Work As One Team

There is a common phrase in the world of leadership, namely “work as one team.” It is quoted often when discussing culture. On one level, it is aspirational. But when asked what that looks like, the answers are pretty short or non-existent.

So, let’s unpack that phrase. The action word is “work”. The adjective is “one” and the key word is “team”.

Now pause for a moment and ask yourself this important: Why do people join teams? The question recognizes that before people work as one team, they have to join the team, not just be placed on the team.

The other phrase I often hear when discussing teams and culture is “there is no I in team.” However, people join teams because exceptional teams recognize and support the individuality of its players, i.e. the unique skill sets of each member of the team. 

As Marcus Buckingham wrote in his book, The One Thing You Need to Know ... About Great Managing, Great Leading, and Sustained Individual Success (Free Press, 2005): “To excel as a manager you must never forget that each of your direct reports is unique and that your chief responsibility is not to eradicate this uniqueness, but rather to arrange roles, responsibilities, and expectations so that you can capitalize upon it. The more you perfect this skill, the more effectively you will turn talents into performance.” As he further explained, “And teams … make homes for individuals…. The big thing is that only on a team can we express our individuality at work and put it to highest use.”

The key to helping people work as one team is to focus on creating a healthy team environment. For example, a gardener does not make the plant grow. They create the right conditions for the plant to choose to grow. 

When it comes to creating a healthy team environment, Patrick Lencioni in his book, The Advantage: Why Organizational Health Trumps Everything Else in Business (Jossey-Bass, 2012), defines healthy as minimal politics and confusion, a high degree of morale and productivity, and very low turnover among good employees. As he explains,“An organization simply cannot be healthy if the people who are chartered with running it are not behaviorally cohesive… If an organization is led by a team that is not behaviorally unified, there is no chance that it will become healthy.”

This week, focus on creating healthy team environments. It will make a major difference during the coming 2 - 3 years.

Geery Howe, M.A. Consultant, Executive Coach, Trainer in Leadership, Strategic Planning and Organizational Change, Morning Star Associates