Teams and teamwork are ubiquitous to almost every aspect of our lives. Unless you have not entered the workforce as yet, the reality is that in any job you are part of at least one team and sometimes can be on more than one team at any given point in time. If your career has spanned years and even decades, you have been part of more teams than you might even be able to remember. These team experiences have either given us fond memories of great teams we have been a part of OR have given us feelings of ongoing regret and nightmares about teams that have drained our souls!
While teams are inevitable their success is not. Even when we believe ourselves to be in a high-functioning, gold standard team, that success can be fleeting and should not be taken for granted. Every team will go through change over a period of years, months or even days - change in operating environment or mandate; change in team membership; change in leadership. Any change - even seemingly small changes - can have a significant impact on the equilibrium of the team with the result being a shift from success to dysfunction. This shift in capacity and capability of the team can be shocking and surprising but there are steps and preventative maintenance that can help support moving a team from dysfunction to success or supporting high level performance over a period of years. Bottom line, like any system - organic or mechanical - there is a need for constant investment of time and energy in building and sustaining a team.
How do we then build and sustain a high-performing team? What are the keys to pay attention to? What might be some red flags (or green flags) to be aware of? The first and most basic question to address is whether we do in fact have or are part of a team. This may seem like a ridiculous question, but it is a core issue to address, for a leader in particular. All too often we declare a team to be in operation, but we are missing some key qualifiers to justify that claim. I offer two key criteria that should be addressed to determine whether you have a team or just a group of people in play:
- Do the collection of people being brought together have any significant, practical and specific goals that they are pursuing in common?
If no common goals exist (other than some vague, large-scale objective) that help to align the work of every team member than does a team really exist? Can each individual pursue goals or objectives, without positive or negative consequence, that are important or relevant to them alone? Worse, are the goals being pursued by each individual "team member" in conflict with those of other team members with no incentive or need to promote collaboration?
- Do the individuals need to rely upon each other to accomplish their goals or tasks?
Does any team member need inputs, resources, energy and commitment from anybody else on the "team" in order to succeed? Or do they just hope that other people stay out of their way while they do their work? If I do not require any support from others and I am not called upon to tangibly support others in their work, this certainly gives the appearance and feel of ships passing in the night. No interdependence means no team.
If you have answered the above two questions in the affirmative, you can now dig more deeply into setting up a new team for success or helping an existing team to sustain or grow in success. First foundation to address is to confirm and clarify what, in fact, are the team's goals. These can be established taking into account what the organization as a whole/senior leadership expects from the team, what you as the leader identify as key goals or expectations of the team, AND through discussion and debate from your team as a whole. Considering the first two sources of direction for the team, these could be identified as non-negotiables and might fall into the category of regulatory restrictions or obligations, adherence to organizational values and policies, and your own leadership values and expectations. Be prepared to be clear as to why these parameters are non-negotiable. The organization and you yourself have every right to set out these types of parameters but be prepared to move beyond a simple "because I said so" if you really want team buy-in.
On the third source of goal confirmation - engaging the team - there is a lot to be said about working through and continuously touching base with/affirming team goals. This effort implies authentic engagement that promotes understanding of the goals that will ultimately be set, the importance of those goals to each individual team member, appreciation of how individual actions can support (or inhibit) team success, promotes genuine ownership by the team for the goals, and allows each individual team member to dynamically adjust their efforts/tactics as challenges or opportunities arise.
Beyond confirming these specific goal statements (SMART anyone?) additional work can be done at this time focusing on how the team will make decisions, how the team will balance the concepts of autonomy/empowerment and accountability/collaboration, how and when the team should communicate with each other, and by what values/operating principles the team will guide their actions. All of this can sometimes be captured in things like terms of reference, team charter, or a code of conduct.
Strong and successful teams vigorously and authentically engage in the work above on a regular basis. This is not a one and done effort. Rather, the team should touch base with their shared commitments on at least an annual basis and, in reality, far more frequently. Through this type of work they continue to reinforce and evolve their shared commitments. This also sets the stage for ongoing trust building that is necessary to keep a team functioning at a high level. One of my past colleagues describes trust as "the residue of promises made and kept." I can't think of a more succinct description and call to action to a team or its individual members. A key element in building trust and a core element of a well-functioning team is through honesty, authenticity and a willingness to be vulnerable with each other in a team. This is where leadership becomes crucial not only in leading the way in vulnerability but also in creating an environment in which all team members are supported in asking questions, posing challenges, making mistakes and in learning from each other.
Strong and successful teams - paradoxically perhaps - also welcome and cultivate a culture of challenging each other. Most of us might question this criterion for team success assuming that conflict is destructive. And it can be if not understood or managed well. High performance teams, however, do not look to promote harmony for the sake of harmony. They appreciate the value of diversity of perspective and believe debate and CONSTRUCTIVE conflict allows them to better interrogate reality and come up with better and best solutions for the challenge or opportunity before them. The key phrase to be taken from what has just been said is the notion of "cultivating a culture". Culture for any team will happen naturally and organically. But it may not evolve in ways that promote effective teamwork. A leader and a team have to consciously decide what type of culture they want, how to promote mutual accountability, how to achieve their goals including maintenance of strong team relationships, and commit to investing in their preferred team culture on a regular and consistent basis. Complacency in the face of team success can, in fact, lead to team failure and dysfunction. Never take a team's success for granted. Keep investing time and energy!
The final aspect or foundation of success for a team that I want to draw your attention to is how to promote social engagement for the team. How to have fun! When you think about our working lives, it is likely that you spend most of your waking time working and engaging with those on your team. Given that reality, it is my view that enjoyment of the work and team cohesion are critical elements for personal satisfaction and team success. The most successful teams enjoy each other's company, establish norms and traditions that allow them to develop strong bonds if not friendships, and that promote a commitment to each other's success. This type of bond or cohesion needs to be actively and purposely facilitated and appreciated as a key element of the day-to-day work of the team (e.g., personal check-in's at each team meeting, use of simple ice-breakers) through to regular team-building sessions. The purpose is to not only focus on achievement of hard target objectives but also on the health of the team culture.
Team success is not inevitable. Calling yourself a team does not make it so. High-performing teams are glorious and attainable. Achieving this nirvana pf team success requires disciplined thought, carried out by disciplined people, with disciplined effort (thank you Jim Collins!). Moreover, this effort is not one and done. Rather it requires a continued investment of time and energy of the leader and the team. Team success - It's All About Leadership!
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Greg Hadubiak, MHSA, FACHE, CEC, PCC
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