Do your teams hit the ground running?
We are constantly being thrown into new work teams and projects, with the expectation that we will gel and become productive almost instantly. The reality is that team forming needs accelerators. I’ve experienced a vast array of team forming practices and exercises and have observed some best practices.
1. Always invest in team forming. My experience is that project leaders frequently invest no time in team forming. The pressure to get moving to clarify scope and assign deliverables causes this to get skipped. For me this is a mistake, the mindset should be “go slow to go fast”.
2. Exercises don’t have to take long. I find a well-prepared session that requires participants to complete 20-30 minutes prework plus one hour facilitated group session is very effective. The content of the session should focus on points 3-5.
3. Create personal empathy. We relate as humans and will be more accommodating, supportive and engaged if we see each other as more than team members. During team forming get people to share 1-2 formative work experiences and 1 thing that brings joy outside of work e.g. family, pets, pastimes, hobbies. Don’t waste time on lists of education and employment, LinkedIn has that. And remember, you should be reading professional profiles routinely before any meeting with a new contact.
4. Find out what team members are good at and what they like to do. We so often rely on assumptions based on a resume-like assessment. What we need to know is what your collaborators are good at and what they like to do. If you can align work within the group with passion and skill great things will happen. I have a Chemistry PhD but frankly I’m more engaged and effective creating frameworks, writing slides and telling stories than analyzing science and technology. Teams that know that will get more value out of me.
5. Find out what team members don’t like and share hot buttons. Knowing what makes people bored, mad and frustrated is critical. I tell people I can lose attention in discussions because the conversation in my own head can be distracting - and if I know it’s a team member hot button, I try even harder to stay engaged!
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