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Teams: team spirit

Helen Kelly

Briefly, business learning means people freely discuss what has worked and what hasn’t.  In such a setting, people join forces to make more things succeed.  Universally people prefer this collaborative climate because no one is good at everything and nearly everyone likes learning new things and improving results.  However, 'learning culture' is easier to say than put into place.  That’s because in the game of getting ahead, politics manages persistently to come up trumps.   Still, you can make your world, if not your organisation, a place to collaborate.  Here are some tips.

1. Put aside old ideas.

Think about organisational learning and you’re thinking about what is open for discussion and what is taboo.  You’re considering how people might work together when things don’t go as everyone hoped. In your own conversation you’re replacing euphemisms with straight talk, and you believe that working with other people to get better and better is a source of professional pride.  Learning is not a program you pay a specialist to design or an all-or-nothing transformation managed by outsiders. 

2. Understand the conflict. 

If you learn how to fix your bicycle, your world is bigger and you feel inspired.  If you learn not to speak about reality, your world is smaller and you feel constrained.  When you learn to face difficult truths, your identity may feel threatened and you will feel trapped.  Learning is change and change represents uncertainty.  Many people prefer the safety of what they know, even if it isn’t fun, rewarding, or stimulating, to what they don’t know. 

3. Run an organisational audit.

What is the climate where you work?  Do the top managers and their team speak openly and encourage the same?  Do they speak of openness yet install a reward system that discourages it?  Does the organisation live non-discrimination?  Do people speak about personal life like family, hobbies, and interests?  Are there virtual teams?  How does the organisation treat initiative? 

4. Put a toe in the water with your boss.

Often you’ll find that like you, your supervisor or boss would much prefer a more open climate yet no one has spoken of or encouraged it.  If you see possibilities, walk softly but keep the discussion alive until you find an opportunity to broach the subject openly.  This is, after all, a sales call, so keep the buyer’s starting point in mind.

5. Run a personal audit.

Are you emotionally open?  Are you generally guarded?  Take a long look in the mirror.  When you receive disappointing results, do you demand better next time or set about finding out what went wrong?  Do you prefer to admonish someone or train someone?  Do you meet with all your team, or do you meet them separately, keeping up a competitive tension?  Do you feel comfortable talking one on one, or only in a group?  If you are not a learning person, start with yourself, privately.  Try looking for questions instead answers, and try discussing some questions with others. 

6. Study up on positive role modelling.

Modelling means you do what you want others to do, and use your behaviour as a point of reference.  If you say that you want people to speak openly and work together on improvements, you must do that yourself, and often first.  A picture is worth a thousand words.  Also, people may need to know that even if the company doesn’t operate that way, they will be safe and rewarded. 

7. Plan a transition.

It takes empathy, a soft voice and a measured pace to introduce and manage change.  Start small.  Get people talking together before talking about issues, and at ease talking about issues before introducing difficult ones. 

Talk with your staff informally.  Ask about their weekends, and mean it.  Open a discussion about a new business activity – one that has minor impact yet is interesting as a discussion.  Identify people who are reluctant to participate.  Create a plan to involve people slowly, and allow shy or reluctant people to watch at first.  Invite a speaker and have a discussion after.  Keep at it.  Watch the lights shine in their eyes – and staff morale rocket.

8. Hold a meeting.

When the time is right - you’ll know when it is - hold a meeting.  Talk about the learning culture you hope to build as the way people work on your team or your group.  Hopefully you can tell your supervisor or boss what you’ve been working on and where you hope to go.  Reassure both your team and your own manager that you will go slowly and watch for organisational signals.  Ask for advice and feedback from both.  Be prepared to modify your plans and even to go on hold for a time. 

Wise managers remember that the corporate ladder power road and the collaborative learning road may each lead to success.  All depends on which one is right for the long term – and for you.

9. Coach your team.

Coaching means helping another person acknowledge and articulate a problem and make a plan to progress.  Coach anyone who wants to speak more openly yet is hesitant.  

10. Monitor Progress.

If you are lucky, you’ll find someone in the organisation to coach you.  If not, set up a system to monitor problems and progress.  Identify obstacles and roadblocks and document ideas about ways to remove or circumvent them.  When you are successful, analyse why and articulate principles on which you can build future success.  Keep your own personal Keys to Success page in a special diary, or whatever system works for you.  When the time is right, and after you’ve held the first meeting on the subject of learning, you might ask people on your team to do the same.  Set a date to meet and discuss ways to keep opening out the culture while streamlining processes, procedures and results.

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