Team spirit leads to top performance, because a team that knows each other, trusts each other and would go through fire for each other achieves more than a group of individual talents. Alone you go faster, together you go further. How do you create such an enthusiastic and engaged group of employees? And how do you keep them on board? Ronald Warmerdam, managing partner at IMPACT on the Job, shares his expertise.
"I used to play a lot of football and in my current work as a business coach I regularly draw parallels with it," says Ronald. "For example, I like to compare a team at work with my own football team. Individually we weren't the best players, but we were the best team. Why? Because we knew what our qualities were, what we were less good at and above all: that we were all doing our very best to put our best foot forward, literally and figuratively."
Research confirms that picture. When Google examined 180 of its own teams, it turned out that it mattered less who was on a team, and much more how the team worked together. Google re:Work
The basic ingredients of a top team
"To connect fully with the company or organisation you work for, you need a purpose and inspiring goals," says Ronald. "If you want to connect with your team as much as possible, psychological safety plays an important role. Can everyone say what they think and feel? Do you know each other's red and green buttons? Do you know your own qualities and pitfalls, and are you also aware of your neighbour's 'backpack'? What you have been through plays a part in how you function today. What your beliefs are, or the way you approach things. Some people have a great need for certainty, others have an enormous urge to look after others. If you know about those qualities, you can organise your team as well as possible and you also know when things might get difficult."
That also ties in with Google's research: of the five factors that distinguished effective teams, psychological safety came first. Read more in more effective teams through psychological safety.
Take your time
Getting to know each other doesn't happen overnight, and investing in getting to know each other pays off, Ronald believes. "It is important to make room and take time for this process. Only then does trust develop, do you feel more and more at home with each other, are you willing to go that extra mile and do you feel free to set your boundaries."
Stimulate the senses
How do you start such a conversation, you may wonder. "By taking improving team performance as the occasion and setting a goal together that you want to have reached as a team after 100 days, you create a clear framework for your team members. If you open up, dare to look at yourself in the mirror your team members hold up to you and are willing to develop, we can get further together and go to work engaged. There's little chance employees will say 'no' to that."
Ronald mentions a few tools to get that conversation going:
- Personality tests, as a starting point. "You create real value by having the conversation with each other."
- An external location, to break away from the office routine.
- Stimulating all the senses, for example with video, photos or music.
Challenge the star player too
In a top team, members don't all need to be at the same level to perform together, Ronald stresses. "To come back to the example of my old football team... A star player always scores an 8 out of 10, simply because he is good at what he does. For a less skilled player, a 7 may be the highest achievable. The question is, which is worth more? And how can you challenge the star player to give everything and perhaps score a 9 or a 10? As a team, you are responsible for that together."
Attention is the secret of success
The manager also has an important role, according to Ronald. "Instead of just asking how your work is going, a manager should also ask how you are doing. He or she needs to look for the part of the iceberg that floats invisibly under water, so that an employee can come into their own as well as possible. So attention for the individual team members and for the team spirit, because when that is good, it has a 100% effect on team performance and you are in a positive team flow without end. Like a lemniscate, the infinity sign!"
The figures show how big that influence is. According to Gallup, 70 per cent of the differences in engagement between teams are determined by the manager. Gallup That attention doesn't have to take hours: a short, meaningful conversation of fifteen minutes to half an hour already works, as long as it happens regularly. Gallup
Set a good example
Ronald also realises that the solution sounds simpler than reality often allows. "A manager or team leader is still part of the system and 'the boss' who pays the salary. So it is important that a manager sets a good example by showing vulnerability."
Connection at a distance
Many teams now work partly from home and partly at the office. Working remotely affects the sense of connection and therefore team performance, Ronald observes. "Some people love it, alone behind the computer, but most people miss their colleagues. There are plenty of employees who languish, no longer see certain things, mix private life and work too much..."
"To turn that around positively, you first have to realise that something is going on. Then the trick is to make it something you can talk about. How is that for you? And for us? Then you can look at what the solution could look like."
That solution doesn't have to be complicated. Think of:
- A fixed day when the whole team is at the office together.
- A one-to-one conversation during a walk instead of behind the screen.
- An informal team moment, in person or online, in which work is not the focus for a while.
Plenty of possibilities, and that attention matters. For yourself, your team and your team's performance. Want to read more about what makes a team succeed? Then also read what makes a successful team.
