Today I am in Houston to help facilitate a team building
event with two colleagues of mine. Over the years I’ve had the privilege of
coming alongside all kinds of teams for similar events. Every event contains
interactive modules that aim to fulfill three purposes:
1. Articulate a unified vision.
2. Develop understanding of one another.
3. Establish habits and protocols that encourage healthy
“as-you-go” teamwork.
It has been my experience that, if any one of these arenas
suffers, the whole team suffers—and ultimately the project itself could fold.
Team members that do not have a clear, common vision move in
all different directions. If the vision
is murky or unshared, the team will disperse and you will be left with neither
teamwork nor accomplishment. Sports teams can attest to the unifying power of a
shared goal.
But common vision is not enough. Team members must also
develop an awareness and understanding of one another. Let’s say I’m an
extrovert and I happen to serve on a team with an introvert. As an extrovert, I
think “on the fly” and “out loud”. This means I thrive most when I can meet
with others and have time and space to interact, ask questions, and verbally
summarize ideas.
But the introvert is different. They work best when they
have time and space to think quietly. They may need more time to process
something before they feel prepared to give a thoughtful response. In fact,
I’ve seen that when introverts are given this time and space they are able to
articulate an idea more deeply and cohesively than I could with my on-the-fly
approach.
To foster healthy teamwork leaders need to provide space for
both types of people to contribute in ways that maximize their strengths. To do
that, however, we must know one
another’s strengths.
You can imagine the many factors that need to be taken into
account with this. Teams are made up of a diverse array of individuals. For example, there are...
...thinkers and feelers
...those who are intuitive and those who are more concrete
...those who thrive in the midst of routine and those who need
lots of variety
...those who “work smarter” and those who “work harder”
...those who influence people to change direction and those who
are good at just being “with” people right where they are.
With such complexity, the work of “knowing” one another is
never finished.
So…healthy teams need a unified vision and healthy teams
know one another’s strengths well. But a third ingredient is still needed. A
commitment to some “high ground” practices that govern the way team members
relate to each other week-in, week-out.
This third arena of healthy teaming concerns questions such
as:
How will we handle interpersonal conflict when it arises?
What interpersonal communication skills should we practice
to prevent needless conflict?
What structures will be in place to provide safe space for
ideological conflict?
What role will everyone on the team play?
What values will govern the way we relate to each other
day-in, day-out?
What habits will we encourage to nurture health in team
meetings?
Of course, there are many more questions to consider than
these but this gives you an idea of the large scope of issues concerned.
In my experience, many conflicts arise as a result of “small
things”. For example, something is said that rubs someone the wrong way, yet
the person offended feels that the something is “not that big of a deal” (and
they don’t want to risk seeming petty) so they just “let it go” and don’t
address the offense. Over time, lots of these little “somethings” begin to pile
up, and they form One Big Something. The offended party begins to make
connections and they begin to see a “pattern”. Before you know it, they assign
passive-aggressive intentions where none may exist and they begin to demonize
the other.
Conflicts are further exacerbated by the fact that the team
has established no rhythm in which time for collaborative innovation is regularly
juxtaposed by periods of implementation. Teams tend to get stuck in one side of
the pair. On the one hand, some teams never stop “innovating”—to the extent
that nothing ever actually gets done. Sufficient time is not given to work out
a plan, the team grows restless and thinks up a whole new idea (usually as a
way to “escape” the “failure” of the old idea).
Or, some teams get stuck with “what works” so they fail to
take time to think of new pathways for growth and change. They spend all their
time maintaining what “has been” so they forget to consider the future (or they
simply think of the future as a clone of the present—more of the same). After a
while, the project begins to stagnate.
If parameters are set to establish time-frames and rhythms
for each of these creative arcs (innovation and implementation) the team will
thrive. When these rhythms are established those who prefer one side of the creative
arc over the other side can be at ease.
For example, when a project is in the “implementation phase”, innovators
can be patient and wait for the right time to think of fresh approaches. On the
other hand, when a project is in a phase where they are brainstorming new
ideas, those who are “maintainers” can rest at ease knowing the team will
devise effective means of seeing the idea through to fulfillment. Such patterns
help establish deeper bonds of trust in one another.
This relationship between innovation and implementation
stays on the “high ground” when concrete structures are created to govern the
cycle. Most teams don’t put forethought into the rhythm and realize too late
that one or the other is lacking. The creating of the structural space for each
side of the creative cycle represents this kind of “as-you-go” teaming that
marks healthy teams. It is something that never stops. It creates a context for
invigorating challenge as well as stabilizing praxis.
But there are other “as-you-go” kinds of practices needed.
Believe it or not, in my team building work, I even walk teams through
exercises designed to help them relate to one another when they are in their
weekly meetings. Small things like being good listeners, minimizing the
distractions of technology in meetings and agreeing to be punctual to meetings
come into play in nurturing an environment where people feel safe and secure.
Teamwork requires common vision, an understanding of one
another, and a commitment to working together in healthy ways day-in, day-out. When
all those ingredients come together, it’s exciting to see what a diverse group
of people can accomplish. The result is greater than the sum of its parts.
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