At the beginning of each month, we will profile the ten articles from the previous month that generated the most traffic to Human-Centered Change & Innovation. Did your favorite make the cut?
But enough delay, here are July’s ten most popular innovation posts:
If you’re not familiar with Human-Centered Change & Innovation, we publish 4-7 new articles every week built around innovation and transformation insights from our roster of contributing authors and ad hoc submissions from community members. Get the articles right in your Facebook, Twitter or Linkedin feeds too!
Have something to contribute?
Human-Centered Change & Innovation is open to contributions from any and all innovation and transformation professionals out there (practitioners, professors, researchers, consultants, authors, etc.) who have valuable human-centered change and innovation insights to share with everyone for the greater good. If you’d like to contribute, please contact me.
P.S. Here are our Top 40 Innovation Bloggers lists from the last four years:
Keeping a team motivated is the one of the most important aspects of a leader’s job. It’s also one of the most misunderstood aspects of a leader’s job. Many organizations still equate “motivating your team” with “designing the right incentives.” But more than four decades of research into self-determination theory have revealed the limits of these types of extrinsic motivators and offers a wealth of insight into intrinsic motivation and how leaders can leverage it.
But even when expanding their perspective on motivation, many leaders still suffer from the misunderstanding of a binary choice between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. In reality, self-determination theory research suggests that motivation is better thought of as a spectrum with four points along the way: extrinsic, introjected, identified, and intrinsic.
In this article, we’ll outline these four forms of motivation and offer a glimpse at how to leverage the most overlooked form when motivating your team.
The Four Forms Of Motivation
1. Extrinsic Motivation
Extrinsic motivation refers to the external factors that drive individuals to take certain actions or adopt specific behaviors, whether it involves completing a task or achieving a personal objective. These external influences can take the form of rewards, promotions, prizes, and so on. Extrinsic motivation can work well in the short-term when the tasks being incentivized are clear and individuals know how to achieve them. However, extrinsic motivation often falls short in terms of providing genuine meaning. The impact of reward-based motivation tends to be inconsistent and frequently ineffective. In addition, when the path towards completion is unclear—extrinsic motivation tends to fall apart.
2. Introjected Motivation
Introjected motivation can be understood as an internalized form of motivation, similar to intrinsic motivation. However, it refers to a specific a sense of pressure to perform in order to receive validation or approval from significant individuals, such as bosses or influential colleagues. This type of motivation is more prevalent than commonly realized and impacts individuals in two distinct ways. First, individuals can be motivated to perform tasks to bolster their feeling of self-worth (introjected approach). Second, individuals can be motivated to perform tasks to avoid feelings of failure or diminished self-worth (introjected avoidance).
However, both forms of introjected motivation are difficult to sustain. In addition, introjected avoidance in particular can have long-term harmful effects—since it’s basically indistinguishable from emotional manipulation.
3. Identified Motivation
Identified motivation pertains to a type of motivation where individuals recognize or acknowledge the necessity of performing or completing a task, yet they have not yet taken action to fulfill this need. Identified motivation is what is felt when people may not be motivated to do a task but know that doing it is important. It is a potent form of motivation that primes individuals for action. And is especially powerful in a work context because relying on others to become motivated is generally impractical in most situations.
However, this form motivation is also quite underutilized because it requires connecting the work of an individual or team to something important enough to create a feeling of identified motivation. While most organizations have a mission or purpose statement—connecting specific tasks to that mission or purpose is often overlooked.
4. Intrinsic Motivation
Intrinsic motivation refers to internal drives that are subjective in nature, emerging from actions that align with personal values or bring pleasure in performing a task. It is experienced in the present moment when individuals engage in activities they find enjoyable or meaningful.
However, intrinsic motivation is subjective and can be challenging to manage and harness effectively, since so much depends on the specific person and what satisfies them. That is why, despite studies suggesting intrinsic rewards have a stronger motivating effect compared to extrinsic ones, there is no universally applicable method or approach.
Three Ways to Motivate Your Team
Looking at the entire spectrum of motivation, it’s pretty apparent that identified motivation is both powerful and underutilized for motivating your team. Intrinsic motivation is great, but it’s not possible all of the time. Some tasks are vital, just not enjoyable. When that is the case, identified motivation can become the motivator of choice. And there’s three specific ways to leverage identified motivation.
1. Provide Purpose
The first way to motivate your team through identified motivation is to provide purpose. Ultimately for introjected motivation to work, people have to feel the tasks they’ve been assigned are important. And the most effective way to help them feel that way is to demonstrate how they serve a bigger purpose. More specifically, connecting the team’s effort to a “prosocial purpose.” Identified motivation is most powerful when the tasks needing completion are seen as tasks that promote or protect the well-being of others (sometimes also called prosocial motivation). For leaders, this means answering the question “Who is served by the work that we do?” and then reminding the team of that answer on a regular basis.
2. Connect to Values
The second way to motivate your team through identified motivation is to connect to values. Once purpose is established, it’s important to make the shared values that undergird that purpose salient. You’re working for something specific in the world—because you share a certain set of values that dictate the change you’re working for. Those shared values can be a powerful way to leverage identified motivation when discussing seemingly unimportant tasks. Those tasks may not be enjoyable, but they’re critical to achieve the purpose and hence critical to staying aligned with shared values.
3. Add Autonomy
The third way to motivate your team through identified motivation is to add autonomy. For tasks that don’t have a specific set of instructions—and for tasks that are not intrinsically motivating—allowing people to have a say in the way they achieve the task can be a powerful way to motivate them. Autonomy is a powerful motivator not only because it allows individuals to adjust their tasks into ways they may find enjoyable, but also because it eliminates the feeling of manipulation that people may have experienced when they’ve felt introjected motivation in the past.
Motivating your team can be tricky—much of the common practice in organizations seeks to leverage less powerful, more difficult forms of motivation. But by focusing on intrinsic and identified motivation, you can give your team a renewed zeal and help them do their best work ever.
With work and life becoming more intertwined than ever, people increasingly seek purpose through work. So, leaders are being called upon to create a sense of purpose on a team. When team members feel that their work is connected to a larger company-wide purpose, they are more motivated and perform better. This gives managers and leaders an opportunity to facilitate work environments that provide the sense of purpose people need to thrive.
In this article, we will explore five effective ways to create a sense of purpose on a team, ensuring that everyone is aligned and driven towards a common goal.
Give The “It’s A Wonderful Life” Test
The first way to create a sense of purpose on a team is to give the “It’s A Wonderful Life Test.” This test is derived from reflecting on the movie It’s a Wonderful Life and its premise. In the movie, the main character, George Bailey, is saved from committing suicide by an angel. Clarence (worst name for an angel ever) shows how different his community would be if George had never existed. This test doesn’t get as morbid as the movie, but the idea is to run a thought experiment that leads the team to examine its importance by considering the impact of its absence. By applying this test to your team, you can gain a deeper understanding of who is served by their work and the significance of their contributions. This knowledge allows them to see the value they bring to the organization and the difference they make in the lives of others.
Draft a Rallying Cry
The second way to create a sense of purpose on a team is to draft a rallying cry. A rallying cry is a powerful tool that embodies the team’s purpose and serves as a motivational phrase that everyone on the team knows. It should be simple, catchy, and inspiring. Many successful teams have used rallying cries to unite their members and keep them focused on their shared purpose. For example, the San Antonio Spurs adopted the rallying cry “pound the rock,” tapping into the imagery of a stonecutter hitting away at a rock hundreds of times before it finally cracks. They use it as a powerful reminder that the day-to-day strain of training and drilling hundreds of times is what brings victory. By creating a rallying cry that resonates with the team’s purpose, you can foster a strong sense of unity and motivation.
Create Team Symbols
The third way to create a sense of purpose on a team is to create team symbols. Symbols are visual representations that embody the team’s purpose and values. They serve as reminders of the team’s mission and can help team members stay connected to their sense of purpose. They can be visual symbols, objects, gestures, or anything else that can contains a meaning specific to the team—even better if it can tie into the rallying cry. To use the San Antonio Spurs again, their practice facility contains a powerful symbol—a boulder and sledgehammer displayed behind glass. Players walk by it before every practice. Your team may not have as elaborate a symbol. But anything that can remind the team of its rallying cry can help build a sense of purpose on a team. And as a bonus, you can reinforce a sense of shared identity on the team as well.
Collect Impact Stories
The fourth way to create a sense of purpose on a team is to collecting impact stories. Stories are one of the most powerful ways humans communicate—and hence they’re a powerful way to highlight the team’s successes and reinforce their sense of purpose. Impact stories can come from various sources, such as media coverage, customer testimonials, or thank you notes. But managers and leaders play a crucial role in collecting these stories and sharing them with the team. Ideally, every positive email or story in the media that aligns with either the team’s or the organization’s purpose gets captured so it can be shared at regular meetings. By regularly sharing impact stories, team members can see the tangible results of their work and the positive impact they have on others. This boosts their morale and motivation, reminding them of the importance of their contributions and the purpose behind their efforts.
Outsource Inspiration
The final way to create a sense of purpose on a team is to outsource inspiration. Outsourcing inspiration involves bringing in individuals who have been directly impacted by the team’s work to share their stories. It’s like collecting impact stories but amplified. Hearing firsthand accounts of how their work has made a difference can be incredibly motivating for team members. For example, medical device company Medtronic invites patients to their annual holiday party to share how the company’s technology helps them live better. When team members see the real-world impact of their efforts, it reinforces their sense of purpose and reminds them of the importance of their work. It also provides an opportunity for them to connect with the people they are serving, fostering empathy and a deeper understanding of their purpose.
Creating a sense of purpose on a team is crucial for its success. By using the “It’s a Wonderful Life” test, drafting a rallying cry, creating team symbols, collecting impact stories, and outsourcing inspiration, teams can foster a strong sense of purpose and motivation. These activities should be ongoing to maintain a sense of purpose and drive within the team, motivating them to do their best work ever.
Creating shared identity on a team is crucial to building a high-performing one. Shared identity refers to the extent to which team members feel the same sense of who they are as a designated group. It indicates whether or not individual members truly feel like this is the team they’re a part of and most loyal to.
Decades of social science research have shown that individuals make sense of their world by applying categories and labels to their environment—including themselves and the people around them. “Team” is one such label, and it carries great importance, because when we identify with a particular group, that group shapes our own identity and behavior.
A strong shared identity on a team reduces conflict, standardizes norms of behavior, increases cohesion and collaboration, and ultimately enhances team performance. In this article, we will explore four key actions that leaders can take to foster a shared identity within their teams.
1. Start With Purpose
The first action in creating shared identity on a team is to start with purpose. Understanding the purpose of the team’s work and how it aligns with the organization’s mission is the first step in creating a shared identity. For most teams, this isn’t about restating or even remembering the larger organization’s mission statement. It’s about how their specific work relates to that overall mission. More importantly, it’s about who is positively affected by the team working well together.
One question to distill this “who” is simple, asking the team “Who is served by the work that we do?” By answering that, team members can gain a deeper understanding of the impact they have on the organization and the people they serve. And when team members recognize the significance of their contributions, they are more likely to feel motivated and engaged/ Identifying the specific group of people that benefit from the team’s performance allows team members to connect their work to real-world outcomes and identify with the team to realize those outcomes.
2. Build On Values
The second action in creating shared identity on a team is to build on values, meaning to determine the team’s specific values and how they want to treat each other. By identifying the values that the team wants to emphasize in their interactions, team members can establish a common set of principles to guide their behavior. Or as Seth Godin is fond of saying, it’s about emphasizing that “people like us, do things like this.”
The other benefit of discussing values is that it establishes the compromises that the team would never make in serving their purpose. By defining the non-negotiables, team members can align their actions and decisions with the team’s values. And as team members internalize those non-negotiables, they start to identify with the values underlying them and align their behavior accordingly. Not surprisingly, identifying more and more with those values helps them identify more strongly with the team that wrote them.
3. Focus On Goals
The third action in creating a sense of shared identity on a team is to focus on goals. By breaking down the team’s purpose and values into specific goals, team members can have a clear understanding of what they are working towards. These goals should be challenging yet achievable, providing team members with a sense of purpose and direction. Sometimes these goals, objectives, or key performance indicators are handed to the team from higher up in the organization. But even then, it’s important to have a team-wide discussion about the assignments and create milestones and sub-goals collectively to build a plan of action.
Setting the team’s goals for completion lays the groundwork for setting the individual goals team members will use to hold each other accountable. When team members have personal goals that contribute to the overall team goals, they are more likely to feel invested in the team’s success. And when those goals are achieved and celebrated, shared identity grows even more. By acknowledging and celebrating achievements, team members feel valued and recognized for their contributions. This fosters a sense of camaraderie and encourages continued collaboration and success.
4. Define Habits
The final action in creating a sense of shared identity is to define habits. Habits here means establishing norms and behaviors for communication and collaboration within the team. It’s about building group norms and expectations. Defining habits means agreeing to use certain communication tools and deciding how they will be utilized. By establishing guidelines for email, instant messaging, and other communication platforms, team members can ensure effective and efficient communication. This reduces misunderstandings and promotes collaboration.
Defining habits has a secondary benefit similar to building on values discussed above. As people share in the process of defining habits, they take greater ownership over the finished set of norms. And as their actions align more strongly with the group norms, their sense of identity with that team grows stronger as well. Overtime, they start to feel less like they act in a certain way because it was laid out in the group norms and more like they act a certain way because “that’s just what we do.” The “we” here being a short but strong signal of shared identity.
Creating shared identity on a team is crucial for achieving success. By starting with purpose, building on values, focusing on goals, and defining habits, leaders can foster a sense of belonging and connection among team members. This leads to a more focused, cohesive, and productive team. By implementing these four actions, leaders can create an environment where team members work together towards common goals and in pursuing those goals, do their best work ever.
At the beginning of each month, we will profile the ten articles from the previous month that generated the most traffic to Human-Centered Change & Innovation. Did your favorite make the cut?
But enough delay, here are May’s ten most popular innovation posts:
If you’re not familiar with Human-Centered Change & Innovation, we publish 4-7 new articles every week built around innovation and transformation insights from our roster of contributing authors and ad hoc submissions from community members. Get the articles right in your Facebook, Twitter or Linkedin feeds too!
Have something to contribute?
Human-Centered Change & Innovation is open to contributions from any and all innovation and transformation professionals out there (practitioners, professors, researchers, consultants, authors, etc.) who have valuable human-centered change and innovation insights to share with everyone for the greater good. If you’d like to contribute, please contact me.
P.S. Here are our Top 40 Innovation Bloggers lists from the last four years:
The New Zealand All Blacks’ rugby team exemplifies high performance through a blend of deep cultural traditions, continuous improvement, and exceptional teamwork. Renowned for their winning legacy, the All Blacks have harnessed their unique team ethos and operational strategies to maintain dominance in international rugby.
Deep Dive into the All Blacks’ Team Dynamics
1. The Essence of Their High Performance Culture: At its core, the All Blacks’ success is driven by a strong team culture that emphasizes collective responsibility and personal excellence. Each player is selected not only for their athletic prowess but also for their ability to contribute to the team’s ethos, which is famously encapsulated by the mantra, “Better People Make Better All Blacks.”
2. Leadership and Collective Responsibility: The team operates under a shared leadership model where senior players are tasked with mentoring younger teammates, fostering a sense of responsibility and continuity. This structure enhances cohesion and ensures that the team’s values are imparted effectively across generations.
3. Continuous Cultural and Performance Improvement: Inspired by the concept of ‘Kaizen’, or continuous improvement, the All Blacks strive to enhance every aspect of their performance, from on-field strategies to mental preparation. This approach keeps them adaptable and competitive, regardless of the evolving nature of the game.
Lessons from the All Blacks’ Team Strategies
1. Unity and Shared Vision: The All Blacks’ unity is their strength. A shared vision guided by their cultural values leads to cohesive team efforts. Leaders can learn the importance of aligning team members towards a common goal and the powerful impact of a united front.
2. Cultural Legacy and Identity: The integration of cultural rituals like the Haka into their routine not only intimidates opponents but also strengthens their identity and resolve. This teaches leaders the value of embracing and promoting a unique team identity to enhance solidarity and pride.
3. Mental Toughness and Resilience: The mental preparation of players to handle high-pressure situations is a testament to their resilience. Developing mental toughness is crucial for teams to perform under pressure.
4. Adaptability and Tactical Innovation: The All Blacks’ ability to adapt their game plan in real-time according to the situation on the field underscores the importance of flexibility and innovation in achieving superior results.
5. Empowerment and Accountability: Empowering players to take ownership of their roles and the outcomes teaches accountability and encourages individual contribution to the team’s success.
Reflecting on the All Blacks’ Approach to High Performance
While the cultural and operational strategies of the All Blacks are deeply integrated into the fabric of New Zealand rugby, they provide universal lessons on building and sustaining high performance teams. The key is not merely in adopting specific tactics but in cultivating an environment that promotes continuous improvement, unity, and resilience.
Key Insights for Leaders:
Building a high performance team requires more than skills; it requires cultivating a shared culture and identity that can inspire and unify team members.
Flexibility in strategies and adaptability in execution are critical to staying competitive and relevant.
Continuous improvement and learning are essential for sustaining high performance and should be integral to the team’s operation.
The All Blacks’ method, though deeply rooted in the specific context of rugby and New Zealand culture, offers great insights for leaders in any field aiming to build high performance teams.
Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons
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It’s unclear where the metaphor got started. In fact, it probably didn’t start as a metaphor (“we are a family”); it probably started as a simile (“we are like a family”). Some well-meaning executive somewhere described the company culture as feeling like a family. (That a high-powered CEO would feel like the paternalistic chief of anything is a dilemma for a different article).
Over time, more and more corporate leaders started using “like family” until logically one decided to take it to the next level and skip the “like” altogether boasting “we’re a family.”
But a company is not a family.
And further a company shouldn’t be a family.
When companies began to overuse the family analogy, results are rarely positive. Instead, pushing for family levels of commitment can actually do damage to the culture. And in this article, we’ll outline the ways that the “family” metaphor can lead to dysfunction. As well as the steps team leaders can take to transform their dysfunctional fake families back into the thriving work teams they were trying to build in the first place.
[Watch the Video Above or Keep Scrolling to Read]
What Happens When We’re “Family”
Misusing the “family” metaphor at work can lead to several ways employees get abused. Three in particular stand out.
1. Work/Life Boundaries Get Blurred
Many of the organizations that emphasize the family feel end up taking actions that blur the lines between work and life for most employees. This was seen much more often before the pandemic, when companies flouted free food, dry cleaning, endless parties, and all sorts of amenities designed to make life as easy as possible—as long as you never left work. But that became a problem unto itself. Employees never left work, opting to spend more and more time with their “work family” but never getting the downtime needed to be sustainably productive.
Committed Employees Get Taken Advantage Of
When companies or even team leaders overemphasize the family metaphor, the next logical step is asking for family-level committed from employees. This creates a lot of opportunities for leaders to take advantage of employees. One project after another gets taken on, without considering existing commitments and making it difficult for employees to say no. Beyond overload, over-committed employees can also be asked to commit more and more unethical actions. When the survival of the company—sorry, the family—is a stake, employees can feel pressured to use any means necessary. See Theranos or WeWork for two recent examples.
3. Departing Employees Get Labeled as Betrayers
If those employees decide the don’t like blurry boundaries (around work and life or around ethics) and choose to move on—that creates a whole new issue. In organizations that overemphasize family, it becomes easy to label to departures as a form of betrayal. It’s not uncommon for companies to cut off all communication with former employees and instruct their people to do the same. Beyond being just plain wrong, this mindset can actually limit a company—since research shows former colleagues that stay connected become potent sources new knowledge for each other and their new employers.
What’s Wrong With Team?
The intent behind labeling a company as a family might have been noble. We want a strong culture or people bonded to each other and pushing each other to new levels of performance. But if that’s what we want, what’s wrong with just calling that a team? Strong teams deliver exactly that. And whether you’re in a company that’s abusing the family metaphor or not, here’s a few actions you can take to build a stronger team.
1. Redefine Purpose
One of the reasons for choosing the family metaphor was a poorly executed attempt at bonding teams and organizations together. But just saying you’re a family doesn’t build bonds. Instead, research suggests that one of the most potent ways to bond a team is by pointing to super-ordinate goals—goals so big they require collaboration. And for organizations, the super-ordinate goal is most often the stated purpose or mission. But even here, there’s work to be done. Most organizations write lofty mission statements that are difficult for employees to connect with. It falls on team leaders to translate that lofty purpose into one that bonds and motivates. And the best way to do that is to redefine it from a big and bold “why” (why do we do what we do?) to a specific “who” (who is helped by the work that we do).
2. Encourage Boundaries
Despite what it may seem like at first, committed employees isn’t always a positive. The line between committed and over-committed people is incredibly thin. Many managers think they want people who will work until the project is done—arriving early and staying late if need be. But the truth is that in a modern economy, work is never done. So, the only way to stay sustainably productive is to make sure every employee enjoys down time as well. More and more companies are experimenting with ways to encourage boundaries such as forbidding after hours email, moving to four-day workweeks, and even paying people to take their vacation time. And results all suggest the same thing: time away from work makes work better.
3. Celebrate Departures
No matter how committed employees are some of them will move on. New opportunities present themselves. Life changes happen. And so do plenty of other reasons for an employee to look elsewhere. In the face of this inevitability, treating departures like betrayals never made sense. Instead, departures ought to be celebrated. Employees who leave on good terms ought to be seen as alumni representing the organization even in their new endeavors. In addition to information, departing employees become a powerful new source of referrals for new hires too. There is no better recruiter than a satisfied former employee now working in a new company talking with their potentially dissatisfied new colleagues. In addition, treating employees well as they’re departing has a motivating effect on the employees who stay, as they watch how positively their former colleagues were treated and trust that they’ll be treated the same one day too.
Calling your company a family, may have been a well-meaning metaphor, but it hasn’t been a very useful one. Most employees don’t want a dysfunctional family. They want a team that’s bonded through purpose and built on trust and respect. They don’t want to be seen as family one day and divorced family the next. They want to know their contribution was valuable even after they leave. They don’t want leaders who over-commit and abuse them.
They want leaders who help them do their best work ever.
Image credit: David Burkus
Originally published on LinkedIn on December 9, 2021
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One of the most fascinating concepts in the study of teamwork and collaboration is the concept of collective intelligence—the idea that when teams collaborate exceptionally well, they tap into a reservoir of knowledge and abilities that exceed the sum of each individual’s capability. Research led by Anita Williams Wooley helped solidified this theory with evidence that some teams truly did perform better than merely the average of the individual team member’s abilities.
Perhaps more surprisingly, teams who managed to achieve collective intelligence did so on a variety of tasks—even tasks for which some teams had individual members whose knowledge and abilities were uniquely suited. In other words, talent didn’t make the team. The team made the talent.
But taking a team from individually talented to collectively intelligent can be tricky. In this article, we’ll outline what makes a team smarter through five evidence-based actions.
1. Leverage Diversity
The first action that makes a team smarter is to leverage diversity. It’s undeniable at this point that diverse teams perform better than homogenous ones. However, many teams and organizations achieve a level of diversity but fail to experience the benefits. Simply put they’re not leveraging diversity. The reason is that diversity in its commonly used definition (racial, ethnic, gender, etc.) is intended to lead to an intellectual diversity on the team. But often it doesn’t. New members join the team and increase the surface level diversity but either don’t bring different perspectives or don’t feel safe and included enough to express their different perspectives. Great teams leverage diversity by creating the psychological safety that allows those differing ideas and opinions. And in doing so make the whole team smarter.
2. Build Empathy
The second action that makes a team smarter is to build empathy. And when seeking to leverage diversity, building empathy isn’t a suggested action but a requirement. Building empathy on work teams doesn’t mean the same as empathy in personal relationships—teams don’t have to get to the level of empathy where they feel each other’s pain. But they do need to understand the different perspectives, preferences, and contexts of their teammates. And more importantly, they have to recognize the validity of those perspectives and preferences even if they disagree. This type of empathy is built through exercises that draw out those differences—it could be personality testing and group discussion, but it could also be in holding team charter meetings or sharing “manuals of me.” These exercises not only draw out differences, but they create a set of team norms that help the team perform and make the whole team smarter.
3. Take Turns Sharing
The third action that makes a team smarter is to take turns sharing. While teams are building those norms, enforcing conversational turn taking will likely be one of the most effective ones. That’s because Wooley’s research suggests turn taking in conversation is one of the strongest correlated actions to the experience of collective intelligence. But most teams don’t do this. Instead, they defer to the “hippo” (highest paid person’s opinion), or they allow a few over-talkers to dominate every meeting. High-performing, collectively intelligent teams do the opposite. They have rules and rhythms in place to ensure that everyone on the team is given an equal chance to share their input. And their leaders don’t make decisions without knowing they’ve heard from everyone. Doing so makes the leader’s decision better because it makes the whole team smarter.
4. Listen Actively
The fourth action that makes a team smarter is to listen actively. It’s great to take turns and make sure everyone has a chance to speak, but unless they’re truly heard the team doesn’t get any smarter. And unless they feel truly heard, they likely won’t feel comfortable sharing much longer. That means making sure each member of the team is committed to actively listening and responding with respect when others share. On teams, leaders model the way on active listening. When leaders make consistent eye contact and use nonverbals to demonstrate connection, they train others on the team to do so. And when leaders resist the urge to jump in and share immediately, and instead ask follow-up questions that draw more information out, their behavior often gets copied on the team. That helps everyone feel their perspective is valued and makes the whole team smarter.
5. Equalize Status
The fifth action that makes a team smarter is to equalize status. As we’ve discussed above, often what shuts down a conversation and keeps a team from being collectively intelligent is defaulting to the highest status person in the room—whether it’s the leader or an over-talker. That person speaking too early or too forcefully in the conversation sets a tone that everyone else is responding too and can often trigger self-censoring behaviors in teammates. That’s why high-performing, collectively intelligent teams create methods to equalize status and reinforce the idea that—as long as we’re in discussion—all ideas are of equal value. Some teams even use symbols or gestures (like removing titles or status markers) to reinforce equality. When teams create a feeling of equal status on a team, the discussion gets better and the whole team gets smarter.
And as a team leader, the actions taken to equalize status are likely the best place to start. Equal teams are better able to leverage diversity and build empathy. Equal teams are more likely to take turns sharing and demonstrate active listening. Focusing on equalizing status first makes it more likely the team is able to tap into collective knowledge—to truly be smarter. And when teams get smarter they make it more likely everyone on the team can do their best work ever.
So much of the struggle of working on teams comes down to one key task: getting a team aligned. Aligned teams lead to better engagement, performance, and retention. Getting and keeping a team aligned is a key task for leaders at all levels. But recognizing the importance of alignment is a lot easier than actually getting everyone on the same page.
Team alignment means everyone contributes toward a shared goal, understands their assigned tasks, and sees how their work fits into the team’s work. But teams are composed of people and people bring their own individual goals, desired tasks, and sense of contribution that may or may not fit well with others.
In this article, we will explore how to get a team aligned across five steps of creating, and then keeping alignment.
Step 1: Start from Purpose
The first step in how to get a team aligned is starting from purpose. Before setting a plan of action, goals, and key performance indicators, teams need to focus on the reason they’re working on that project. This begins with the organizational mission, as it sets the tone for the team’s purpose and helps everyone understand the bigger picture. Once the mission is defined, it can be translated into a team-wide purpose—a clearly defined statement of why that team’s work is important and how it fits into the organizational mission.
Starting from purpose is key to keeping the team motivated and providing them with task significance that helps them stay focused when the day-to-day tasks get tedious or strenuous. But starting from purpose also helps teams deal with change. Changes are going to happen to the team—internal and external changes are going to force the team to pivot. But if everyone on the team has a clear picture of the team-wide purpose, then they can pivot quickly and still trust they’re making progress on their purpose.
Step 2: Establish Priorities
The second step in how to get a team aligned is establishing priorities. Once the end goal is defined, the team can turn its attention to getting there. Any project carries with it dozens of tasks and subtasks that have to be arranged in a specific order—and that bring with them a certain level of importance. That’s what establishing priorities is all about. Once the tasks are identified, they should be ranked in order of importance. This ranking should be communicated to the team, so everyone understands what tasks are most important and what they should be working on.
Just like starting from purpose, establishing priorities helps keep the team focused and updated on changes. When those inevitable changes happen, they may or may not affect the ranking of priorities. So, in the face of changes, leaders need to be clear on what tasks stay critical, what new tasks are important, and what tasks were lowered. In this way, keeping priorities clear is vital to keeping a team aligned.
Step 3: Set Team Goals
The third step in how to get a team aligned is setting team goals. With purpose in focus and priorities set, it’s time to map out how the team will act on their plan. Some teams use complex metrics like KPIs and OKRs. But if you don’t know what either acronym stands for that’s okay. Fundamentally, setting team goals involves working backwards from completion and creating milestones that will be used to monitor progress, provide feedback, and create moments of celebration.
Whatever system is used, leaders need to ensure people know what the most important goals are, as well as how they’re being measured. And leaders need to ensure people know what is expected of them and by when, and how it fits into the series of cascading goals. This makes holding teammates accountable for performance easier—but it also makes it easier for everyone to celebrate their own wins and the wins of their teammates.
Step 4: Hold Regular Huddles
The fourth step in how to get a team aligned is holding regular huddles. Huddles are the quick meetings team members have on a regular basis to “work out loud” and keep everyone updated on progress and potential roadblocks. It helps keep everyone on the same page and ensures that everyone is aware of what is happening. How often these huddles happen depends on the team and the project.
Regardless of frequency, one easy format for leaders to adopt in their huddles centers around three questions: what did I just complete?, what am I focused on next?, and what is blocking my progress? When each person on the team provides an answer to each question, then everyone on the team gets a status update, gets to know how their work fits into the work of others, and gets to ask for and offer help across the team.
Step 5: Check-in Often
The final step in how to get a team aligned is checking in often—and this happens on the individual level from leaders to individual teammates. Check-ins help leaders keep tabs on progress, give coaching, and align individual goals with team and organizational goals. And Check-Ins keep team members motivated and ensure that everyone is working towards the same goals.
In addition to team-wide huddles, regular one-on-one meetings should be held with team members to discuss progress, challenges, and individual goals. Leaders should encourage transparency and honesty during these meetings. This helps them understand what is happening and how they can help. This is also a great time to have more forward-looking conversations about the individual’s career goals and ambitions and how the current projects can help serve as development opportunities for them. The information gathered during Check-In meetings can be used to get team members more meaningful work and keep them motivated.
Team alignment is crucial for the success of any team. By starting from purpose, establishing priorities, setting team goals, holding regular huddles, and checking in often at the individual level, leaders can keep their team aligned and performing at their best. An aligned team is a team that helps everyone do their best work ever.
At the core of teamwork is the need to solve problems. And when generating solutions, the more diverse a team you have, the more ideas you can generate. Sort of. The rationale behind diversity being a strength on teams is solid. When you’ve built a team of various perspectives, experiences, skills, and abilities, each person brings that variety into discussions and more diverse ideas get generated. More ideas mean a better chance of finding the perfect solution.
But that’s not always what happens.
It turns out that diversity alone is not enough to turn a team of very different individuals into a very effective one. In fact, research suggests diversity alone on a team can actually diminish performance. It’s diversity, paired with a feeling of that diversity being valued that matters. In other words, its diversity plus inclusion.
In this, article, we’ll outline four ways to build inclusive teams to turn diversity into the strength we know it can be.
1. Share Information
The first way to build inclusive teams is to share information. There is no easier way to make people feel excluded than to give them the impression that others on the team or in the organization are getting access to more information and opportunities than they are. Saying that a certain bit of intel is on a “need to know” basis immediately makes people question why they “don’t need to know.” But the opposite is also true, when people receive what they perceive to be privileged intel, they feel like they matter and that they’re included.
For leaders, this means the goal should be to share information as liberally as possible. It means the default reaction to receiving new information should be to share it with your team. Obviously, there will always be information you receive and aren’t permitted to share. But unless it’s expressly stated that something is off limits, seek to share it on your team. Likewise, encourage others to share, and even over-share, information they receive. This not only helps the team feel more inclusive, but it also helps everyone make better decisions as well.
2. Build Trust
The second way to build inclusive teams is to build trust. Without trust, a team isn’t really a team. It’s just a bunch of strangers who work alongside each other. And without trust, there’s no way to foster inclusivity because there’s no one willing to be vulnerable, share differing opinions, or admit mistakes. Inclusive teams bring out the best ideas because people feel that they can be themselves—and that requires some level of prior trust built up before the act of expression.
For leaders, building trust often requires you to go first in being vulnerable. When you’re willing to admit mistakes (or even just that you don’t know) and when you share unknown qualities about you, the people on your team recognize that you are trusting them with that information. And some of them will respond in kind—and then when they’re vulnerable, others will respond in kind as well. Eventually, through this cycle of vulnerability and acceptance—you’ll take the trust on your team to a whole new level.
3. Train Respect
The third way to build inclusive teams is to train respect. It’s not enough just to be vulnerable and step out in trust. That act of vulnerability needs to be met with acceptance. In other words, people need to feel their trusting moment was respect. They need to feel that their opinions are respected, that their ideas aren’t quickly judged, and that their self-expressions aren’t being ridiculed. Some on the team may unconsciously signal respect already, but some may unconsciously signal disrespect, judgment or worse. Many times, people don’t know the response they make is perceive as disrespectful to the person who was vulnerable.
For leaders, this means modeling the way by demonstrating what respectful responses look like. Research suggests the number one reason for incivility in the workplace is leaders NOT being enough of a positive role model to train others. When teammates are sharing opinions—model active listening. When people share differing ideas—ask them questions inside of making judgements. Recognize when someone is stepping out in trust and meet that trust with respect in a way that all can see. Because when they can see you respecting others, they learn how to respond themselves.
4. Create Safety
The fourth way to build inclusive teams is to create safety. Safety here doesn’t refer to creating a “safe space.” There are no safe spaces—only safe people. Safety refers to psychological safety—a climate where team members feel safe to express themselves and take risks. (You could almost say that inclusion and psychological safety are synonymous—almost.) And while trust and respect make up a lot of psychological safety—how teams and individuals respond to setbacks, mistakes, and failures is a third crucial element. For people to feel accepted and included, they must know that you include their occasional failures and mistakes. And more importantly, creating psychological safety helps teams adopt a growth mindset and share in lessons from those mistakes as well.
For leaders, responding to failures happens in two different ways. The first is how you admit mistakes to your team. Do you seek to blame someone on the team, organization, or environment? Or do you take ownership and also share what you learned? The second is how you respond to mistakes on your team. Do you ask questions to find the learning moments, or do you focus solely on how the team can “make up for it”? Creating safety requires re-framing failure as a learning moment—your failures and also the team’s failures.
Speaking of failures, there will be some failures along the way toward building a more inclusive team. It’s going to take time. But as these four methods become habits, the team will rise in trust and respect and so will the feeling of inclusion. And when they’re feeling included, the whole team will be able to do their best work ever.
Image credit: Unsplash
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