By Joanna Berry, a Senior Business Intelligence Consultant at Stellar
I have been part of a high performing team at Stellar for the last 5 years. Recently I have become more and more curious about the team dynamics.
What makes us such a well-functioning team despite a variety of challenges and new members regularly joining the team? My curiosity has led me to the following insights and conclusions.
Strength of core team members
I believe that the main success of the team can be attributed to the strength, knowledge, cooperation, and supportive attitude of the core team members on whom new members can rely. The core team members have our unique personalities, individual behaviours, skill sets and skill levels and yet we can work effectively and efficiently to produce common goals and results.
Over the years, we have become familiar with general group dynamics during the “Forming”, “Storming”, “Norming”, “Performing” and “Adjourning” stages, and we can better predict and manage the difficulties which arise at each stage. We are still human, and we certainly do get affected by team changes, but there’s also a comfort in knowing that we have managed the difficulties previously and we get better at it every time.
High level of trust in one another’s abilities
Team members have a clear understanding of the various roles, responsibilities, knowledge, and skills that are available, and everyone respects each other’s contributions. We also have a high level of trust in one another’s abilities, we hold each other accountable, and we are not afraid to admit our mistakes and limitations. We engage in healthy debate and make good, collaborative, informed decisions. These factors give us a sense of belonging and help new members to integrate. Our sense of respect also means that we go out of our way to assist others to share the load or to assist new team members until they find their feet. Assisting others sometimes blurs the boundaries of responsibility, but the team regains balance soon enough.
Building connections across the enterprise
Stellar, like most other companies over the last few years, has had to be creative with team building and cohesion to get us all through the lockdowns and remove working from home. Our Friday video chats and Mad Hatter dress-ups have allowed us to be more open with each other as humans with interests and difficulties outside the office environment. This openness and vulnerability have also had a positive effect on the team dynamics. Overall, there are many factors that contribute to the effectiveness and efficiency of our team, and a great attitude is a prominent factor.
Sources:
https://www.bluesteps.com/blog/5-key-factors-managing-successful-teams
https://www.deakinco.com/resource/6-strategies-for-managing-and-improving-team-dynamics/
https://aboutleaders.com/5-ways-to-improve-team-dynamics/
https://www.business.com/articles/improve-team-dynamics/
https://asana.com/resources/improving-group-dynamics
https://toggl.com/blog/group-dynamics-workplace
https://monday.com/blog/teamwork/team-dynamics/
https://toggl.com/blog/team-dynamics
https://www.istockphoto.com/photo/team-work-for-success-gm145156719-5289966
