Provoke response to build the team
A TORQUAY business coach highlighted the three central ingredients of co-operation in a presentation on the key skills needed to create high performance teams.
Dave Isaacs, from Advanced Business Abilities, told a workshop held as part of the Geelong Small Business Festival that the fundamental components of co-operation were a shared brightness of future, frequency of interaction and “provokability”.
“Co-operation can’t happen losing any of them, but if I was to pick the most important one, I would say provokability,” Mr Isaacs said.
He said provokability did not mean having the intention to provoke somebody or create upsets.
“It is a willingness to be able to say something to somebody, or ask a question, that may, indeed, provoke them,” he said.
He said provokability was the foundation of cooperation, but also the toughest one as it packed the most emotional charge.
“You might upset someone, they might get angry, somebody might call you out on something,” he said.
Mr Isaacs said co-operation, decision-making, recruitment and delegation, empathy and building relationships were the key skills involved in creating a high performing team.
A core element of the presentation was in understanding how emotions can impact on people’s control of their thoughts and actions.
“An emotional charge is anything which creates an unwillingness to experience,” he said.
Isolating and understanding these emotional interferences, and having empathy for others, can lead to improved communication.
“Being able to create subtle changes in the way that you operate . . . and the way that you think, can make all the difference,” he said.