Improving team dynamics
Length: 1 hour as a team
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Team dynamics can make or break a team.
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Teams can be great places to work and a source of professional fulfilment and wellbeing. They can give us a valued role, provide inspiration and learning, and be a cause for celebration. Supportive and friendly colleagues can increase our enjoyment and our resilience.
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But teams can get into habits that drain our energy and make us less effective.
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Teams thrive when:
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People listen well and speak constructively
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Everyone can contribute - discussions are not dominated by the same people
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People feel free to disagree
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Everything that needs to be discussed is discussed
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Decisions are based on evidence, not power
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Run through this checklist with the team to see if you need to make any changes to the way your team meetings run:
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If you have team ground rules, review how well they have been followed. How can you improve?
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If you don’t yet have an agreed set of team ground rules:
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Review who contributed most, and who least, to the meeting. Is that always the same? How might that be improved?
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Is everything that needs to be talked about actually getting talked about?
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Ask how well real data is used in the discussions. How could that be improved?
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Review how much discussion there was of alternative options before any decisions were made. How might that be improved?
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In either case, what improvements do you need to make?
You can find out more about agreeing a set of ground rules for the team here, and see some typical ground rules that teams adopt.