Insights
Does Your Team Cheer Each Other On?
When Lily Zhang of the US Ping Pong team was playing for gold, Ant was right there in stands cheering her on. And you can tell he is truly excited for her. This is the person we all want to be on a team with. A person that wants to win and one that will cheer us on with full throated support.
Team 101: What Does It Mean to Be Part of a Team?
Building these fundamentals isn't about team retreats or trust exercises. It's about creating explicit agreements around how you'll work together, then practicing those agreements until they become natural.
It's having conversations about what reliability looks like on your specific team. What does good communication mean when you're working across time zones? How do you show respect for different working styles? What does mutual support look like during busy periods?
The strongest teams don't assume everyone shares the same definitions of these fundamentals. They get specific about what each one means in their context.
Communication Chronicles: Sitcom Reflections
Each of these workplaces, despite their unique challenges, offers valuable lessons in communication, teamwork, and caring for one another. The choice ultimately depends on your personality and what you value most in a work environment.
Communication Chronicles - Insights from the Yoga Mat
After understanding the "Why" of the poses, it became easier to understand how to adapt and if I needed to do something completely different. Here is how you adapt this to team communication: Share what outcome people are trying to get to and why it's important. Be succinct: Explain clearly with as few words as possible. Be consistent in how you communicate
Team Communication Lessons from Jury Duty
Here is how these could apply to any other communication challenge: Know the problem(s) you are trying to solve. Know what your audience needs (and in what order). Deliver the shortest most succinct messaging that can solve for both. If possible, get feedback, learn, iterate.
The Hidden Complexity of Team Communcation
When it comes to team communication, things are often more complex than they appear. Just like adding an ingredient to soup changes every bite, adding a new person to a team changes every group interaction. This complexity scales quickly and can become challenging to manage without the right tools and strategies.
It's an Illusion: The Psychology Behind LEGO Serious Play
On the surface, LSP might look like simple child's play, but in reality, it's a sophisticated and highly effective group communication method used by organizations like NASA, the Department of Defense, Google, Microsoft, Amazon, and more!
Unlock Team Potential with Magical LEGO Sessions: Integrating Psychometrics for Better Collaboration
Understanding these traits helps in appreciating the diversity within any team. Each person's unique blend of abilities and values can create a more cohesive and effective group dynamic. During our LEGO Serious Play sessions, we often see that the key takeaway for participants is how these varied strengths build uniquely within the team, fostering a deeper understanding of each other.
The Power of a Spotter in Team Meetings
By appointing a “spotter” in your team meetings—someone whose sole responsibility is to observe body language and verbal cues—you can ensure that these often-overlooked signals are captured and addressed in real-time. This role can help unearth key insights and balance the extrovert/introvert equation, ensuring everyone's perspectives are considered.i
Harnessing the Power of Competition in Team Building
In every team, competition inevitably emerges. Individuals often compete for the best idea, attention, or simply to satisfy their ego. This competitive spirit can be harnessed positively, transforming it into a driving force for innovation and problem-solving. The key lies in how we frame competition within the team dynamic.
The Human Communication System in Teams
Using this as a mental model makes it easy to see why and how communication breakdowns happen, especially in teams.
For this post, I'll dig specifically into the system itself, applying the 5 stages of a communication system to people, and then extract how this impacts people and teams in various scenarios. Once you see how the system is easily applied, you'll be able to deconstruct communication challenges in a new and simpler way.
Hierarchy of Communication Challenges: Unveiling the Layers
Effective communication is often cited as the cornerstone of successful organizations. However, communication issues are typically symptoms of deeper, underlying challenges. By understanding these layers hierarchically, companies can pinpoint where true communication challenges lie and address them more effectively. Let's explore this hierarchy and uncover the root causes of communication breakdowns.