I love working with teams. I’m stimulated by the challenge of complex inter-personal dynamics and of figuring out how to get traction with people who hold a range of attitudes towards team development processes. I enjoy watching channels of communication open up and relationships grow. And I love seeing the metaphorical sails of a team fill up with wind and the ship gather speed, as more and more of the potential of the team is realised through the course of the process.
But it’s also hard work; much harder work than individual coaching where there is only one person to focus on who is usually entirely ‘bought in’ to the process. There is so much more scope for resistance and scepticism in team work, which can make my job more exhausting. But ultimately immensely rewarding.
Having worked with scores of teams, I am now convinced of the things that need to be in place in order for the process to be successful. So here are my top tips for building a high performing team.
Team development is a process, not an event
It is tempting to believe that a single ‘team building event’ will transform the performance of a team. Time and resources are inevitably short and quick fixes are everyone’s preference. But let’s be clear: – this does not work. It is the equivalent of saying that you want to transform your life or leadership impact, and then signing up for a one-off coaching session. What a nonsense. It takes time to build or change a culture. It takes time to change perceptions, build trust, break down barriers and create a more cohesive unit. Often clients start off with good intentions but drop out after the first couple of sessions, as the busyness of the day to day overwhelms them. This is a mistake.
Top Tip #1
Invest in a process of at least 6 months with sessions running at consistent intervals.
Relationship is the foundation
Relationship is an essential building block of an effective team culture. It does not mean everyone needs to like each other (though that can help). It does mean that the way of relating needs to go beyond the transactional and the superficial. Understanding why someone behaves the way they do, what is important to them, who they are beyond their job title – is a powerful way of accelerating progress. The more of a sense of ‘other’ that we have, the less ‘other’ they become. I work with teams all the time where people don’t really know each other at all and I have witnessed the results that come from building that relationship and unleashing a different level of collective commitment and emotional investment in the success of the team.
Top Tip #2
Ensure that the process you undertake has a specific focus on relationship that enables people to know and understand each other better.
Emotion is messy and unavoidable
Some like to think that you can get through a team development process and stay firmly in the cognitive realm. This is definitely the preference of many I have worked with. But the reality is that teams are made up of people and people are human beings, not machines (thank goodness). The main thing that distinguishes humans from other beings is our capacity to feel. And it is our feelings, more often than not, that get in the way of teams working well together. Your coach / facilitator is the person who needs to be able hold all of the emotion and help you and your team navigate a way through it.
Top Tip #3
Buckle in for the ride. It is likely to be messy and emotional at times, and that is not only OK but necessary. Choose your coach wisely for their skills and experience in working with emotion.
Teams operate in an organisational context
It is a mistake to work with a team in isolation from the organisational context in which it operates. Organisational dynamics are powerful. They are influenced by a complexity of factors such as: – the nature of the work the organisation undertakes; its history; the stage of its development; how, when and by whom it was founded; the current landscape of the wider organisation (internal and external); and more besides. Systemic theory will tell you that the way a team is operating is often as much – if not more – to do with these (unseen) factors as it is to do with the individual personalities within it. Systems are complex entities that have forces within them that are more powerful than the impact of any one individual or set of individuals working within them. Whether you are working with a newly formed team or a long-standing one, this is a crucial piece of the puzzle.
Top Tip #4
Help your coach understand the team’s history and context so that they can help the team understand it better too and the impact it may be having on performance. Any coach who has a grounding in systemic work will help with this.
Conflict can be helpful
Many people are scared or anxious about conflict. Some will do anything to avoid it. A team’s attitude towards and capacity for conflict is a big determinant of their strength and ability to perform well. Consensus limits creativity, innovation and change. It is also unrealistic. The absence of any conflict probably indicates a lack of honesty, rather than a lack of disagreement. You don’t want group think. You do want diversity of opinion and a generative energy in your team. So expect conflict. Invite different views. Name the differences and the value they bring. Difference and/or conflict are not the issue. It is unskilled or unmanaged conflict that causes division and damage. So prepare and plan for it. Name it from the start and you will have a stronger chance of making real progress.
Top Tip #5
Find a coach who is skilled in building relationships with a wide range of styles, who can create an environment where all voices can be heard, and help a team grow their muscle in navigating conflict. This involves a range of interventions from room set-up, 1-1 conversations with each team member, contracting, presence in the room, perhaps mediation and certainly a capacity to be with conflict and heated emotion.
A team is more than the sum of its parts
One of the main things that fascinates me about teams is how they come to be the way they are. I am struck by this every time I undertake a team development process. I always start by interviewing the team members individually and then we have the first team session. I am always amazed at how the particular combination of that group of individuals, in that particular context, create that particular dynamic. I often liken it to pipettes of coloured ink (very Neon) being dropped onto a piece of blotting paper. You know how the colours all blend in a particular way, with the texture of the paper, to create a particular blend? It’s a kind of alchemy. Getting under the skin of this is an essential part of the task. A profiling tool that enables a team profile (rather than just a set of individual profiles) can be a really useful addition to the process, so long as it remains a platform for understanding, rather than a way of labelling.
Top tip #6
Find a coach that is certified in a team profiling tool. I use The Team Enneagram that looks at the core motivation of the team and highlights the interplay between the leader’s style and that of the team. It also provides a multitude of pointers to developmental pathways that clients find really useful. There are of course other tools out there.
It’s not about task
I have run so many team development processes where people just want to talk about the ‘doing’. They know it is meant to be about relationships and inter-personal dynamics, but they just want to talk about structures, processes and task. This is a really common but important data point about what a team does and does not value, and what it is and is not comfortable with. It is usually a symptom of a team being caught in what I call The Hamster Wheel paradigm where people are spinning frantically on a wheel of doing, often without pause for thought of value or impact (on themselves or others). It is a culture that can easily lead to frustration, stress and burn-out.
I approach team development as I do all of my work and that is through a Deeply Human® lens. Task and delivery are part of the pathway to success but they are not usually where the problems lie. Getting into shared purpose, connection, consciousness (personal and collective impact), creativity and care is what shifts the dial.
Top Tip #7
Check out the Neon Five Cs of Deeply Human® leadership and consider how your team fares using that model.
How clear are they about their shared purpose and how connected to it are they?
What is the quality of their relationships?
What kind of impact are they having, individually and collectively on each other and on the wider organisation?
What kind of environment are they creating?
And what degree of care are they extending to themselves (looking after themselves and being at their best), to each other and to the wider organisation?
Team development: are you brave enough?
Team development processes are not for the faint hearted. They rarely go to plan. If they are effective and get to the heart of the matter, then they are often a rollercoaster ride. Tenacity and perseverance are required from all involved. As are the services of an experienced, skilful team coach.
So if you are going to do it at all, do it properly, with the appropriate investment of thought, care, time and resources. Otherwise, don’t bother.
If this resonates with you, and you would like to discuss a particular team, drop me a line at kate@charlotte.marketing-barn.co.uk and let’s talk.