Teams

Written By Jeff Kosciejew

So you’re staring a new Team. Or maybe you’ve had a new person (or new people) join… Or had some people leave.. Or maybe it’s just been a while since you’ve looked at yourselves, as a group of people, and aligned on what’s important to each of you, and how you want to work together.

In any of those cases, you really have a new Team. A Team isn’t just a group of people working on something. A Team, when truly working as a Team, is far more than the sum of its parts.

Working with others isn’t always easy. Interpersonal relationships, of any kind, require effort. We’ll have good days, and we’ll have bad days. It’s going to happen. And each of us have different values, experiences, expertise, skills, strengths, weaknesses, desires, goals… There’s a lot going on when we look at people, and the dynamics between multiple people.

Hopefully this document can help with some activities to promote healthy conversation and understanding of some of the ways we can set ourselves up for success in working with others.


Are you really a Team? Do you want to be a Team?

It might be important to first understand if you’re a Group or a Team. One isn’t better than the other. But the approach we take for each might be a little different, and applying the wrong approach is likely not going to help and is likely to cause undue stress or anxiety. Let’s quickly look at some of the differences…

Groups are often reflected in a connection to others in some way. People in a Group often have the same reporting manager, or the same job title as others in their Group. They tend to have individual goals, individual accountability, and are typically responsible for getting their work done as best as possible. They tend to take responsibility for the thing they’re good at doing, or the aspect of the work that’s associated with their job title. For example, a software developer might tend to focus on developing software by writing code, while a designer might focus on doing some design work ahead of that developer picking up the work. Makes sense.

Teams often take a slightly different approach. The may or may not report to the same manager, and typically different people will have different job titles from those that they’re working with. They typically have a shared goal that isn’t specific to their individual role or title – that is, no matter what their job title is, and no matter who they report to on an org chart, they share a common goal. They don’t have individual accountability for the work, but rather share the success, or failure, in achieving their goal. Individual members of a Team will often still have something they’re very strong at doing, but will contribute to all aspects of achieving their shared goal. For example, a designer and software developer on a Team will likely conduct user research together… They’ll design the look & feel of a product together… And they’re likely to code & test the system together.

We often don’t hear more about Teamwork because things like finance, strategy, technology, project plans, business cases, and roadmaps are much more tangible… And are much easier in many ways. Teamwork is really hard to measure. Anything related to people, and the interactions between people, can be difficult.

It can’t be bought, and it can’t be obtained by following a cookie-cutter approach where one-size-fits-all. It involves human interactions. Building an effective, cohesive Team can be extremely hard – it requires courage and persistence.

But as difficult as Teamwork is to measure & achieve, its power cannot be denied. When people come together and truly set aside their individual needs for the good of the whole, they can accomplish what might have looked impossible on paper, or what would have been impossible for an individual, or even a group of individuals.

Teams tend to get more done, will less time, with less cost, and usually in a better way. But we don’t get this for free. We have to invest time and effort in building – and then maintaining – our Team.

 

When we look at what makes a great Team, a few patterns emerge:

“Great Teams trust one another on a fundamental, emotional level, and they are comfortable being vulnerable with each other about their weaknesses, mistakes, fears, and behaviours. They get to a point where they can be completely open with one another, without filters. This is essential because…

Teams that trust one another are not afraid to engage in passionate dialogue around issues & decisions that are key to the organization’s success. They don’t hesitate to disagree with, challenge, and question one another, all in the spirit of finding the best answers, discovering the truth, and making great decisions. This is important because…

Teams that engage in unfiltered conflict are able to achieve genuine buy-in around important decisions, even when various members of the Team initially disagreed. That’s because they ensure that all opinions and ideas are put on the table and considered, giving confidence to Team members that no stone has been left unturned. This is critical because…

Teams that commit to decision and standards of performance don’t hesitate to hold one another accountable for adhering to those decisions and standards. What’s more, they don’t rely on a manager or Team leader as the primary source of accountability. They go directly to each other. And this matters because…

Teams that truly trust one another, engage in conflict, commit to decisions, and hold one another accountable are very likely to set aside their individual needs and agendas, and focus almost exclusively on what is best for the Team, and for their customers. They don’t give into the temptation to place their department, individual career aspirations, or ego-drive status ahead of the collective results that define Team success.”

It’s not uncommon for leaders, and Teams, to want to focus on results and accountability. But those are the last two steps in building a great Team, and without trust, conflict, and commitment in place, it’s unlikely the Team will find itself set up for long term success.

 

What about great Teams in the real world?

Google conducted a study that involved over 200 people, looking at over 250 attributes of Teams. They were very confident that great Teams would be comprised of a perfect blend of individual skills aligned to the work each Team was doing. Through their research, they found that they were dead wrong with that thinking. The found that “who” is on a Team matters less than “how” the people interact, structure their work, and view their contributions.

Through this research, they learned that there are five key dynamics that set great, successful Teams apart from other good, or average, Teams:

  1. Psychological safety: Can we take risks on this Team without feeling insecure or embarrassed?

  2. Dependability: Can we count on each other to do high quality work on time?

  3. Structure & clarity: Are goals, roles, and execution plans on our Team clear?

  4. Meaning of work: Are we working on something that is personally important for each of us?

  5. Impact of work: Do we fundamentally believe that the work we’re doing matters?

None of that is easy. And, just as was mentioned earlier, it’s not uncommon to focus on steps 4 and 5, without really nailing the foundational items. Those foundational items are hard, and often difficult to even acknowledge that work can be done to improve in those spaces. It’s not uncommon for a Team, and their leaders, to believe they have a psychologically safe environment. But how do you really know? If people don’t feel safe, are they really likely to speak up, and tell you they don’t feel safe?

 

Team Evolutions

In 1965, Bruce Tuckman proposed a model which outlines four stages Teams may go through as they work together. This model, while wrong, still contains some wonderful insights and patterns we should be aware of. The complete model itself is beyond the scope of this document, however I’ve provided a summary to help, and to gain an understanding of where your Team might be.

When a Team first comes together, members are often cordial with one another. People are getting to know one another and are on their "best" behavior. Productivity is reasonable, but not impressive. We tend to have very little conflict as people figure out how they fit in with this group of others, and begin to understand what’s expect of them, and how they’ll interact with others. To advance from this stage to the next stage, each member must relinquish the comfort zone of non-threatening topics and risk the possibility of conflict.

As a Team moves into the next stage, subtle differences in people's perceptions and expectations lead to opinions about the character and integrity of other Team members. Annoyances due of unresolved differences in expectations become impediments as members start to clash with one another. Productivity typically is lower in this stage, and many Teams won’t address the conflict, preventing them from moving them on to later stages – it can be very difficult. In order to progress to the next stage, group members must move from a "testing and proving" mentality to a problem-solving mentality. The most important trait in helping Teams move to the next stage is often the ability of Team members to listen to their Teammates - what are they trying to say?

If and when a spirit of cooperation emerges, the Team moves into this third stage. Here, differences are discussed and resolved through creation of new shared norms. The Team starts to come together as a cohesive unit and productivity increases with each new improvement. The flow of information between group members includes feelings and ideas; members solicit and give feedback to one another; they explore actions related to the task. Creativity tends to be high as different perspectives and opinions are truly considered. Conflict still exists but is typically focused on improving the Team and the product being developed, and less towards the people.

This fourth stage that was described does not happen for all Teams, in spite of what a Team may tell you. Many Teams believe they are a High Performing Team, or use some similar language, but may not really have achieved it, in spite of what they think! A Team who does make it to this stage has a shared set of norms and has learned how to work well together, capitalizing on individual strengths.

A fifth stage was identified and added to this model in 1977, just in case you happen to hear about the “adjourning” phase. But I’m not going to talk about it any more in this document.

It’s important to remember that since this model was introduced, we’ve learnt that it’s wrong. It’s not a linear flow that Teams go through. It’s much more common for elements of each of these stages to be present, in different amounts and between different members of the Team, all at the same time.

 

Setting Ourselves Up for Success

There are no guarantees when it comes to building a Team. But there are things we can do to help give ourselves a better chance of becoming a Team (if we’ve made the explicit decision that we want to be a Team). But it requires work, effort, time, and a continuous conversation to foster the positive relationships between Team members.

There are two things going on, and it’s important to be explicit about them both:

  1. First (this is all about what we’re building, and why):

    • What are we building, why is it important, why is it important now, what outcome are we hoping to achieve, what does success look like, how might we validate this is the right approach as soon as possible…

  2. Second (this is all about how we’re building it):

    • How are we going to work together to achieve the desired outcomes, how will we improve how we work together, and what might we do to continually improve how we work together…

Some key questions to consider addressing in a Team Liftoff:

  • Logistics & Planning

    • Why are we coming together?

    • Who needs to be there?

    • Who will kick it off?

    • What are the key points that need to be communicated?

    • When will we do it?

    • Where will we do it?

    • Who will facilitate it?

    • How much time will we allocate for this? What if we need more time? Or less time?

    • What will our success criteria be for our Liftoff? How will we know when we’re done?

  • People

    • Do we have everyone who will be a part of this Team in place?

    • Have we identified any SMEs that are outside the Team, who might be able to help us?

    • Can we identify anyone who is outside the Team that we think will be important to our success?

  • Purpose

    • Do we know the desired outcome of the work we’re being asked to do?

    • Do we know why this outcome is important now?

  • History / Organizational Assets

    • What did we learn from previous similar work, or previous projects in this domain?

    • What are our known unknowns?

    • Have we identified and documented our risks?

    • What assumptions have been made?

  • Project Outcomes

    • How will we learn about the problem we’re solving?

    • What might be a good starting point?

    • What training will be needed? How do we know?

    • What scares us about doing this work?

  • Team Attributes

    • Do we have a Team identity, or a Team name?

    • Who’s on our Team?

    • What skills do we have on our Team? Can we identify any gaps?

    • Are we going to do any team building, or activates to get to know each other?

    • What is it we value as individuals? What do we value as a Team?

    • Do we have any individual or personal goals?

    • Do we have any individual expectations about being a part of this Team?

    • What personal needs do each of us have?

    • What time will we work together?

    • How will we make decisions? What decisions will be made by whom?

    • What rules make sense for us to have in place?

    • How will we adjust those rules as we work together?

    • When conflict emerges, how will we discuss it?

    • How often will we revisit what we’ve come up with today?

That’s a lot of questions to consider, and you’re not likely going to get it all right when you start working with a group of people. If you invest in building your Team, it can make a huge difference – in time – to the performance and the satisfaction of the people on the Team. As was previously mentioned, it’s just hard to see, and almost impossible to quantify.

There are many resources available to help with this activity. One of them is a workbook that offers a complete solution to planning and executing an effective Team Liftoff… And I personally love the image of the cover of that book - it reminds us that we’re looking both at the Organizational Needs and the People Needs. Typically, we over indexed on the Organizational Needs. Both are important.

That workbook is a fantastic reference and resource tool to consider having available if you find yourself in the situation of leading a Liftoff. While you may not do everything in the book, and may not address all of the questions, it’ll likely be worth while for you to consider your current situation, and select the things that will be most important, and most impactful.

As you might imagine just based on the number of possible discussion points and topics above, building a Team isn’t a quick endeavour. A Team Liftoff can help set a positive foundation if done well. But it’s unlikely you’re going to get the value possible if you attempt to fit in into an hour or two.

This is one of the reasons many Agile Coaches advocate for long-standing Teams, where different work may go to an individual Team over time, but the Team itself stays together. It’s often faster and less expensive for a Team to learn a new skill or technology than it is to develop the strong, powerful interactions that can be built up between and amongst the people on a Team. There are a variety of techniques & approaches for a Team to develop that new skill, or learn that new thing. That’s beyond the scope of what I’m writing about here! When a group truly becomes a Team, it often leads to higher employee engagement, improved morale, better products, faster delivery, improved quality, and so many other amazing benefits. So while it’s not always possible to keep a Team together, it’s worth considering and thinking about, and being aware of the benefits it can offer.

Too often, I’ve seen leaders (and individuals on teams) want to label themselves as “high performing teams” as quickly as possible. One of the challenges with that, from what I’ve seen & experienced is that, as soon as teams declare that you’re high performing, they stop trying to improve. And that’s a shame. When I think about the best teams I’ve seen & worked on, it’s not that they’re delivering amazingly (although they usually are), it’s that they’re always finding ways to be better than they were previously. In my experience, teams that label themselves as “high performing”, often aren’t. And teams that think they’re not “high performing” because they’re always looking for ways to improve are, often, far higher performing teams than they give themselves credit for!

Just a note about a couple of words: Chartering and Liftoff. They’re connected, for sure. In my experience, a Team Charter is often focused on three things – Purpose (what problem we’re working on & why it’s important), Alignment (ensuring we’re all heading in the same direction), and Context (how what we’re being asked to do fits in with the large ecosystem). That’s all part of a Liftoff, too. A Liftoff really should cover all of these elements, for sure, and will often go a little deeper with the focus on the people, and building a solid foundation for a great Team to emerge. They’re very similar in many ways. Both are about setting the conditions and environment for great outcomes. And, if you want to call it a Charter as opposed to a Liftoff, that’s just fine… Whatever works for you!

 

There really isn’t a single approach that’s going to be right for every group that wants to become a Team. It’s not something we can buy from a store… There’s no way that I know of to build a team, except with time in continually focusing on those we get to work with. By building a solid foundation early, we may be able to foster an environment where a great Team can emerge. With an understanding of what makes a great Team, the dynamics and evolutionary phases a Team may go through, and some of the questions we’re trying to address as we start to build the foundation of a great Team, we can set ourselves up for a greater chance of success – not only in the desired outcomes of our work, but in creating a more satisfying and engaging place for our people to work.

 

What about some Resources?

That seems like a really good idea. All of these might be helpful in certain contexts. I’ve used pretty much all of them at some point. And many of them were leveraged in writing this post. There are a lot of links here, and I’m sure I’ve missed some. But hopefully you find them helpful.

Jeff Kosciejew
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