When I was at university, I decided to spend a semester learning to row. I remember our crew of eight spending the first few weeks hoping we didn’t upturn the boat, especially when a fast ferry zoomed by. If you know the muddy brown Brisbane River, you’ll know why we were very motivated not to fall in!
I also distinctly remember the stop-start, bumpy feeling in the boat as we learned to coordinate our efforts, balance the boat and use our oars in the water. If just one of us didn’t get it right, the boat rocked and wobbled, and we were all over the place.
But then one morning, after weeks of practice, we did get it right. That feeling was magical. It was like we were flying over the water. It felt effortless.
I didn’t continue rowing beyond university, but I’ve never forgotten that moment.
I’ve been lucky enough to experience that feeling outside of rowing with some great work teams. That feeling of ‘team flow’ (or being ‘in the zone’) when you’re performing really well as a team, fully focused and immersed in what you’re doing, achieving much more than you had before, and yet it doesn’t feel effortful.
To create a thriving team, with a sense of ‘team flow’, we recommend focussing on these key ingredients:
- 1. Get everyone pulling in the same direction. Focus on creating a clear vision for the team. Know your strategic priorities. Encourage teamwork and collaboration to help achieve your goals. Patrick Lencioni, author of ‘The Five Dysfunctions of a Team’ said ‘If you could get all the people in the organization rowing in the same direction, you could dominate any industry, in any market, against any competition, at any time.’ Don’t underestimate the power of communicating with your team regularly about the direction you’re headed in. Reward and celebrate teamwork and collaboration.
- 2. Know your individual strengths. Get to know the different strengths you each bring to the team – and make the most of them. This includes knowledge, skills and strengths you might have developed outside of your current work team. Enabling people to bring all that knowledge and experience in, can help your team think outside of the box, and solve problems in innovative ways. In their recent article ‘What Makes Some Teams High Performing? (hbr.org)’, HBR highlight the importance of teams getting to know one another – they refer to this concept as developing a ‘common understanding’. According to HBR, part of ‘common understanding’ means your team needs to know who specialises in what and the best way to approach each person for assistance or collaboration.
- 3. Create a culture of psychological safety, respect and trust. Create a culture where team members feel comfortable speaking up, asking questions, and sharing new ideas. Make it okay to have a different viewpoint. Psychological safety is playing an increasingly important role in the workplace. It can impact performance, learning, employee engagement, information sharing, satisfaction and commitment. For more on psychological safety, check out our blog.
- 4. Share the stage. Create the space for everyone to have a voice. At MIT’s Human Dynamics Laboratory, Professor Pentland conducted some fascinating research looking at the way high-performing teams communicate (by tracking them in real-time, using electronic sensors). Pentland’s study (2012) showed that great teams communicate frequently (not too little, not too much, a bit like the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears). They do two other things. They talk and listen roughly equally among their members (whereas low performing teams are more likely to have dominant members). And they communicate not just in formal meetings but also more informally (think of those catching up ‘asides’ during a team meeting, or by the lift or the coffee machine).
- 5. Believe in yourself and believe in the team. There’s a reason Ted Lasso (football coach in the TV Series ‘Ted Lasso’) had a sign saying ‘Believe’ on the wall above his office door. It’s a powerful word. High performing teams have confidence in each other’s abilities, and they have confidence in their own abilities. Research shows that strong beliefs in the potential for effectiveness of the team results in better team performance.
All teams experience frustrations, discord and imbalances at times. To establish a team as “high performing” requires conscious effort – by all team members, not just the team leader.
Team effectiveness can be significantly influenced with the right training and support. A recent review by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development highlighted which can have the most impact.
To discuss how we could support your team development contact us – or go to our website for more information.
Dr Lisa Mayocchi has over 20 years’ experience in the UK and Australia, helping to improve leadership, culture, resilience, wellbeing and engagement in sectors including health, education, justice, and financial regulation. With a Doctorate in Organisational Psychology, Lisa has co-authored papers on “stress and coping, career transitions, transferable skills, and the experience of high-performance athletes”.