If your skin crawls as much as mine does when someone tries to feed you a trite motivational quote in order to highlight the power of a team…read on and see how we should be flipping the script on these bromides!

Bromide: a trite and unoriginal idea or remark, typically intended to soothe or placate. “Feel-good bromides create the illusion of team work”

Studies suggest that employee engagement on an average team are as follows:

• 25% Actively engaged: drive high performance and innovation and move the organization forward.
• 60% Not engaged: put in the time but not much energy or passion.
• 15% Actively disengaged: act out their unhappiness in a disruptive way and undermine the accomplishments of their engaged colleagues.

Therefore, it’s time to re-think the messages portrayed on some of the more popular motivational posters that are collecting dust on our walls:

1. “Think Outside of the Box”.  If you are looking for solutions or innovative ideas, you would be much wiser to first look inside the box and figure out how to increase the number of actively engaged employees!
2. T.E.A.M. Together Everyone Achieves More!  That may be true for an exceptional team, but for teams in general, with the low levels of engagement noted above, the acronym should be T.E.A.M.(S) Together Everyone Achieves More Sometimes! 
3. The Whole is Greater than the Sum of its Parts. I’ll keep this one simple. Next time you have a flat tire, ask yourself if it’s reasonable to believe that the rest of your car will compensate to get you to your destination on time. It might, but at what cost?

It’s time to consider the importance of the “i” in team- the individuals. These are the “parts”, the “everyone”, the ones that define the norms and the culture that are acceptable inside “the box”.

What is preventing all the individuals from recognizing the impact that they have on their team?

What is absolving them from taking responsibility for their actions and behaviours?

One reason is that leadership teams love to put an emphasis on a “one team one purpose” approach to team building. They want to see evidence that their team can achieve their goals. They don’t consider at what cost. They don’t pay attention to the “fake harmony” between the individual members. They just want to celebrate the “i” in win!

The result: those who can get away with being far less engaged will continue to do so while those who are actively engaged will take on more of the workload until they, in turn, start to feel resentful, taken advantage of, burnt out, and…less engaged.

The solution: prioritize workshops and experiential learning exercises that will help the individuals identify and be accountable for how they are performing within their team.

Allow words like “frustration”, “apathy”, “doubt”, and “disengaged” to come to the surface in a safe environment.

Give them the opportunity to experience the benefits of taking responsibility for their own actions and behaviors rather than pointing the finger at others.

If done properly these sessions will provide actionable insights that will impact the overall success of the team beyond the occasional wins.

Read the original article on LinkedIn here.