This handbook helps you interpret your Healthy Teams scores and gives you tools and strategies for maintaining or improving your scores in each of the five conditions the Team Health Dashboard measures. These five conditions come from Project Aristotle, Google’s research into the characteristics of highly effective teams. Using this research, the Extension Foundation created the Healthy Teams survey to measure the strength of these conditions on your team. This Healthy Teams Handbook is a publication of the New Technologies for Ag Extension (NTAE) program. The NTAE program supports teams of Extension professionals from all over the country that received funding for innovative projects from the NTAE grant, a four-year grant from the United States Department of Agriculture, National Institute of Food and Agriculture (USDA NIFA), in partnership with Oklahoma State University (OSU).
HEALTHY TEAMS HANDBOOK
PUBLICATIONS
Content Karl Bradley Heather Martin Dr. Rose Hayden-Smith Design & Production Ellen P. Krugel Heather Martin
About NTAE. This Healthy Teams Handbook is a publication of the New Technologies for Ag Extension (NTAE) program. The NTAE program supports teams of Extension professionals from all over the country that received funding for innovative projects from the NTAE grant, a four-year grant from the United States Department of Agriculture, National Institute of Food and Agriculture (USDA NIFA), in partnership with Oklahoma State University (OSU).
© Extension Foundation Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommer- cial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0). Published by Extension Foundation. Citations for this publication may be made using the following: Kansas City: Extension Foundation (2024). New Technologies for Ag Extension (NTAE): Healthy Teams Handbook (1st ed). ISBN: 978-1- 955687-20-1. This work, ISBN 978-1-955687-20-1, is supported by New Technologies for Agriculture Extension grant no. 2020- 41595-30123 from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this pub- lication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the view of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Our library never closes.
Check out the Extension Foundation virtual bookshelf for the latest Extension research and program development across the country.
Website extension.org
Contact Bryan Cave LLP One Kansas City Place
1200 Main Street, Suite 3800 Kansas City, MO 64105-2122
Handbook Overview. This handbook helps you interpret your Healthy Teams scores and gives you tools and strategies for maintaining or improving your scores in each of the five conditions the Team Health Dashboard measures. ➤ These five conditions come from Project Aristotle, Google’s research into the characteristics of highly effective teams. Using this research, the Extension Foundation created the Healthy Teams survey to measure the strength of these conditions on your team. This is not a quantitative, validated survey. But the results will give you a snapshot of the pre- vailing perceptions of the health of your team at a moment in time and can prompt reflection, meaningful conversation, and positive change. Each condition has its own section, with a quick definition, concrete steps to take to address the condition on your team, an example of how another team improved their score, and additional resources for those of you who want to dig more deeply into the concept. Thank you for your commitment to doing this work. It’s not easy, but it’s worth it, because healthy teams have more impact.
Healthy Teams Conditions. PSYCHOLOGICAL SAFETY page 4
DEPENDABILITY page 5
STRUCTURE & CLARITY page 6
MEANING page 7
IMPACT page 8
Karl Bradley Leadership & Team Development Specialist Extension Foundaiton
Scoring Key. POOR <25 AVERAGE <26-50 GOOD <51-75 VERY GOOD 76-100
Cooperative Extension teams often have high scores in the Meaning and Impact areas. If this is true for your team, the first three conditions will be the primary areas for you to focus on.
3 EXTENSION FOUNDATION/NTAE | HEALTHY TEAMS HANDBOOK
PSYCHOLOGICAL SAFETY
On teams with high Psychological Safety, teammates are willing to take risks and be vulnerable in front of each other. They are confident they won’t be embar- rassed or judged as ignorant, incompetent, negative, or disruptive, regardless of the questions they ask or the ideas they propose. Psychological Safety score Good or Very Good? Reflect on the behaviors creating this condition. This will help you know what to do to maintain strength in this area. Psychological Safety score could be higher? Do The Work.
SUCCESS STORY. A team that worked with the Extension Foundation to improve their Psychological Safety increased their score in that category by 12 percentage points in 12 months. We focused on clarifying their core values and improving informal recognition on the team. Soon after their work with us, they received a $750,000 grant for their project.
THE WORK. Leader Work
FOR INSPIRATION In “Building a Psychologically Safe Workplace,” a Harvard Business School professor tells stories about “workplace silence when voice was necessary” to illustrate how
c Model being comfortable when you don’t have the answer. If a team hears their leader say things like “I’m not sure what to do about . . .” and sees them ask for help, the team will be more likely to believe it’s okay for them to be unsure and ask for support, too. Team Work c Encourage each other to try new things and practice giving each other posi- tive feedback even when a new idea doesn’t work. Acknowledge that the process is just as important as the outcome. c Ask authentic questions about new ideas before or instead of pointing out why they might not work. c Build the habit (perhaps at staff meetings) of thanking each other for support. This normalizes the concept that none of you is an island.
critical it is for employees to feel like it’s okay to sound like an outsider.
“
PSYCHOLOGICAL SAFETY SELF-TALK If I make a mistake on our team, I feel protected from criticism and backlash.
4 EXTENSION FOUNDATION/NTAE | HEALTHY TEAMS HANDBOOK
DEPENDABILITY
On teams with a strong Dependability score, people consistently get things done on time and meet the organization’s quality standards—members can trust each other to deliver on their parts of the effort. A team is more likely to reach this level of performance when each member’s responsibilities align with their skills and unique talents. Because people look forward to and feel fulfilled by their work, they are less likely to avoid doing it. Dependability score Good or Very Good? Reflect on the behaviors creating this condition. This will help you know what to do to maintain strength in this area. Dependability score could be higher? Do The Work.
SUCCESS STORY. An Extension Foundation client team was experiencing some stress and drama. After taking the Team Health dashboard assessment and dis- cussing the results, they realized some of the members had been asked to accomplish tasks they hadn’t been educated/trained to do. They were able to identify someone outside of the team who had the skills they needed and added them as an informal member. That person was able to help them close the skill gap in about 20 minutes.
THE WORK. Leader Work
FOR INSPIRATION Educators at the University of Minnesota provide these tips on how to “Align Performance Expectations with Reality.”
c Every time there’s a missed deadline, determine whether it was because of a system or process failure or a matter of role-talent/skill misalignment. c Assess each team member’s ability to perform the tasks and accomplish the goals they’re responsible for. Determine if additional training could close any gaps or if a different role might better suit a particular team member’s strengths. Team Work c Be willing to ask for help or training when you’re having trouble meeting a goal or accomplishing a task.
“ DEPENDABILITY SELF-TALK
When someone on this team—including me—says they’re going to do something, we can count on them to follow through.
c Offer support to coworkers who could benefit from your experience and skills.
c Give positive feedback to team members who do excellent work.
5 EXTENSION FOUNDATION/NTAE | HEALTHY TEAMS HANDBOOK
STRUCTURE & CLARITY
For a team to have a strong Structure & Clarity score, members need to un- derstand how the organization is configured and how it operates—and where and how they and their colleagues fit into the picture. Team members who can articulate exactly what’s expected of them (and of each other) and who have the resources and information to meet those expectations will feel more comfortable making decisions and more confident that their work will be relevant. Structure & Clarity score Good or Very Good? Reflect on the behaviors cre- ating this condition. This will help you know what to do to maintain strength in this area. Structure & Clarity score could be higher? Do The Work.
SUCCESS STORY. One of the Extension Foundation’s client teams was struggling because the members were geographically dispersed and it was easy to inadver- tently leave people out of conversations. Once the team realized the main cause of the confusion, they created a group text thread and then set the expectation that everyone provide a daily update on any progress they made, large or small. This gave everyone a straightforward, accessible platform for communication and the clarity they needed to make their collaboration more effective. FOR INSPIRATION People have an innate need for structure and will gravitate toward and quickly integrate obvious, simple structures. Listen to this audience easily follow (and anticipate!) the pattern that musician Bobbie McFerrin creates.
THE WORK. Leader Work
c Review the way you communicate the priority level of projects and tasks. Is it obvious to your team when you need something to be completed and where it fits relative to other work you’ve asked them to do? Is it possible, for example, that you sometimes don’t distinguish between “urgent” and “important”? c Assess the way your team makes decisions and implements plans. Was every- one with a stake in the project and the outcome part of the conversation? Does everyone know Who is going to do What by When, and How we will follow up? Team Work c Ask yourself, “Am I communicating with my coworkers and supervisor in a way that gives them the information they need to do their jobs?”
STRUCTURE & CLARITY SELF-TALK other accomplish tasks and meet goals. “
My teammates and I know what our roles are, and we communicate effectively to help each
6 EXTENSION FOUNDATION/NTAE | HEALTHY TEAMS HANDBOOK
MEANING
If our work inspires us and connects with our sense of purpose, we are more like- ly to be fully committed to it. Teams with high Meaning scores put the same value on each team member’s “why” as they do on the organization’s “why.” Meaning score Good or Very Good? Reflect on the behaviors creating this condition. This will help you know what to do to maintain strength in this area. Meaning score could be higher? Do The Work.
SUCCESS STORY. One of our client teams was trying to expand their program into other states. As they connected with interested new partners, each of their primary team members became ambassadors. To do this effectively they all had to connect their individual “why” with the overall purpose of their program. At the end of the year, they had grown the program by more than 50%, with 15 states adopting their program. As author and speaker Simon Sinek says, “People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it.”
THE WORK. Leader Work
c Make it a priority to regularly reinforce to your team that their fulfillment at work is just as important as the work itself and the organization as a whole. c Give team members time and space to reflect on and share their motiva- tions for the work they do. This can be anything from providing for their families to being able to use their talents at work. Team Work c Ask yourself, “What am I passionate about? What sparked my interest in this work, to begin with? What is my ‘why’?”
FOR INSPIRATION Simon Sinek explains the powerful difference between starting with “what” or “how” and when you “Start With Why.”
“ This organization cares about what’s MEANING SELF-TALK
important to me, and the work I do for my team brings me personal satisfaction.
7 EXTENSION FOUNDATION/NTAE | HEALTHY TEAMS HANDBOOK
IMPACT
If our work inspires us and connects with our sense of purpose, we are more likely to be fully committed to it. Teams with high Impact scores put the same value on each team member’s “why” as they do on the organization’s “why.” Impact score Good or Very Good? Reflect on the behaviors creating this condition. This will help you know what to do to maintain strength in this area. Impact score could be higher? Do The Work.
SUCCESS STORY. All of you are success stories in this category because the Cooperative Extension System’s core purpose is to support fundamental human needs— whether it’s food security, environmental protection, economic well-being, or physical and mental health. Every time an Extension educator builds a relationship in their community, they contribute to the collective good the system was designed to do. FOR INSPIRATION The Extension Foundation Publications library is packed with publications that document the impact-driven work that Cooperative Extension teams like yours are doing. Browse the shelves and feel the energy coming from your innovative colleagues around the country.
THE WORK. Leader Work
c Collect and share with your team evidence of the effect of their efforts. This evidence can be quantitative (e.g. data that shows improvement in certain health outcomes) and qualitative (e.g. feedback on the team’s programming for priority populations). c Ask about and remove hurdles that might be preventing the team from hav- ing the impact they want to have. Team Work c Think about how often you see what your team does as a collective effort versus a collection of isolated, individual efforts. The more you see yourself as someone who gets work done with others, the more each of you can harness the power of the group to make the greatest Impact possible.
What we do on this team makes the world a better place. IMPACT SELF-TALK “
8 EXTENSION FOUNDATION/NTAE | HEALTHY TEAMS HANDBOOK
About Karl Bradley.
Karl Bradley connects with people through many roles—as a teacher, musician, football coach, yoga instructor, veteran, and leadership junkie. Originally from Branson, Missouri, Karl holds a bachelor’s in education from Arizona State University and a master’s in education from The University of North- ern Colorado. Over his career, he has led teams ranging from 5 to 250 and held leadership po- sitions in public relations, operations, fundraising, finance, human resources, corporate training, and procurement.
He has worked in 49 states and 20 countries supporting alliances, strengthening partnerships, and improving diplomatic relations. He brings expertise in strategic thinking, leadership development, public speaking, team building, community engagement, and ideation to serve all 112 Land-grant institutions. Karl joined the Extension Foundation team in 2020 after 23 years in the U.S. Air Force. As the leadership and team development specialist for the Extension Foundation, his job is to influence the 32,000 Cooperative Extension profession- als to create meaningful experiences for the people of our nation. He does this through individual and team coaching, grant support, and membership offerings. Above all, he is a proud spouse and a father of two amazing humans!
Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9Powered by FlippingBook