In a true high-impact team, the output is much greater than the sum of the parts...
Ultimately, it’s about creating and maintaining relationships where no-one wants to let the other down. It’s a great feeling when colleagues genuinely pull together, tackle obstacles openly and maturely, and can celebrate big and small wins as a shared success.
Of course, most of us have known the discomfort of working in teams that don’t gel. Whether it’s an unaware leader or a team-wide inability to handle debate that’s to blame, poor team cohesion blights our happiness, our contribution and our productivity.
If it goes on long enough, it can be hard to believe that the dynamic will improve or that the creeping blame culture could ever give way to something more healthy.
But a poor-functioning team IS able to change, if we become more aware of the ‘why’ of poor team vibes.
Most teams have plenty of potential for high impact and better performance. They just haven’t recognised the true barriers yet, or don’t have the skills to navigate the troubles.
There are several factors at play in developing a high-performing team, and in our view, two of the biggest differentiators are a genuine respect for difference (contrasting personalities, approaches and working styles) and healthy communication patterns. Both can be improved for individuals and teams with the right awareness in place.
Before we explore them further, let’s talk about what else a great team needs:
All of Insights’ work is about understanding and respecting different working preferences. It’s a part of working life that we continuously explore, and help organizations, leaders and teams get to grips with. Recognition that each person likes/needs to work differently, a shared understanding of individual preferences and strengths and learning to navigate them is what we believe lies at the heart of team effectiveness.
Back to those all-important communication patterns. Even highly self-aware people have bad habits! Ideally, teams will undergo facilitated coaching on how to talk to each other maturely, avoiding toxicity, tension, drama and unhealthy behaviour choices. Using respectful, emotionally neutral language that transcends culture, generation or geography helps people connect better. Non-judgmental language means we don’t need to make conversations quite so personal and that makes for healthier debate, especially in high-pressure situations.
The Insights Discovery model for developing more awareness around this works on the basis that human behaviour can be described through four main colour energies: Fiery Red, Earth Green, Cool Blue and Sunshine Yellow.
These give us invaluable insights into people’s preferences and can reduce the frustration of miscommunication and unnecessary conflict. It helps us acknowledge our blind spots and how others perceive us in difficult moments, as well as on our good days.
Crucially, it helps colleagues redefine relationships with team members and learn how to communicate in a way that’s healthier and more resilient in times of stress and pressure.
Where some team members may be more logical, practical and factual in their approach (typically the Thinking preferences favoured by Fiery Red and Cool Blue), others (with the Feeling preferences of Sunshine Yellow and Earth Green) may lead with more empathy, sensitivity and creativity.
Understanding these working preferences and developing our interpersonal communication skills to adapt to them, even if it takes us out of our comfort zones, is one of the most powerful super-skills that team leaders and team members can acquire.
High-performing teams are non-negotiable for successful organisations. Insights teams solutions help you tackle your most pressing team challenges on two fronts: how your team likes to work together and how well they work together. They provide practical and sustainable tools to help your teams collaborate effectively for success today and long into the future...