Team temperature check

How ‘healthy‘ was your team pre- pandemic? Was it functioning well?

In my experience, teams that had dealt with challenges together before 2020 had built up some resilience to the ambiguity, stress and change that was to come with the pandemic.

On the other hand, teams that had been through dysfunctional change and challenges such as poorly managed restructuring, were already at a low ebb and the transition to remote working just added to an environment of low trust and poor commitment.

In truth, most of us are languishing somewhere in the middle of those two positions right now.

Over the next 5 weeks I will be looking at the work of bestselling author and leadership and team building expert Patrick Lencioni, and the steps he suggests taking around Trust, Conflict, Commitment, Accountability and Results to help teams recover and thrive.

This week you could start by taking a snapshot of how your team is functioning so that you can track progress. You can do this by observing and consulting the team. Take a note of some of the characteristics you associate with them. Are they happy, engaged, functional, bonded, collaborative, trusting and trustworthy? Or are they disengaged, conflict averse, negative, switched off, suspicious, lacking commitment and unfocused. Whatever the combination, try to note the attributes of your team specifically.

It is also worth noting at this point where some of the bottom-line items are at in your team. Productivity, innovation, customer satisfaction, improved retention rates and revenue growth can all be measured and compared later once you know your base line for each.

So, for now, let’s see where we are starting from and learn some lessons from looking back on this past year. Then we can get the team back to a functional place. A place that is psychologically safe, daring, challenging, accountable, harmonious, and supportive. Good for individuals, the team and for business.