The equity amongst your team members is one of the most valuable assets in your business.

While the traditional definition of the word brings words like fair, just or impartial to mind, team equity extends beyond these ideas. When everybody contributes, is respected and their differences recognized as assets, that’s a team that has equity.

But the concept also relates to the idea of an investment, too. By investing in your team’s growth, and the advancement of each individual, your team’s value grows over time, too  –  just like the value of a house.

Instead of thinking of people and teams as expenses, consider the equity that they bring to your organization.

Shifting how your company and its employees think about team equity takes time  –  but it’s well worth the effort.

Why you need team equity

It’s all about results.

By building up the equity of your team, and cultivating the contributions and growth of every single person, its value will go through the roof.

 

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By cultivating the contributions and growth of everyone on the team, results will go through the roof.

 

Build it, and they will come

This exercise will help get your team out of their normal work mindset and engage them in how to use their own strengths to help the team.

Activity: T.A.G. (The Acronym Game)

Get your team members to shift from relying solely on themselves to depending on their team.

Here’s what to do:

1. Arrange your group into two or more teams. Give each group a paper and pencil, and have them nominate a scribe.
2. Have the group choose a three-letter word. For example, dog.
3. Each team has two minutes to come up with as many different phrases or sentences following the letters in the word. For example, Denise Owns Gardens. Or Dragons Only Growl.
4. Repeat words are not allowed. For example, Dragons Only Growl. Dragons Only Grow. Dragons Only Grump. Only one of those sentences count. And the phrases have to make sense, too.
5. Let the teams work for two minutes, then count their phrases to determine the winner of the first round. In the second round, use a five-letter word. In the third round, use an unexpectedly long word, like your company name. The longer the words get, the more the team is required to work together to build cohesive sentences in two minutes.

Greater challenge demands greater involvement. Through this exercise, the team will realize that when the going gets tough, you need your team!

As Margaret Mead said, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world; indeed it is the only thing that ever has.” Bring your team together and intentionally work on valuing everyone’s contributions and differences, and watch the value of your team explode.

Apply the concept of team equity by asking quiet team members to speak and get insight into their incredible ideas. Enlist over-contributors to spend the meeting just listening.

What challenges has your team had with implementing the concept of team equity?

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This article is 100% written by a human named Karen Hough. She is the Founder & CEO of ImprovEdge, in the top 4% of women-owned businesses in the US, a 3-time Amazon bestselling author, Yale grad, wife and mom of three.