Healthy Teams: How collaboration creates more impact

This publication was provided to support NTAE and ISBE teams working with Extension Foundation in their leadership development.

Healthy Teams

How collaboration creates more impact

By: Karl Bradley

ATTRIBUTION

Healthy Teams: How collaboration creates more impact

ISBN: 978-1-955687-20-1

Publish Date: 10/1/2022

Citations for this publication may be made using the following:

Bradley, K. (2022). Healthy Teams: How collaboration creates more impact (1 st ed). Kansas City: Extension Foundation. ISBN: 978-1-955687-20-1

Producer: Ashley S. Griffin

Editor and Technical Implementer: Dr. Rose Hayden-Smith

Welcome to Healthy Teams: How collaboration creates more impact , a resource created for the Cooperative Extension Service and published by the Extension Foundation. We welcome feedback and suggested resources for this publication, which could be included in any subsequent versions.

All images were sourced from Unsplash.

This work 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 publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the view of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

For more information please contact:

Extension Foundation c/o Bryan Cave LLP One Kansas City Place

1200 Main Street, Suite 3800 Kansas City, MO 64105-2122 https://extension.org/

DEDICATION: To all those who have made the health and well-being of the humans in their organizations a priority. You provide opportunity and encourage freedom. You embrace stewardship. It’s your influence that has led us into an era of human leadership.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Attribution .................................................................................................................................................2

Table of Contents........................................................................................................................................3

Meet the Author.........................................................................................................................................5

What’s This All About? ................................................................................................................................ 6

Introduction ...............................................................................................................................................6

Purpose and Alignment...............................................................................................................................6

Your Survey Results ....................................................................................................................................7

How to Use This Publication........................................................................................................................8

Some Peter Drucker and Familiar Models ....................................................................................................8

The Five Constructs Introduced ...................................................................................................................9

Psychological Safety: Vulnerability Ahead .................................................................................................10 Making Recognition a Resource .......................................................................................................................................... 11 Diagnose Your Team ............................................................................................................................................................ 11 Action Items for Psychological Safety.................................................................................................................................. 12 Real World Story .................................................................................................................................................................. 12 On Your Own........................................................................................................................................................................ 12 With Others ......................................................................................................................................................................... 13 Dependability: Do What You Say You Will Do ............................................................................................14 Diagnose Dependability ....................................................................................................................................................... 14 Action Items for Dependability............................................................................................................................................ 15 Real World Story .................................................................................................................................................................. 15 On Your Own........................................................................................................................................................................ 15 With Others ......................................................................................................................................................................... 16 Structure and Cl arity: We don’t “get” clarity, we’re always seeking it ......................................................... 17 Seeking Clarity ..................................................................................................................................................................... 17 Structure .............................................................................................................................................................................. 18 Action Items for Structure and Clarity ................................................................................................................................. 18 Real World Story .................................................................................................................................................................. 19 On Your Own........................................................................................................................................................................ 19 With Others ......................................................................................................................................................................... 19

Meaning: What does your work mean to you?...........................................................................................20

Action Items for Meaning .................................................................................................................................................... 20 Real World Story .................................................................................................................................................................. 21 On Your Own........................................................................................................................................................................ 21 With Others ......................................................................................................................................................................... 21 Impact: Making a difference together........................................................................................................22 Action Items for Impact ....................................................................................................................................................... 22 Real World Story .................................................................................................................................................................. 22 On Your Own........................................................................................................................................................................ 23 With Others ......................................................................................................................................................................... 23

Bringing the “Big 5” Together .................................................................................................................... 24

Postscript ................................................................................................................................................. 25

References and Resources.........................................................................................................................26

MEET THE AUTHOR

Karl Bradley

Karl is the Extension Foundation’s Leadership Development Specialist. Joining the Extension Foundation in 2020, he currently serves the New Technologies in Ag Extension teams, assists with the 1890 Extension Leadership Academy, and serves on the EXCITE program team. He also supports the Impact Collaborative and leads the Extension Foundation’s Alumni Leadership Network. He brings expertise in leadership development, team building, public speaking, strategic thinking, and community engagement to serve the Cooperative Extension System. Karl has more than twenty years of experience creating strong, values- aligned partnerships internationally while serving in the U.S. Air Force. As a collaborative consultant, Karl has secured partnerships across 49 states and 20 countries, a catalyst for millions in sponsorships. He has

led teams ranging from 5 to 250, and has held leadership positions in public relations, event planning, finance, human resources, corporate training, procurement, and athletic coaching. He inspires others to find their “why” while connecting passion to profession in his favorite role: coach. Karl has a lifelong enthusiasm for agricultural leadership growth to help take organizations past what the science of management says is possible.

Originally from Branson, Missouri, Karl holds degrees in education from Arizona State University and the University of Northern Colorado.

WHAT’S THIS ALL A BOUT?

This publication is intended to support your awareness, knowledge, understanding, and connectedness to the essential elements that make up highly effective teams. Throughout, resources are curated from a wide range of leadership experts as well as my own insights from decades of experience listening, learning, and leading.

Happy discovery, thanks for who you are and all you do. Keep leading!

-Karl

INTRODUCTION

It's December 28, 1978. You are in New York City aboard United Airlines Flight 173 headed for Portland, Oregon. Unknown to you and the rest of the passengers, a warning light has just come on, stealing the captain's attention. Not long after, the co- pilot realizes there isn’t enough fuel to reach your intended destination. You will need to land at a different airport. With his mind focused on the warning light, the captain cannot focus on what is important. The plane is going to run out of fuel.

The plane crashed. Ten of your fellow passengers died. You survived.

This was a watershed moment for United Airlines and the airline industry: the plane was found to be operational, but the crew was not . How the team interacted was a significant factor in the crash: human factors were found to be the causal factor for the crash. Just like Fight 173, we all have situations that steal our attention and affect our daily lives. These human factors play a large role in the experience we have together and often impact teamwork. Like the airlines, we all need a “Crew Resource Management” guide for our work together. We hope this publication helps be that guide for you.

PURPOSE AND ALIGNMENT

Our purpose is to bring awareness to aspects of highly effective teams. Through the team health survey, we reveal “warning lights'' affecting team collaboration and discover how to enhance collaboration through creativity and imagination. Your assumption might be that there is a formula that you can follow, and if you get the formula just right (if it’s a good model), you and the team will be great. If you’re after conformity, compliance, and standardization, you won’t find it here. Instead, we should striv e to embrace people as diverse and creative. We strive for fulfillment and meaning instead of drudgery, dreary and a repetitive existence. It’s about embracing the concept that we rise by lifting others.

If you're ready for a paradigm shift in unleashing a team's collective talents, you are in the right place. When we see human achievement as a beginning in our inner world through ideas, imagination, and creativity that becomes realized in our external world, we're ready for a new collaborative experience.

YOUR SURVEY RESULTS

The scores for each construct of highly effective teams are reflected in your dashboard. They are:



Psychological Safety



Dependability



Structure & Clarity



Meaning



Impact

Your scores are only a guide and can vary based on team circumstances such as size, project development stage, focus area, and the like. Here’s a basic score range for reference:



<25 = Poor



26-50 = Average



51-75 = Good



76-100 = Very Good

Statistics and data are important diagnostically and we’ve all heard what gets measured gets accomplished. The point is not the survey. The tail shouldn’t wag the dog. The joy doesn’t come from dwelling on the data, it comes from applying imagination to the process of discovery. It comes from the application of creativity in blending ourselves with others toward a common objective. It’s about the environment where self - actualization can occur for all team members while rewarding that growth so it’s repeated and becomes a habit. The habit of creating a space where unique expression is encouraged. Space where the expression of our talents can be magnified through the team. With periodic inquiries of how everyone feels on the team, we have a “temperature check” of overall team health. These check-ins become the basis for enhancing the experience your team has together. The greatest specialization we can achieve as humans are our ability to work together as a team. We can create an environment where teamwork can flourish. Teamwork then becomes a habit.

HOW TO USE THIS PUBLICATION

While each highly effective team construct is important, your dashboard results will point toward priorities for your team. Often, Cooperative Extension teams have higher scores in the Meaning and Impact areas. If this is indicated on your dashboard, the first three constructs will be the primary areas to focus on in the order of importance as indicated by Google’s “Project Aristotle.” For example, if Psychological Safety and Dependability scores are lower, first discover how to support the former inside this publication and/or through consultation. Each section features suggested action items, real world examples, and individual and team ideas to support growth in each construct.

SOME PETER DRUCKER AND FAMILIAR MODELS

“Only three things happen naturally in organizations: friction, confusion, and underperformance. Everything else requires leadership.” – Peter Drucker

At times, we can all feel a bit intimidated by the impossibility of molding a group into a cohesive team. Let’s unpack the wisdom in the Peter Drucker quote. Friction occurs when people don’t understand one another. Confusion happens as a result of poor communication. Underperformance ha ppens when people aren’t engaged.

The thing to keep in mind is that these things “happen naturally” when we come together to collaborate. With everyone’s leadership, these things can be overcome.

 Friction fades when we seek to understand others before being understood ourselves

 Confusion fades as we live out our core values by aligning what we say and do

 Underperformance fades and engagement increases as we discover our alignment with one another alongside organizational values

These are far from new. The issues Peter Drucker describes have also been addressed in Psychologist Bruce Tuckman’s “ Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing ” model, Abraham Maslow’s “ Hierarchy of Needs ” and “ The Five Dysfunctions of a Team ” by Patrick Lencioni, among others. This article - The Growth of Teams: Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs meets Lencioni’s Team Model - blends two of these familiar models. We recommend that you review the above resources. First, however, we'll focus on bringing your team together using the constructs contained in Google's "Project Aristotle," which revealed key aspects of highly effective teams.

“The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.” - Aristotle

Instinctively we know Aristotle’s quote to be true. We’ve seen it in our favorite sports teams when they are most successful. The 1980 Olympic Hockey team is a great example. We’ve also experienced unstoppable collaboration in our communities afte r disasters like 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina. And, yes, we’ve experienced it in our own working lives. However, the joy of success quickly fades away as we attach tangible reasons for success. We often ignore the great things each team member contributed to make it a success and instead move on with the next challenge hoping we can recreate the magic again. It’s not magic. You can have it. Teamwork does make the dream work!

THE FIVE CONSTRUCTS INTRODUCED

“Leaders sometimes wonder why they or their organizations fail to achieve success, never seem to reach their potential. It’s often because they don’t understand or can’t instill the concept of what a team is all about at its best: connection and extension.” – Bill Walsh

The above quote from an NFL H all of Fame coach isn’t about the sport he coached. It’s about where he felt his responsibilities lay. The duty is to help everyone self- actualize and blend their abilities. It’s the responsibility to put everyone in the “right seats on the bus,” as Jim Co llins says in his book “Good to Great.” Google researchers found five distinctive characteristics of highly effective teams: psychological safety, dependability, structure and clarity, meaning, and impact. We’ve included information about each of these characteristics below. The information and the image are provided by re:Work, and is used with their permission.

Here are the five characteristics in order of importance:

1. Psychological Safety: This refers to an individual’s perception of the consequences of taking an interpersonal risk or a belief that a team is safe for risk- taking in the face of being seen as ignorant,

incompetent, negative, or disruptive. In a team with high psychological safety, teammates feel safe to take risks around their team members. They feel confident that no team member will embarrass or punish anyone else for admitting a mistake, asking a question, or offering a new idea.

2. Dependability: Members reliably complete work on time versus avoiding responsibilities.

3. Structure and Clarity: This refers to an individual’s understanding of job expectations, the process for fulfilling these expectations, and that one’s performance is important to the team’s effectiveness. Goals can be set at an individual or group level and must be specific, challenging, and attainable. Google often uses objectives and key results to help set and communicate short and long-term goals. 4. Meaning: Finding a sense of purpose in either the work itself or the output is important for team effectiveness. The meaning of work is personal and can vary: financial security, supporting family, helping the team succeed, self-expression, etc. 5. Impact: The results of one’s work, the subjective judgment that your work is making a difference is important for teams. Seeing that one’s work is contributing to the organization’s goals helps reveal impact.

The researchers at Google created these five survey statements for teams to gauge their effectiveness and facilitate discussion.

 Psychological safety – “If I make a mistake on our team, it is not held against me.”

 Dependability – “When my teammates say they’ll do something, they follow through with it.”

 Structure and Clarity – “Our team has an effective decision - making process.”

 Meaning – “The work I do for our team is meaningful to me.”

 Impact – “I understand how our team’s work contributes to the organization’s goals.”

PSYCHOLOGICAL SAFETY: VULNERABILITY AHEAD

Harvard organizational behavioral scientist Amy Edmondson introduced the world to Psychological Safety. She explains it as “a shared belief held by members of a team that the team is safe for interpersonal risk taking.” Vulnerability is a key factor but it doesn’t mean team members have to share deeply personal details with one another. Here’s what it does mean. Let’s imagine what it would be like on a team where people felt safe to bring up difficult challenges, there was radical acceptance of individual d ifferences, asking for help wasn’t a risk, team members saw one another as success partners, and special gifts and talents were leveraged. Wouldn’t you want to be on that team?

In Amy Edmonson’s work she identified three simple things we all can do to improve in this area.

 Frame the work as a learning problem...NOT an execution problem



Acknowledge your fallibility

 Model the curiosity and ask lots of questions

Watch Amy Edmondson’s TEDx talk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhoLuui9gX8

VIDEO

Making Recognition a Resource

One of the best ways to support the conditions for healthy psychological safety is to make informal recognition a habit. To help us understand the power of this let’s reference one of my all-time favorites. If anyone knew about leadership and teamwork it was Pat Summitt the Hall of Fame basketball coach from the University of Tennessee. In her book - “Reach for the Summit t ” - she says:

“The amount of success you are capable of enjoying and the pleasure you are capable of feeling is equal to the number of people you are willing to share it with.”

Coach Summitt also says that sharing doesn’t come naturally, though. We’ve all seen this when we watch children playing: the crying starts when they have to share their favorite toy. Sharing and appreciation for others must be learned.

Diagnose Your Team

To help diagnose the state of your team, ponder how you would respond to this statement from Google’s “Project Aristotle” :

"If I make a mistake on our team, it is not held against me."

Responses will tell you how much you need to pump fear out of the room to begin making recognition come alive! Building the resource of recognition helps clarify the roles and responsibilities of teammates. It allows everyone to play to their strengths. It helps leverage the collective talents of the team. Finally, it helps everyone know how to best collaborate. Set aside your personal feelings, ambitions, and agendas. Make sure you're on the team for the right reasons and give up the false idea that you can go it alone. Realize we’re all responsible for creating the environm ent for effective teamwork. It's not ON any single person; it's IN all of us.

Action Items for Psychological Safety

These action items are provided by Chapman & Co Leadership Institute, n.d:



Leaders are brave enough to go first

Courage is the key to modeling the way!



Admit when you don’t know somet hing

“Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it's thinking of yourself less.” -C.S. Lewis



Start each meeting with recognition

Appreciate everyone's contributions to the cause



Ask for help

Nobody knows everything but everyone knows something

Sum It Up

Making RECOGNITION a resource goes beyond just saying "thanks" to a team member. It’s developing the ability to both give and receive gratitude authentically. These human skills are a great way to increase psychological safety on your team. With this improvement, team members will begin to feel safe to take risks and be vulnerable with one another. Individuals move from doing things to "be safe" (coping) on the team to providing evidence of their trustworthiness because they “feel safe” . Only when people feel safe do behaviors of trust flourish.

Real World Story

A team we worked with improved their Psychological Safety by 12% in 12 months by focusing on strengthening connections to their individual core values and improving informal recognition. Soon after, they received a $750K grant to continue their work. Healthy teams do have a more impact!

On Your Own

Try an empathy check-in. How are you feeling? Have you ever felt this way before? How do you like to be treated in this situation? Now imagine yourself treating others this way. When we find it hard to treat ourselves with empathy, we also find it difficult to treat others any differently. Empathy is for yourself and others. It’s the glue that holds our relationships, teams, communities, and world together .

With Others

Schedule “High Fives” into your meeting agenda. Take a few moments at the beginning of each time together to recognize the help everyone has received from other team members. Think of how your teammates have helped you recently. Now begin to think about how you would thank them. Next, be specific in recognizing the value of their help. Building the resource of recognition helps clarify the roles and responsibilities of teammates. It supports everyone playing to their strengths. It helps leverage the collective talents of the team. It tells everyone how best to collaborate. Connection before content helps the team become more grounded in gratitude.

DEPENDABILITY: DO WHAT YOU SAY YOU WILL DO

Your team may have a powerful engine, but if all the parts aren’t working together – like having a flat tire - the team struggles to get anywhere. The teamwork concept we're talking about is reliability ! Each member of the team embraces Do What You Say You Will Do ! Our behaviors provide evidence of our authentic intentions, and these display our trustworthiness to others. Watch the below video to learn what Colin Powell says about trust.

Watch Colin Powell speak about trust. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdplXiQ3yuA

VIDEO

Diagnose Dependability

What is the most important contribution you can make to the performance of this team or organization?

Your answer will likely come from an aspect of something you value AND what you consistently show up for. Misalignment of assigned responsibilities and/or unique contributions often leads to disengagement and underperformance. When we experience this from team members, it can be a sign they are being assigned duties they aren't gifted or trained to do and can also identify skill gaps.

Action Items for Dependability

These action items are provided by Chapman & Co Leadership Institute, n.d:

 Clarify roles & responsibilities of all team members



Evaluate skills-based training programs

 Consider which behavior(s) your people/leaders need training on

 For each missed deadline, determine whether it was a system or process failure or behaviors within the team

Team members are more than a title or box on an organizational chart. They each have unique talents and gifts to offer the team. Gaining clarity on the combination of these through clear communication makes the team efficient and more effective. Showing one another how we're reliable is a significant step toward building a healthy team. You’re showing trustworthiness. Awareness of what is needed to lead in our dynamic work environment takes the intentional building of skills that genuinely support human leadership. Nobody wants to be the “flat tire” on the team. They want to get to a meaningful place together!

Real World Story

One of the teams we worked with was experiencing some drama. Through diagnosis, we found that 83% of team members had been asked to accomplish a task they were n’t trained to do or had any experience with. This revealed a skill gap in their team. Together, they quickly came up with two people who could help in this area. After reaching out, one of them provided the help they ne eded to solve the problem…in 20 minutes. By adding this informal new team member, the team almost immediately became more efficient and effective. This also provided the opportunity for all team members to step more firmly into their areas of expertise.

On Your Own

Reflect on your team members. First, write down what you believe are their areas of responsibility. Next, write down what else you know about them. What are their strengths and interests? Are there hidden or apparent talents not being utilized? What have you and others recognized and appreciated about one another? Are team members using those strengths?

With Others

Have team members write three things on their task list for any project. Then have them circle the one they don’t feel particularly gi fted, trained, or curious about. Finally, have them display their answers to discover where alignment is off from individual areas of expertise. These will help align responsibilities that more effectively capitalize on everyone’s skills, talents, and expe rtise.

STRUCTURE AND CLARITY: WE DON’T “GET” CLARITY, WE’RE ALWAYS SEEKING IT

There’s a software development company in Ann Arbor, Michigan, called Menlo Innovations. One of the ways they provide structure and clarity in their company is in how their project managers and developers communicate. To encourage developers to provide real-time information, good or bad, they instituted a very straightforward, predictable process. When the developer needs to communicate anything to the project managers, the project managers have been asked to simply smile and say “thank you.” This encourages consistent communication throughout the team, which is critical to the success of all client projects. When the developers feel safe communicating with the project managers, vital information is consistently shared, and clients receive the most up-to-date reports on their projects. Simple and effective!

Seeking Clarity

In everything we do, communication is paramount. There have been very few, if any, employees who have left an organization because they received too much communication. It's all about the flow of information. If we are afraid to provide anything but good reports, essential critical information isn't shared. One of the most famous examples of this is the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. By not seeking clarity and adhering to hierarchical authority, vital information was withheld, causing the deaths of thousands. Holding onto this information

because it's seen as making us more powerful erodes relationships between all team members. When we don't get it in the natural course of our work, it prevents the team from coming together. We're undermining team effectiveness because we never "get" clarity; we're always seeking it.

Structure

Knowing our responsibilities and those of our team members is essential. Th at’ s the first step. The next step is understanding everyone's contributions to the team's collective efforts on any project. When we can articulate our understanding of how we work with one another, the team achieves clarity on collaboration.

Action Items for Structure and Clarity

These action items are provided by Chapman & Co Leadership Institute, n.d:

 Review the team’s decision-making process

 Job requirements are known beyond the organizational chart

 When asked, each team member understands their role on the team and knows the role of other teammates

 Who is going to do What by When and How will we follow up?

Having an agreed-upon decision-making process is a must for any team. The Gore Company uses the Waterline Principle and tell employees:

"We are all shareholders and we will consult with the appropriate associates before taking action ‘ below the waterline ’ that could cause serious damage to the long-term success & reputation of our company."

In this video, you’ll see the impact of structure and clarity in how the amazing Bobby McFerrin “plays” the audience at the World Science Festival!

Bobby McFerrin Demonstrates the Power of the Pentatonic Scale https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ne6tB2KiZuk

VIDEO

The structure of the pentatonic scale, coupled with Mr. McFerrin’s clarity of leadership, helps unleash the collective abilities of the audience. Intentional focus on these can do the same for your team!

Real World Story

As we continuously adjust to new ways of accomplishing our work together, we realize how quickly clarity fades. It fades fast for teams, particularly those that are geographically distributed. A team we worked with discovered gaps in their communication with each other over two particularly frustrating meetings. After discussing these frustrations, they asked what the real problem was and for suggestions on how to fix it. Together they decided to create a group text message on their cell phones. They set the expectation of providing daily updates from all team members. This gave them a simple, structured platform for communication and the clarity needed to encourage collaboration.

On Your Own

Reflect on how the team communicates. How is information shared? Is it effective? Does it encourage people to share information? Does it make it ea sy to share? If not, it’s adding frustration and friction for the team.

With Others

At the end of each time together answer this question: Who is going to do What by When and How will we follow up? Most of us know you either meet or work; you can’t do both simultaneously. By answering the above question, the team will leave the meeting with the structure and clarity for progress.

MEANING: WHAT DOES YOUR WORK MEAN TO YOU?

Barry-Wehmiller is a manufacturing company in St. Louis. The company developed a purpose statement for what it calls its Guiding Principles of Leadership. It says:

“We measure success by the way we touch the li ves of people.”

During the 2008 housing crisis, this purpose statement was challenged. The company lost a great deal of its business almost overnight and faced an important decision. Shortly thereafter, their CEO, Bob Chapman, announced that instead of laying off thousands of employees, it was better if everyone suffered a little instead of a few suffering a lot. The company instituted a 4-week furlough for all employees. Quickly after the announcement, a remarkable thing happened. Those who could afford more time off took weeks from those who couldn't afford it as much. By taking the opportunity to step into their guiding principles of leadership, the team became stronger than ever and saved millions.

If one of your family members was struggling, would you lay them off? Watch the video below.

Everybody Matters: A Documentary Short Based on the Best-Selling Book https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=or6YoXfHWSE

VIDEO

Action Items for Meaning

These action items are provided by Chapman & Co Leadership Institute, n.d:

 Facilitate discussions for a greater understanding of how the work is meaningful for each team member

 Begin time together with why actions are being taken and how they relate to the overall purpose

 Ask teammates what difference the work makes in the lives of those you are serving

“The people who were trying to make this world worse are not taking the day off. Why should I?” – Bob Marley

We shouldn't. Connecting with the spark that brought us to the work we do keeps us in touch with the intrinsic value we see in it. We aren’t robots. We’re people driven by feelings, inspiration, and a sense of possibility. The meaning we select for these emotions connects us with our creativity. It connects us to the essence of humanity. The meaning matters!

Real World Story

Had the opportunity to work with our American military, who were training Afghans alongside NATO forces. An unfortunate incident called for a deeper understanding between all parties. We arranged a meeting with Afghan tribal leaders to discuss the meaning of our work together. To connect them to our purpose, we had first to understand theirs. It was a four-hour meeting where we drank tea and talked about our families. In the last two minutes of our time together, we had the opportunity to pitch a new way forward. By understanding their priorities, we created the space for them to understand ours. Connecting their meaning with ours no doubt saved lives. In my travels around the world, I’ve found that people generally want two things in their lives. They want to provide for their families and do something meaningful for the world. The work your team is doing is an opportunity to do both. Seeking first to understand each other before seeking to be understood helps create a team out of a group of people.

On Your Own

Reflect on what the work you’re doing means to you. How does it connect to your core values? How does it help provide for your family? How does it help others? This is your intrinsic motivation.

With Others

The “CEO” of your team isn’t the only person responsible for making a connection to the value of your work together. It’s everyone’s responsibilit y. During your time together, build in time to connect decisions and the resulting actions to your overall purpose and how it serves others. Waiting until the end of your time together waters down the connection to the impact you are having. Don’t wait. Asking for everyone’s connecti on to meaning along the way provides the necessary motivation for continued progress.

IMPACT: MAKING A DIFFERENCE TOGETHER

The story of the stonemasons is perfect for setting up the final aspect of highly effective teams.

A man was walking by a massive construction project. He came upon a worker and asked what he was doing. The worker replied, “I’m making a living” . Curious, the man kept walking. Soon he came upon a second worker and asked him what he was doing. This worker replied, “I’m doing the best job of stone cutting in the country.” Now he was getting somewhere. He kept walking until coming upon a third worker. He asked him the same question. The third worker replied, "We’re building a cathedral!” BOOM! That’s connection to the impact of the team! The first two workers replied with “I” and had relatively narrow views of their contributions. The third worker said “we” and knew exactly what the team was working on and why their efforts mattered. He communicated all that in just four words!

Once a vision is decided and work begins, team collaborations

are strengthened when we know how everyone's contributions add to the collective efforts.

Action Items for Impact

These action items are provided by Chapman & Co Leadership Institute, n.d:

 During each time together, relate the efforts to how they will make a difference

 Relate the impact you hope to have back to how it serves people by reducing frustration or making life easier for them

 Ask team members what their greatest system frustration is and how they would fix it

Real World Story

Had the opportunity to coach high school football for a few years. One of the coaches had a wonderful approach to helping players find their place. He ran a drill and told them to line up where they wanted. During the drill, the players self-adjusted where they lined up based on where they most effectively accomplished the objective. They instinctively knew how to move into the right positions to best help the team.

The journey of personal growth never stops. It’s a continuous process of learning, questioning, and application. It includes developing our contributions and becoming someone who gets work accomplished with others.

On Your Own

Reflect on your journey. Your journey as an individual contributor. Then think about how you're becoming someone who gets work done with others. Scan your most recent communicati on. Do you say “I” or “we” most often? The journey from “me” to “we” acknowledges you can’t go it alone. We need others for impact.

With Others

Run an experiment with your team. Describe the agreed-upon impact you hope to make with your endeavors and lay out the necessary tasks. Then let the team choose where they feel they are best suited. Take note of the natural energy they display in choosing. They may even select team members to collaborate with. Letting go of control gives others the freedom to go. They can use their creativity and imagination to accomplish what’s needed in a way we can’t anticipate or organize ahead of time.

BRINGING THE “BIG 5” TOGETHER

The information included here is based on the research of Google's "Project Aristotle," with some of my insights thrown in for fun. Now that we’ve dissected each aspect of highly effective teams, let’s see how they’re all connected . When team members feel safe to be vulnerable with each other (Psychological Safety), an environment where behaviors show evidence of their trustworthiness (Dependability) can flourish. With these in place, meaningful communication can lead to a deeper understanding of everyone's roles and responsibilities (Structure & Clarity). Team relationships are further developed by knowing how individuals personally connect to the work (Meaning) and the belief that they are making a difference in the world (Impact). It’s our hope you will take the time to dive deeper into these and find use for them with your teams. The "human" skills you employ will make an enormous difference in the experience you have together. It's less about who is on the team and more about how the team works together!

POSTSCRIPT

Working together as a team isn’t about being better than other teams. It’s not about winning. It’s not about beating out the competition. It’s about embracing our shared humanity. It’s about opportunity. The opportunity to develop our talents in concert with others. It’s not a “dog eat dog” world. Dogs don’t eat other dogs. If you beat out everyone else in your area and they go out of business or quit their endeavors, pretty soon, you lose the opportunity to develop your interests in that area any further. Your opportunity ceases to exist due to a lack of diversity. For example, McDonald’s needs others in the fast -food industry for their success.

During the COVID- 19 pandemic, Domino’s pizza franchise owners de cided to support local businesses because they knew they needed them to be successful for their success. They created an ad that ran nationally.

Domino’s decision is an excellent example of the social philosophy of UBUNTU (ooo-BOON-too). The story of this African social philosophy captures the essence of our shared humanity. An anthropologist was studying in an African village and decided to run a simple experiment. He put a basket of fruit below the largest tree in the village. He gathered all the children together and asked them to line up. He told them they were going to race to the basket of fruit. Whoever got there first could enjoy the fruit. They lined up, and the anthropologist said “Ready, set, go!” To his surprise, the children didn’t take off. Instead, they looked at one another, grabbed each other's hands, and made their way to the tree together. While they were all enjoying the fruit, he asked one of the children why they did that. The child responded, “How could any one of us be happy when everyone else is sad?” This is UBUNTU. The embracing of our shared humanity. Learning how to be human through others. UBUNTU teaches us that “I am only because you are.”

“If you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go far, go together. – African Proverb

REFERENCES AND RESOURCES

These references and resources appear in the order they are used in the publication.

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Forming, Storming, Norming, and Performing - From MindTools.com . (n.d.). Mind Tools. https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newLDR_86.htm

Peseschkian, N., & Maslow, A. (n.d.). Abraham Maslow . Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraham_Maslow

Teamwork 5 Dysfunctions . (n.d.). The Table Group. https://www.tablegroup.com/topics-and- resources/teamwork-5-dysfunctions/

Lencioni, P. (n.d.). Patrick Lencioni . The Table Group. https://www.tablegroup.com/pat/

Home . (2018, December 5). YouTube. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/growth-teams-maslows-hierarchy- needs-meets-lencionis-team-van-gerven/

Summitt, P., & Jenkins, S. (1999). Reach for the Summit: The Definite Dozen System for Succeeding at Whatever You Do . Broadway Books.

Menlo Innovations. (n.d.). Our Culture . Menlo Innovations. https://menloinnovations.com/our-way/our-culture TEDx. (2014, May 5). Building a psychologically safe workplace | Amy Edmondson | TEDxHGSE . YouTube. https://youtu.be/LhoLuui9gX8 Colin Powell Shares Wisdom on Leadership . (2022, February 23). YouTube. https://youtu.be/OdplXiQ3yuA Peters, G., & Woolley, J. T. (n.d.). Eisenhower's Urgent/Important Principle - Time Management Skills . Mind Tools. https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newHTE_91.htm

Bobby McFerrin Demonstrates the Power of the Pentatonic Scale . (2009, July 23). YouTube. https://youtu.be/ne6tB2KiZuk

Everybody Matters: A Documentary Short Based on the Best Selling Book . (2017, November 27). YouTube. https://youtu.be/or6YoXfHWSE

Google. (2014). re:Work . re:Work. https://rework.withgoogle.com/print/guides/5721312655835136/

Chapman & Co Leadership Institute. (n.d.). Guide to Effective Teams . HubSpot. https://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/5763083/Chapman%20&%20Co.%20Guide%20to%20Effective%20Teams.pd f

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