As a leader, it is critical to understand your team’s dynamics to ensure your organisation's success. How are you creating a positive team dynamic? Are you nurturing a positive and safe work environment? Do you team members feel encouraged to use their knowledge and expertise to reach their full potential? These are big questions and need revisiting frequently. If you don't know the answer, ask your team collectively or in one to ones.
In the Types of Teams course, teams are different in their structure which will influence the dynamics. If you can't change the team structure, what can you do to influence the team dynamic? It is important to manage your team’s dynamics taking into account their diverse personalities, identifying potential issues and planning a strategy that works for your team.
You can bring in a consultant or coach to help you identify the team dynamics if you feel the team is in a low trust state or if you feel that you are not the best person to lead the diagnostic discussions. However there are many activities you can do now and continue to do in the future.
How does your team view itself?
This exercise is great for a team meeting or as part of a strategy session. It take around 60 minutes and really helps everyone to explore team dynamics. It can be done virtually using whiteboards and breakout rooms or in person. This exercise a great way to get your people to understand team dynamics is to involve them in the data gathering (MyPresent stage of team). Even if they don’t see themselves as the problem, they will identify that the team problems and their strengths. The exercise below will provide you with a good start towards understanding your team’s dynamics.
ASK YOUR TEAM
Ask your team to shout out all of the words, feelings, behaviours or issues relating to dysfunctional or toxic teams. Capture them on a whiteboard so they are visible to everyone. I often do this with the teams I work with, and these are some of the most common responses: stress, demotivation, stuck, grey, gossip, backstabbing, politics, underperformance, mistrust, lies, fear, pressure, game-playing, competition, chaos, firefighting, reactive, remembering the good-ol’-days, sickness, apathy, control, missed deadlines and conflict.
Now repeat the exercise, this time focusing on the behaviours of a great, healthy, empowering team. It often takes a while to find the words, but once they start flowing, there is generally quite a lot of energy in the room. Capture the words on the whiteboard. I find these ones tend to come up: happy, engaged, connected, inclusive, energised, motivated, extra mile, vision, purpose, meaning, success, results, fun, laughter, trust, openness, creativity, proactive, belonging, pride, stability, humility, gratitude, appreciated, praise, feedback, momentum, willingness, moving, energy and led.
Now ask people where they think this team sits, in the positive or more negative side. If different perspectives crop up, open up the dialogue. Remember, no one gets to be right or wrong. They might be privy to information you aren’t aware of.
Now ask people how they want the team to be. You are essentially asking people to acknowledge there is a problem and give a commitment to do things differently.
You can also do the team profiling activities outlined in the team profiling course. In these exercises, members learn about their own, and each others personality and behavioural styles and how that influences the team dynamics. There are activities and discussion points that you can bring to the team to further the positive dynamics.
Most importantly, once you have identified the strengths and limitations of the team, collectively you must take accountability for team development. It's all very well and good learning, but nothing changes unless you take action. This is why I say teamwork is a strategic choice and a priority.
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