Managing with Aloha Coaching: September 2007: Lōkahi and Your Greatest Team

Our value for the month of September 2007, is presented in Chapter 8 of Managing with Aloha;


Lōkahi Collaboration and cooperation. Harmony and unity. People who work together can achieve more. ~ Lōkahi seeks the harmony of bringing people to agreement. It is the value of cooperation, collaboration, and unity. ~ Therefore Lōkahi brings these values to teamwork, defining how those who work within an ‘Ohana in business can be most effective in their collaborative efforts. ~ Lōkahi gives us a demeanor to strive for in working with our peers in the best possible way. We want their help: many hands (laulima) make the work more pleasant (‘olu‘olu) and they move it along faster. With Lōkahi we can achieve more by working together in harmony with others. Lōkahi is the value of teamwork in pursuit of synergy. We strive together until we become one.

This summer I grabbed every opportunity I could to be with my son while he was home for college, careful not to smother him in my motherly love. Since I work from a home-based office when on the Big Island, we fell into a habit of watching Top Chef on Bravo over late lunches, laughing at the ultra-competitive deliciousness of the reality show (and pretending our saimin or slapped-together sandwiches tasted as good as the dishes we saw on the small screen). Quite unexpectedly, the show ended up helping me with prepping for our value for the month, as an entertaining romp through just about everything that great teamwork definitely is not.

Lōkahi is the value of collaboration, harmony and unity. In comparison, Top Chef is a hilarious strike out on all three counts, as executive-chef wannabes try to shelve their egos while feigning teamwork in their episodic challenges. Deep down they’d prefer to skewer and roast each other over an excruciatingly slow fire, and they say so on camera for the whole world to know it. As on most reality shows, the hosts are exceptionally good at catching when relationships are taking an evil turn, eagerly grabbing their opportunity to stoke those fires of discontent. Catch someone doing something right? Nah … not as much fun, and nowhere near juicy enough for summer ratings.

I fervently hope that teamwork is not like Top Chef where you work! And managers, those judges should not be thought of your role models! (You notice their specialty is player elimination, and not a strategy intent on keeping the team together.)

All pretend? We wish. Not if you were in my head and witnessing a few of my flashbacks. Oh my … vivid memories of my waitressing days where the kitchen heat wasn’t just coming from the ovens … nor from the morning sun when one of our canoe programs at Hualalai didn’t go so smoothly … how many examples are there in your flashbacks?

They say that there are two places people tend to let their guard down, at home and at work. In both places it has to do with the intimacy of our relationships; family in one, team in the other. We get up close and personal, and we let stuff tumble out. It can get messy. But then there are those triumphs and shining moments too, the ones we keep going for. Those other times which become gloriously rewarding.

So what does great teamwork look like? What does it take to get everyone precisely firing on all cylinders within your ‘Ohana in Business, so that process-perfect systems are on go all the time, and your customer reaps the benefits? How does teamwork get “sticky” in an organizational culture, so that individual talents can also get harnessed in a collaborative working dynamic? How can such different players create both synergies and efficiencies, and enjoy the effort with each other?

The answers to those questions barely hint at the workplace richness we’ll study this month within the value of Lōkahi, and you will learn how just one word – Ho‘olōkahi – can possibly be your answer for all of them.

I strongly encourage you to set some goals for September to get the most out of our time together: When you think about the team within which you work most, what would you like to see improve? Are energies at a high right now, begging for you to capitalize on them, or are they ebbing? Do you suspect different players may be hesitant and holding back, or are there a few who are so domineering they may as well be working alone?

The more specific you can get with your own wishlist for a team fired up with the spirit of Lōkahi the better. Figure out what you want from your team, and then together, let’s figure out how to help you get it.

These are the subheadings of my chapter on Lōkahi; do let me know if there is any section in particular you’d like to discuss as our month unfolds:

The harmony of being in agreement (related article, written September 2nd.)
The dynamics of teamwork
The positive found in power
The role of the individual
The Lōkahi challenge for managers
Pace and momentum
Ho‘olōkahi: The manager’s role

Join us; let’s create the great teams of Lōkahi. Let’s learn how synergy happens at the very same time we are valuing our unique differences. Let’s Ho‘ohana, and learn to manage with aloha.
~ Rosa

Footnotes and helpful links;

Remember our MWAC 5-Beat Rhythm: Take a moment today to write down your questions and intentions for September. What do you want to get out of this in the next thirty days?
If you are newly joining us here, you may wish to review some of my August writing on the ‘Ohana in Business concept, particularly this posting: The ‘Ohana in Business is a Place for Business Partners. It asks, “Are you a team? Or are you ‘Ohana?” and it explains why I refer to all employees as ‘business partners.’
When you write your goals for the month, think about the word ‘partnership’ and it may help you get more specific. Tim Milburn wrote a terrific article which inspired all of us who had founded Joyful Jubilant Learning a year ago; I still read it occasionally to keep my fires lit there, and maybe it will give you some inspiration too: Developing Powerful Partnerships.
The picture I share here of a great team? One guess! The Alaka‘i Nalu of Hualalai. Meet Ekolu, Daniel, Sam, Mahea, Ed and Ikaika. Read more about them and our time together here.
Never heard of Top Chef? You can find out more on their website: BRAVOtv.com: Top Chef.