teamwork skills for a Village
Behind the scenes at The Villages of Florida you hear the jingle:
“The Vill-A-Ges – Florida’s Friendliest Home Town; The Vill-A-Ges.”
If you don’t know, The Villages, located in Central Florida, is the single largest master-planned housing development in the United States. More than 100,000 residents live in this active adult community with 40 golf courses, close to 100 restaurants, and countless miles of golf cart paths (the preferred mode of transportation for the locals).
With an outstanding sales team, The Villages is a picture of operational excellence. In addition, this enormous team works under a family-owned umbrella, which is foundation of the team culture. This culture identifies The Villages of Florida as a joy-filled place to work.
How to improve teamwork skills: Understand the experience
The Villages examines their sales staff and staff procedures. Therefore, the staff includes joy-filled and extremely competent professionals. Exposure to The Villages' culture begins with the first meeting. For example, this meeting begins with a representative of the sales team.
Guests are met in a grand and classic hotel lobby, complete with live piano, parlor settings, and deep wood paneling where they are greeted by residents. Most of all, this experience provides an opportunity to hear about daily life from a first-hand participant. Furthermore, the residents are responsible for introducing the guests to the sales professionals, which establishes an important development of trust.
One of the core planks in The Villages sales presentation is the insistence on selling an overall experience rather than selling a product or service. Frankly, the value equation at The Villages does not hold up unless this is an experience-first environment. As a result, the sales presentation itself is packed with stories of Villagers whose lives have been changed by their move to this community. Testimonials are a HUGE part of the story. Hence, salespeople are encouraged to stop and chat with random people on the town square to ask about their living experience.
How to improve teamwork skills for your team by bringing joy to the forefront
Finally, great cultures are identified as happy places. As a result, the people who work in these organizations experience joy as a way of life. And if they themselves are not joyful people, they stick out like the proverbial sore thumb (and are soon shown the proverbial door).
Additionally, the sales staff, guests and residents experience a constant joy.
How joyful is your experience?
Great experiences are future stories. What stories do you want to tell?
It might be worth a brainstorm around a simple question: “How can we create a more joyful experience?”
We live today in an experience-based economy. Are you ready?
Jeff Shore is a best-selling B2C sales expert, specializing in the psychology of a purchase decision. He is the author of six books, including Be Bold and Win the Sale (McGraw-Hill, 2014). Jeff resides in Auburn, California. jeffshore.com
