The dynamics of a team always fluctuate based on the human beings present. And, when you put human beings together, there are sure to be areas to address when working on a project or moving towards a common goal. If you’re growing a business, launching a new product, or solving a crisis, how well a team works and collaborates together can be THE determining factor in your level of success.
In today’s dynamic of change and uncertainty and operating in various remote/Zoom scenarios, building and operating a Dream Team can be extra challenging. Because we are also really good at determining WHAT needs to get done vs. HOW people work together to achieve it, company leaders need to set the tone, take time to build the right culture, create the conditions for collaboration, and foster an environment of teamwork where people feel connected and therefore activated to bring their best work forward. The more your team feels connected, the greater the level of trust, enjoyment, and overall productivity and performance.
It simply feels better to have FUN together.
A DREAM TEAM is one that genuinely enjoys BEING together!
What IS a DREAM TEAM and what does it FEEL like?
A Dream Team is connected, aligned, collaborative, cohesive, and communicates well.
There is a felt sense of belonging, vibrancy, ease and flow, and authentic harmony when a team performs at it’s best. A Dream Team optimizes its talent and has the collective capability to sustain this harmony over time. These days, it means dealing with much uncertainty, turmoil, fears, and insecurities and staying committed to shared outcomes.
Here’s the recipe for achieving this level of team fluency:
- CONNECTION
- COMMUNICATION
- CONSENSUS
- COLLABORATION
- COHESION
The 5 C’s for Building A Dream Team
1. CONNECTION
Our relationships and connections with each other feed and fuel what we can accomplish. When we understand, trust, and respect ourselves and one another, work comes more easily and moves ahead more smoothly. At the core, relationships and connections between members of your team are paramount to your success as an organization.
We recently spent two hours guiding a Leadership Team through a workshop called “The Power of Connection.” The intention was to create empathy, compassion, trust, and foster better communication as they prepared to dive into three days of Strategic Planning. After sharing personal stories, talking about different aspects of their lives, being vulnerable in the group, they were off to the races. We heard from them several days later that… “we learned more about each other in those two hours than we had in four years of working together! Those hours, learning about each other brought us closer together and we accomplished so much more than we would have had we not spent the time to connect first.” Authentic connection fuels growth and is, in turn, fueled by trust, transparency, and a sense of genuinely caring about one another.
Questions to ask at your next leadership meeting:
- What is the state of our team relationships?
- Do we tend to act in transactional or more relational ways with each other?
- How do we show that we care about and respect each other, regardless of differences?
2. COMMUNICATION
Communication in teams is done verbally through direct conversation, non-verbally through sensing, listening, or picking up on physical or energetic clues. Dream Teams have the ability to understand layers of communication, activate dormant ones, and take accountability for all the ways communication is delivered and received. Optimally, Dream Teams are able to resolve conflicts through deep listening, empathy, trust, and transparency; and giving others the benefit of the doubt without swift judgment.
Hiring team members who have the emotional intelligence to foster these skills and attributes will take you far in building your Dream Team. Keeping your Dream Team together requires managers and leaders who know how to read an individual’s ability to self-regulate emotions, to know and understand people’s conditioned tendencies and triggers, and to have strong communication skills to break through barriers and make meaningful connections. With transparency and clear communications, conflict is minimized and disagreements are accepted with maturity, grace, and respect.
Questions to ask at your next leadership meeting:
- How does our team communicate non-verbally?
- What is the general tone of our communication?
- When conflicts arise, are we able to keep moving forward together constructively until we find a resolution?
- What would it take for us to make things better than they are?
3. CONSENSUS
It is a universal law that when one or more people hold the same vision, the vision becomes amplified. Think about this power behind your Dream Team and what the power of alignment and consensus can do to help you reach your goals. Getting everyone aligned around a common intention, purpose, goal or Northstar is the work we do most often with teams and can have a dramatic effect on outcomes.
Whether you’re a startup or a large company, understanding, commitment, and alignment to a shared vision are crucial to your success. Whether your Dream Team achieves alignment by orienting towards weekly, monthly, quarterly, or annual goals, it’s the alignment that is necessary. Teams that are clear on the Big Picture, what they’re working toward, make better decisions, collaborate better, and act with accountability. When you achieve the results you’re looking for, celebrate wins as a team!
Questions to ask at your next leadership meeting:
- Are we ALL clear on our intention, mission, and targeted outcomes?
- Are we aware of the interpersonal dynamics that may prevent our team from reaching our goals?
- Are we aware of how we need to show up in order to achieve our goals?
4. Collaboration
“A team is not a group of people that work together.
A team is a group of people that trust each other”
– Simon Sinek.
Collaboration is defined by fundamental non-egoic sharing between team members to achieve a common outcome, focusing on collective, not personal gain. In a recent book by Kegan and Lahey, An Everyone Culture, they assert that many leaders in today’s business world have two jobs: 1) the job they were hired to do; and 2) the job of hiding their weaknesses and covering up mistakes. We see this second job as distracting from the work at hand and if feedback, support, and collaboration were more a part of the Dream Team experience, the focus would be on the work at hand versus managing distractions like judgment, fear, or doubt.
By creating a culture of collaboration—one that is open to learning, offers constructive feedback and support, take risks, and celebrates the effort of trying together, even if things go wrong—you gain support, innovation, and deepen creativity and problem-solving capabilities in your team and throughout your organization. When an organization values collaboration as part of its ethos, tremendous potential is unleashed.
Questions to ask at your next leadership meeting:
- How can we include constructive feedback in our teams as a way to build collaboration?
- What adjustments should we make to work even better with one another?
- What can our organization gain from deeper collaboration?
- What new team agreements do we need to make vulnerability SAFE in order for collaboration and trust to be built?
5. Cohesion
Finally, cohesion is the glue that holds a team together. You can sense cohesion this way: interlock your fingers together and squeeze. The warmth between your palms and the sense of tight but not rigid interconnection between your fingers as they meet is a felt sense of cohesion.
Cohesion is the synergy of connection, alignment, and close working relationships that are based on TRUST. When trust is present, there is flow and ease among individuals and a shared sense of belonging. This cohesion is the backbone of support that shores up a team to both achieve and navigate challenges together. As a result, the teams who achieve cohesion find themselves to be more effective, connected, and purposeful.
Questions to ask at your next leadership meeting:
- Can we help each other become the best version of ourselves?
- Are we aware of and purposefully work towards creating positive energy and team synergy in order to fulfill our greatest collective potential?
What’s Next for YOUR DREAM TEAM?
Whether you’re actively developing team fluency or are recognizing your desire and need to develop a DREAM TEAM, Intune Collective is a consulting, coaching, learning & development, and branding company that can help. We work at the sweet spot of business strategy and human growth. We coach teams, facilitate learning through training and workshops, and help leadership teams solve critical business challenges. As you prepare for Q4 and beyond, consider a 2-day Possibility Summit to build your current and future DREAM TEAM.
