As organizations begin to plan for what’s next in this uncertain post-pandemic time, they may want to look to their successful teams in creating that playbook. What we have learned from this crisis, is that it has either strengthened and galvanized some organizations or crippled and/or shut-down others. One contributing factor to successful companies, is creating and cultivating high-performing teams. In our experience with clients, we find that the “secret sauce” in creating a high performing team includes, strong talent, high employee engagement, clear strategy, and productive team dynamics.
Of the four, team dynamics is the one that organizations seem to most often overlook and neglect. Business author Patrick Lencioni has called teamwork “the ultimate competitive advantage, both because it is so powerful and so rare.”
What’s more: team dynamics may actually be the easiest driver of team performance for organizations to improve. Our team-connect process, for example, has helped dozens of organizations strengthen the dynamics—and performance—of their key teams.
What is team dynamics? BusinessDictionary.com defines it as “the behavioral relationships between members of a group that are assigned connected tasks within a company.”
Teams with strong and productive dynamics share many qualities, including:
To show why team dynamics are so important, let’s take a look at four benefits of having productive team dynamics.
On teams with strong dynamics, team members have clarity regarding their roles, the scope of their responsibilities and how they interact with and hand-off work to others. This reduces mistakes, rework and frustration. When mistakes are made, these teams will also appropriately communicate and hold one and other accountable to quickly debrief and learn from those mistakes.
Clarity of responsibilities, expectations and goals—all hallmarks of teams with strong dynamics—helps teams be effective and efficient.
It’s why we make communication a core part of our team-connect approach. We give team leaders a platform for clearly communicating project and initiative expectations and deadlines, as well as provide team members the opportunity to ensure that they have the resources and support to meet and manage deadlines.
Team success and confidence in leadership are connected. Teams that make fewer mistakes and meet more deadlines than average are going to feel more organized and well-run—with which members are likely to connect effective leadership.
That said, effective leadership is important for strong team dynamics and team success to occur in the first place. Clarity of responsibilities, expectations and goals occur because of effective management and communication from leaders.
As a result, approaches for improving team dynamics help leaders clarify their vision and expectations, be transparent with information, and effectively motivate and manage individual team members.
Employees on teams aligned behind a common goal; who have clear roles, responsibilities and expectations; and feel a strong connection to their team leader and members; will be motivated to stay on the team and to deliver strong performance.
This benefit is of especially high importance in the current talent climate, where many employers struggle to find the talent they need. Employee retention and turnover has ranked as the top workforce management challenge for three years running, according to a SHRM/Globoforce annual survey.
High performing teams will set the standard for moving forward into the unknowns of our economic future. Their ability to set the tone for organizations can literally mean the difference between surviving and thriving versus not being relevant and even existing as we enter this new chapter.
Contact us at info@connectthedotsconsulting.com to see how our consultants can help you improve the dynamics of key teams at your organization.
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