Ouch. It can really diminish the productivity, performance and culture of a team. Have you ever experienced the Prickly Pear Syndrome? Do you have someone on the team you feel like you have to tip toe around and moderate everything you say with, because otherwise most days it ends in tears? Perhaps not literal tears but you know the blow back is always hard to deal with. They might go silent, moody, get defensive, start blaming or worse….
Clients also describe it as ‘walking around on egg shells’. They feel like they constantly have to moderate and measure what they say? Maybe it’s the time of day, the setting or environment, maybe the time of month. It’s might only with particular people.
I call it dealing with the Prickly Pear Syndrome.
It’s generally when someone or people on the team have emotional immaturity and are not great at processing the facts, feelings or feedback well. And by well I mean, they’re not able to handle the good, bad and ugly.
Business is never easy, no day is smooth sailing, that’s the reality of business. Things always go wrong, and often not according to plan. People are humans not robots. They stuff up. Systems are never perfect. However we have to consistently work on and develop the emotional maturity of the team. The mental fitness levels of individuals, the team and their ability to overcome challenges, handle conflict, rise up from issues, manage their moods, be approachable and have the difficult conversations.
We always have a lot on our to do list, the game is changing, evolving and we’re adapting at a rate of knots never experienced before, which means as leaders we have to be at the top of our game to stay ahead of the game. We have to be mindful if we’re the Prickly Pear that could be causing the issues for others.
There is no room for the Prickly Pear Syndrome in your team. Whether it’s you or if you have team members struggling with their emotional processing for any reason, then it’s key to understand what specific capability areas need to be worked on.
Funnily enough, most people don’t know how emotionally mature they are on not. Because like all things, we only know what we only know, we don’t know what we don’t know yet. Unless, we have great communication between leaders and teams, individuals and individuals.
In our work with leaders and their teams we talk about capability development. What actually capabilities do we focus on to improve that emotional maturity. It could be stress management, approachability, effective listening or team dynamics. We have a list of 101 capabilities.
How well does your team do in terms of the Prickly Pear Syndrome?
Message me here the words DISCOVER if you’d like to find out more about our programs for helping teams develop their emotional maturity.
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P.S Whenever you’re ready… here are 4 ways I can help you develop and work on your business leadership capabilities:
- Download a free copy of The Leadership Maximiser Tool, a detailed Productivity and Performance Experience
Lead with clarity and confidence. Minimise overwhelm and indecision. Be organised and focused to lead a flourishing team and grow a thriving business. Accelerate results for you, the team and business with this step-by-step tool. — Click here
- Join the Empowering Leaders in Business Facebook group and connect with like-minded leaders focused on high-performance team success
It’s our Facebook community where smart leaders get to learn more about creativity, leadership and performance. — Click Here
- Join our next Mental Fitness for Leaders Program
Helping leaders develop their skills for well-being, relationship and conflict management, productivity and peak performance in the workplace. If you’d like to work with me on your business leadership skills to ensure high engagement, accountability and results for and across the team…message PQ to me here and I’ll get you all the details.
- Let’s get the whole team together
Would you like a different perspective and someone else at the front of the room or on zoom/teams to lead regular and consistent team building, accountability and engaging learning experiences, that drive results and outcomes for individuals, teams and the business? If you feel a little challenged with everything going on, maybe sounding like a cracked recorded saying things over and over again, or actually not 100% how to motivate and inspire the team, given the current nature of business, it’s may be useful for us to chat. Message TEAM to me here… and tell me a little about the business, your team and what you’d like to work on together.
