“Distance and diversity, as well as digital communication and changing membership, make them [teams] especially prone to the problems of “us versus them” thinking and incomplete information,” writes Martine Haas and Mark Mortensen in their article called “The Secrets of Great Teamwork” (Harvard Business Review, June 2016). As they continue, “The solution to both is developing a shared mindset among team members - something team leaders can do by fostering a common identity and common understanding.”
In order to create a shared mindset, Haas and Mortensen explain that “High-performing teams include members with a balance of skills. Every individual doesn’t have to possess superlative technical and social skills, but the team overall needs a healthy dose of both.” This is an important point that many team leaders miss in their transition from being a team member to being a team leader. Most team leaders focus on technical skills and do not value the mix of technical and social skills.
Next, Haas and Mortensen note that “Larger teams are more vulnerable to poor communication, fragmentation, and free riding (due to a lack of accountability).” However, they point out an important solution to this problem. As they wrote, “Teams can reduce the potential for dysfunction by establishing clear norms - rules that spell out a small number of things members must always do (such as arrive at meetings on time and give everyone a a turn to speak) and a small number they must never do (such as interrupt)….. And in teams whose membership is fluid, explicitly reiterating norms at regular intervals is key.”
When we choose to establish these norms, we build the infrastructure for a shared mindset. When we choose to coach people and hold them accountable for their words and their actions, we continue to strengthen this infrastructure. And finally, when we choose to invest in training that creates common language, we further strengthen common identity and common understanding.
This week, review the above material with your team and discuss what are the norms that we must always do and the norms that we must never do. Then, you will all move forward in the right direction together.
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