PPP 423 | The Hidden Cost of Bad Team Habits and How to Fix Them, with author Charlie Gilkey

People and Projects Podcast: Project Management Podcast

Summary

In this episode, Andy talks with Charlie Gilkey, author of Team Habits: How Small Actions Lead to Extraordinary Results. They discuss how small, often overlooked habits shape team culture and performance. The conversation explores practical approaches for enhancing team dynamics, instilling a sense of belonging, improving decision-making, and addressing everyday 'broken printers' in both professional and familial settings.

Charlie shares personal insights from his military upbringing and passion for team-based success, emphasizing that effective change and leadership start at the local team level. This is a practical and engaging discussion that will help you lead your team to the next level of success.

Sound Bites

• "Time in, erodes awareness of."
• "Be the teammate you want your teammates to be."
• "Belonging is a macro word that includes feeling appreciated at work, feeling like your contributions and perspective matter, that you have moral and functional trust."
• "We do it because it's the right thing and because this is how we want to be together and, oh by the way, it has these amazing other benefits."
• "I would rather over-index on caring."
• "So many families have a daily 'broken printer' that's called the 'getting to school runaround'."
• "None of us show up at work and opt-in to the CC thread from hell."

Chapters

• 00:00 Introduction
• 01:44 Start of Interview
• 05:36 The Broken Printer Metaphor
• 08:43 How We Encourage the CC Thread from Hell
• 12:21 Team Dynamics
• 14:56 What If You're Not a Senior Leader?
• 19:27 Number One Rule of Being a Great Teammate
• 21:18 Building Belonging Habits
• 30:14 The Importance of Small Gestures
• 38:34 Applying Team Habits to Families
• 44:48 Wrap-up
• 45:24 Andy Comments After the Interview
• 50:17 Outtakes

Learn More

You can learn more about Charlie and his books at ProductiveFlourishing.com. Contact Charlie to learn how to buy a box of books for you and your team.

If you’d like more on this subject, check out:

• Episode 366 with Michael Timms about his book on accountability
• Episode 252 with Marcus Buckingham about the episode we discuss in this interview, and
• Episode 342 with Krister Ungerbock, who uses the term TalkSHIFTS instead of habits. Though the terminology is different, the ideas are complimentary.

Project Management Courses

I would love to help you and your team level up your ability to lead and deliver. Join us for an upcoming project management masterclass! They are instructor-led, super engaging, and fine-tuned to help you and your team more confidently lead and deliver. Learn more at courses.i-leadonline.com. Thanks!

Thank you for joining me for this episode of The People and Projects Podcast!

Talent Triangle: Power Skills

The following music was used for this episode:

Music: Echo by Alexander Nakarada License (CC BY 4.0): https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

Music: Laughing Children Full Version by MusicLFiles License (CC BY 4.0): https://filmmusic.io/standard-license