Relationships are central to employees’ sense of engagement at work, and, therefore, their productivity and willingness to stay. Without healthy team dynamics and communication, relationships buckle and employees can quickly disengage.
How can managers improve team cohesion and communication, and therefore engage and retain their best people? Here are my top tips from working with leadership coaching clients in a wide variety of sectors, profit structures, and org sizes.
Incorporate Activities That Build Team Cohesion
First and foremost, team dynamics are most effectively stretched and molded through real-time activities. By forcing team members to attempt new ways of speaking with and relating to one another, a manager can break down and improve team cohesion relatively quickly.
There’s nothing worse than letting old styles continue to dominate without actively trying something new. All the conversation in the world won’t change how people behave unless they can feel their way into new patterns.
My favorite list of activities for building team cohesion are in this Harvard Business Review article. The author, Rebecca Knight, includes a number of activities for each type of team (remote, hybrid, or in-person), as well as fleshes out the following general tips on how to approach team building:
- Be intentional about your goals and scheduling
- Determine your team’s needs and logistical constraints
- Involve team members in the planning process
- Set clear norms and expectations for the team-building activities
Another list of excellent activities is available from SessionLab. Author James Smart provides the number of participants, length of time, and clear instructions for each of the 53 activities listed.
I like that many activities listed are brief (5-10 minutes) and can therefore be used at the start or end of standing team meetings. This is a great alternative to organizing a “retreat” or scheduling a lengthy meeting devoted solely to team activities. Hours-long team cohesion gatherings be draining for some members of a team, especially those who lean toward introversion. In addition, repeated, brief interactions are arguably more effective for everyone involved since learning is best spaced out over time.
Shake Meeting Structure Up to Improve Team Cohesion
In addition to facilitating activities designed to improve team cohesion, changing the structure of existing team meetings can be highly effective in improving communication and team relationships, thereby enhancing retention.
I’ve encouraged many of my leadership coaching clients to try out Liberating Structures, which are “easy-to-learn microstructures that enhance relational coordination and trust” according to creators Keith McCandless and Henri Lipmanowicz, both of whom hold master’s in management.
On their website under the “LS Menu” they offer instructions for 33 approaches to facilitating group interactions. The approaches are intended to encourage greater participation, inclusion, and innovation than conventional meeting approaches allow for.
Liberating Structures can be used as retreat or meeting activities and/or within existing meetings (like team meetings) to do things differently (for instance, I’ve use in a wide variety of settings)
I was introduced to the Liberating Structures while teaching psychology at Bates College and managing a design team rolling out an administrative change. I took to regularly using 1-2-4-all, one of the simplest Liberating Structures, in both meeting and class settings to excellent effect. Group cohesion and sense of belonging clearly rose amongst participants, all with just one simple change in how I engaged their contributions.
Use Assessments As A Means of Building Team Cohesion
A third way to enhance team cohesion is to administer and discuss assessment results.
I find this approach to all-too-often be used in isolation, as if it will be the “cure all,” and it certainly is not. Without active practice relating in new ways to one another, team members’ mere understanding of each others’ preferences and leanings is rarely effective. More clients than I can count send me their results and say something like, “My whole team had to take this and discuss it. It was like a day-long activity, and then we never touched it again, so I don’t remember much about it.”
When used in conjunction with active practice – through the activities and/or new group communication approaches mentioned above – an understanding of one’s own and others’ natural leanings can be highly beneficial.
Some assessment options include:
- Based in positive psychology research, the survey is administered by a nonprofit run by psychologists, including the founder of the field, Martin Seligman.
- It focuses on character strengths, which can create some great conversation points.
- It’s a great option for a low-cost, research-backed assessment that is easy to self-interpret (i.e., no outside facilitator necessary, if budget does not allow).
- I suggest managers start by taking the free version themselves, to consider fit for the team’s needs and approaches. If it’s a fit, the team report offers easy comparisons across team members (sample here)
- CliftonStrengths is well known, and definitely a “go to” for many organizations. There is shared language across orgs around the CliftonStrengths, especially in the for-profit space, in my experience.
- Their team grid is well worth considering, but it is pricey. Adding to the price, this assessment is best used and interpreted with the support of a certified facilitator.
- All in all, if you’re looking to invest in a readily-known assessment to help team members understand one another, this can be a good way to go.
Personality Assessments
- Personality assessment options abound, and include the DISC, Hogan, Myers-Briggs and many others.
- Certified facilitators exist for each personality assessment, and can be helpful in deeply unpacking the results of the team.
- As with previous assessments, personality assessments are only as effective as they are used. If the insights from the personality reflections aren’t put into practice within meetings and team delegation activities, the power of the knowledge can easily be lost.
All in all, improving team cohesion is best accomplished in a multi-pronged, ongoing manner. There is no one-time “easy fix” for disrupting unhealthy team dynamics, but with some intentionality and practice, team relations and communication are absolutely malleable.