How to make your team function well, today
Edition 3 Managing risk as teams go back to work
Is your team fully formed and functioning? And how do you know?
Or is your team stuck? Are you struggling to get them back in to the swing of things this year following the disruptions of 2020?
In this edition we are drawing on the Teams Module of our MDP which has some practical insights to inform how you might get your team to move forward successfully.
We know that just calling a group of people a “team” does not in practice transform them into a team: many of us need to understand more about teams before we can effectively contribute to them or lead them. This is particularly acute at present as we move to the next stage of this C-19 environment and teams may be recovering from suffering disruption and team leaders may be faced with new or different issues and may need new or different approaches from those they were using pre 2020.
As business regroups and enters the next stage of the C19 environment there is a heightened responsibility to manage the many risks involved – not least the people management risks. We are working with clients to equip their managers with tools and techniques to address them.
Our clients tell us the material is giving their managers knowledge and confidence to manage their teams well as we head into the uncertainties of 2021 and teams return to work in some way, shape or form.
“Just calling a group of people a “team” does not in practice transform them into a team.”
In our previous articles we outlined some of the key issues and risks facing businesses. These included things such as the challenges of hybrid teams, different skills developed or needed, ways of operating and thinking having changed as well as business goals.
Specifically, how does a team leader start to deal with managing such risks?
One way is to recognise that teams are rarely static even in the best of times. It is useful to think of each team as an entity which regularly changes and moves through different stages. Each of those stages may require something different from the team leader: and each increases the chance of moving successfully from a group of people to a high performing team. The good news? There are some very well tried and tested techniques available for us to do this effectively.
A powerful and easy-to-use framework is the Tuckman 4 Stages Model which suggests teams typically go through four stages of development and each stage requires something different from the team leader.
Applying Tuckman’s 4 Stages Model in 2021
Forming: This is where we start the transition from individual to team. In the early stages of a group coming together, or coming back together, there is often uncertainty about how to tackle the job at hand and who will do what. Some individuals may try to assert themselves and some impose their own ideas. Little attention may be paid to process. It is quite likely that a “post lockdown” team may be challenged by the five issues identified previously. The “old timers” may muscle in a bit – or alternatively be daunted by new joiners – and any still working remotely may feel left out. Perhaps no-one is very clear who is who, what is needed and what has changed?
Tip: This is where a team leader can benefit from taking what management guru, Ken Blanchard, calls a Directing approach. The leader is best advised to focus on clarification of goals, role and task allocation, and the establishment of some preliminary team ground rules – this should be the priority.
Storming: This is where (healthy) conflict can and should be expected. Typically, the group don’t find it easy to make decisions and won’t accept a working method without discussion and argument – perhaps especially those changes brought about from C19 or worse, they just want things to go back to how they were. Cliques and factions might develop. There is a danger of assuming everyone knows what the objectives are and then leaping straight into action without deciding how the task should be tackled. Some members of the group may be ignored, others may be anxious or even panic and feel this is no place for them.
Tip: This is often where inexperienced team leaders flounder. They work hard to avoid conflict just at the very time they should be encouraging it.
This is the time for the leader to facilitate vigorous debate – in a safe environment. Using a Coaching style, the leader can maintain a focus on goals, tasks and roles but at the same time start to explore relationships between team members as well as identifying the optimum behaviours and internal processes that will make the chemistry of this team work best. From this should emerge well tested ground rules and better understanding of where everyone fits in.
Norming: This is where we see true co-operation developing. Emerging from effective storming, a degree of consensus will be achieved over elements such as how the group should work together, including decision making and other processes. Behaviours move from arguing, defensiveness and competitiveness to respect, sharing and “can do”. The group starts to identify as a team. Commitment and unity develop strength as mutual respect develops amongst team members who understand their own and others functional roles and team roles – their unique strengths and weaknesses.
Tip: Typically, the leader adopts a Supporting style in this stage – there is less need to focus on tasks and more need to cultivate and support the interactions between roles that can be relied upon to deliver the goals. Recognition and reinforcement are important.
Performing: This is the productivity stage we all imagine good teams to be – and want our own to be! The move from norming to performing is often marked by the partial replacement of formal systems with trust and strong internal relationships – they rely on each other. The team is more strategically aware and knows exactly what it is doing, and why. There is a high sense of autonomy with the team working towards the clear goal and also looking after their own relationship, style and process issues along the way with clear sharing and decision making. Team members look after each other and leverage off each others’ strengths – they have fun!
Tip: The leader typically adopts a Delegating style in this stage and is freed to work on looking ahead to the next objectives as the team works fairly independently to deliver agreed outcomes.
A word of warning though: things can change. The leader must be alert to the impact of any internal or external changes. Team members come and go, business strategies alter, external environments cause disruption (not just C19 but what an example this has been) – and teams can move back through any of the four stages. Experienced managers recognise the tell tale signs of such risks and know to analyse which stage the team may have moved to and adapt an appropriate leadership style to accelerate the team back to a performing level.
Team leaders who can use this 4 Stages Model to help them select the appropriate techniques for bringing their team through challenges, will be well equipped to help their team perform well in any circumstances and increase not only individual team member satisfaction but also organisational performance.
Click here to download a 4 Stages of Team Development template and an Issues Checklist from our MDP to help your team leaders recognise which stage their teams may be in and what they need to do to move them to the Performing Stage we all want and need.
In our next update we’ll explore some other ways of supporting managers to deal with the challenges they are likely to face as business rebuilds in 2021 and they carry the responsibility of managing their team, delivering the task and developing the individuals.
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