Shaping Team Vibes: The Defining Factor

How would you describe the tone on your team? Optimistic? Energetic? Bored? Discouraged?

The vibe of your team environment matters. It's contagious, and it impacts all the important employee metrics: performance, productivity, engagement, attrition, absenteeism, and more.

There is one thing that influences your team's vibe more than anything else. Find out what it is and how to leverage it in this quick Two-Minute Tip.

• Read the video transcript

  There is one thing that impacts the emotional current, the emotional vibe on a team more than anything else.

  Can you guess what it is? I believe it is the emotional vibe of the team's leader.

  They are feeding off of every emotion that you are demonstrating or not demonstrating. Let me tell you a story.

  So you know by now that our family happens to be huge fans of the Philadelphia Eagles. And if you follow any football at all, you know that it has been quite the up and down season. Well, my husband is typically the type of person who is pretty even keeled. Not much rattles him except the Philadelphia Eagles.

  Now what I've noticed the past couple of games when things have gone downhill a bit is the girls, my two young girls are watching him. They are watching to see, oh my goodness, how is Dad going to respond to this game right now? And they are feeding off of it. I can tell they get nervous if he's going to be frustrated or bummed out. They get so excited when he's excited. And I have to say he has done an extremely good job of trying to stay pretty darn even despite the lows the last several games.

  It's the same thing in the workplace. Leaders, your team members are watching you. They are absorbing the emotional vibe that you are bringing to the workplace.

  I was coaching a couple leaders a while back who worked for another leader who was really hard to read. They never quite knew what he was thinking, how he was feeling, what they were going to get from him that day. And it caused such uncertainty and kind of a sense of unsettlement in the team, right? So also not showing emotion leaves your team members guessing.

  So leaders, I want you to check yourself. Before you show up to work, think about what kind of vibe do I want to bring to my team and to the workplace today, and how can I demonstrate that? It doesn't mean you need to be fake, absolutely not. If you are struggling with something, be honest about it, but know that your team is feeding off of the emotion that you are bringing to the team dynamic.