Last Friday, I jumped on a call with my wickedly-creative founder friend. Given his cognitive flexibility, our conversations usually span a multitude of topics. And our Friday call was no exception – from product design to community management to de-stressors. Then, finally, marriage counseling and its applications in managing team dynamics.
Empirically, I focused my attention on co-founder dynamics when sharing an exercise I learned in my expedition to find the curiously passionate and the passionately curious. But I realize now that there are so many direct parallels on a broader scale to teams at large. From none other than a marriage counselor.
I want to preface that this exercise isn’t designed to be universal. And there’s a good chance it may not be useful for the situation you’re in or have been in. But nevertheless, hopefully, it can be another tool in your toolkit. So, if ever, when you do feel the need, it’s something that you can pull from your arsenal.
The Exercise
- Start every day gauging your individual gross energy level (i.e. motivation, excitement, emotional state) on a percentage scale with your partner(s)*.
- * Yes, this was shared to me from a perspective that was inclusive of various forms of romantic relationships, including polyamory. Though I find it to be equally useful, when used among multiple co-founders/team members.
- To put it into perspective, I usually sit around a 60-70%. When I’m inspired, motivated, or feel I can take on the world, I’m at 90-110%. Although extremely rare, when I’m down (i.e. sick, depressed, sad, unmotivated, stressed, in emotional turmoil, burnt out, or when I just want to regress to my shell), I’m usually at a 10-20%.
- Assess if you and your partner(s)’ collective energy level add up to 100% or more.
- If one of you is feeling down, can (the rest of) you make up for that energy deficiency?
- If I’m feeling 10%, and I just find it hard to get shit done, can my partner make up that 90% and help us as a team champion the day?
- And let the person hovering 10% take the day off.
- If the collective energy just isn’t there, then the team falls on 2 types of contingency plans.
- Can you design a system (or if you already have a system in place) where all of you don’t have to put in 100%, but can still get things done?
- Maybe this is the day to clean your house. Or wash the car.
- For founding teams, maybe this is the day the whole team just does data entry.
- For content creators, I hear this is the day to go through fan mail.
- Take the day off. Yes, the full day. And, no halfies. As great philosopher, Ron Swanson, once said:
- Can you design a system (or if you already have a system in place) where all of you don’t have to put in 100%, but can still get things done?
“Never half-ass two things; whole ass one thing.”
- Go take a day trip into the wilderness. Play video games. Read a fiction book. Draw. People-watch in a cafe (well, after the quarantine). Netflix-binge. Go tackle something on your bucket list.
- And cap the downside – the potentiality of a slippery slope. I usually cap it at 3 days. Any longer, the counselor recommended seeing a relationship specialist.
- Relationship counselor, if romantic.
- Therapist/psychologist, if emotional.
- Executive coach, if pertinent to co-founders.
- Organizational therapist/psychologist, if pertinent to team.
What I didn’t realize until the Call
It seems obvious in retrospect, but it didn’t click until my buddy and I were thinking aloud. Subsequently, we realized how pertinent that exercise can be in understanding team workflows, as well as knowing when to double down and when to backpedal. Productivity has taken a sharp decline in this pandemic. For many, they’ve felt busier and working longer than before. The lack of diverse human interactions – for both extroverts and introverts – is really taking a toll. After all, we’re a social species. For managers, co-workers, and lateral teams, this exercise can be a way you can proactively assess your team’s morale and mental health. Assess early and optimize flexibly.
Photo by Sandy Millar on Unsplash
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