All teams must pay attention to their work: the task, the goal, the things to be done, the agenda items to be crammed into their meetings, the hurried decisions to be made by the group, the deadlines to be met, and so on.
But the most effective teams also monitor how well the members are working together and what the current “climate” is within the team. They quickly notice when the team becomes stuck or bogged down or loses energy and enthusiasm. When this occurs, team members stop working the task they are on and turn their attention to the team’s stalled process.
Successful teams have learned that the sooner they sort out the human dynamics that are getting in the way of doing the job well, the sooner the team can get on with the work to be done.
Most teams these days are so totally task-oriented and deadline-driven that they either ignore or don’t notice dysfunction when it emerges in their midst. People just plow on, trying to get the job done while becoming more and more frustrated and less and less enthusiastic about their involvement in the group.
So, try to make it your team’s standard operating procedure to take regular readings of the climate in your group. This is particularly important during the early period of your team’s existence. However, occasional readings should also be carried out later on, even once your team seems to be running well.
We have a powerful team tool to help you do this, called the Teamwork Palette®. I invite you to check it out.