In our prior blog post1, we delved into the principal aspect of high-performance leadership: productivity. This post will focus on the next facet: team climate (or team harmony). We will tackle the third facet, "individual development," in an upcoming blog post concerning high-performance leadership.
Why must a high-performance leader focus on team climate, especially after investing considerable resources in bolstering productivity?
There are compelling arguments as to why cultivating an optimal team climate should be a leader's top priority. These include:
• Sustaining the previously discussed productivity over time.
• Ensuring team stability (team member retention).
• Enhancing the enjoyment and flow of work for each team member.
• Promoting the growth and development of team members.
• Enabling daily team interaction without significant conflicts.
• Increasing a sense of belonging and identification within the team.
It is becoming increasingly standard for many organizations to use team assessments to track team satisfaction2. Therefore, in today's world, it is important to notice that managing team climate extends beyond a leader's individual preferences.
The following discussion will delve deeper into the three core drivers for team climate: internal norms, social and task cohesion, and team communication.
1). Internal norms for coexistence
Roles yield productivity, and norms yield stability.
Norms are accepted standards of behaviors, beliefs, or attitudes considered normal in a given group. Together with roles, the norms form the central structure of organizations.
In our capacity as leadership coaches in both sports and organizational domains, we've frequently observed that, despite the fundamental nature of norms, many teams lack them. This lack often hinders a team's functionality and stability, even when individual factors such as common sense are present.
A team is more likely to be unstable when:
• There is a lack of internal norms.
• Existing norms are disregarded.
• There are no reinforcements related to compliance or noncompliance with norms.
• The team members do not gain any advantages by complying with norms.
• Leaders themselves do not adhere to norm compliance.
To ensure greater adherence, we recommend making decisions related to norms through consensus. Team members should actively participate in selecting the criteria that will govern the team's behavior and be aware of the benefits of complying with these norms. The team can choose the positive and negative reinforcements for noncompliance and compliance with these norms. When it is the team who has chosen the reinforcements, it ensures the leader's impartiality. While managing the norms and their compliance is challenging, it becomes simpler when the entire team is involved in creating and understanding the norms, recognizing their benefits, and selecting the reinforcements.
The core norms should provide fairness, coordination, and a sense of belonging within the team. However, there's no need to burden the team with many rules, which may only constrain behavior and lead to confusion and fatigue. For this reason, we advise establishing no more than ten key norms.
To ensure greater adherence, we recommend making decisions concerning norms collectively and involving all team members in defining the criteria that will guide the team's conduct. This collaborative and creative approach ensures that all team members comprehend the advantages of adhering to these norms. In the same spirit of collaboration, the entire team should decide the rewards and consequences for compliance and noncompliance with these norms.
2). Social Cohesion and Task Cohesion
Without social cohesion, the human race wouldn't be here: We're not formidable enough to survive without the tactics, rules, and strategies that allow people to work together. – Peter Guber
Most managers grasp the idea of team cohesion, yet only a few can accurately define it, comprehend its impact on team climate, or improve it. The following paragraphs will explore some of these concepts in more detail.
We can define cohesion as all the fields of forces acting on members to remain in the group3. A high level of cohesion exists when:
• Mutual respect enables each person to satisfy their needs and appreciate the same for their teammates.
• The members have a sense of belonging to the team.
• There is clarity about the importance of community, the goals to be met, the team's philosophy, and the belief in the team's verbal and nonverbal dictionary4.
Our exposure to a variety of teams (organizational and sports) showed us that:
• People are unfamiliar with different types of cohesion.
• They mix up task cohesion and social cohesion.
• The absence of cohesion is more noticeable than its presence.
• People do not know how to stimulate it.
• People are unaware of its impact.
The two types of cohesion: social cohesion and task cohesion.
Social cohesion is more visible and more sought after by many leaders. It refers to the quality of relationships in the team and the level of camaraderie and friendliness; that is, it is a purely relational and affinitive approach to cohesion.
Task cohesion refers to the interdependence and interrelationship between team members working towards objectives. This approach to cohesion is mainly associated with productivity.
Task cohesion enhances social cohesion and not vice versa.
Leaders often confuse priorities when implementing actions related to these two types of cohesion. They may organize activities to strengthen social bonds, even though they should promote task cohesion with the same or greater intensity. The positive correlation between task cohesion and performance is more robust than between social cohesion and performance. We like to see this as a self-enhancing cycle where successful performance spurs an increase in cohesion which drives an increase in performance.
Some of the barriers to team cohesion:
• An incompatibility between personalities within the team.
• A conflict between social roles and tasks among team members.
• A communication breakdown either among team members or between the team members and the leader.
• A power struggle between team members.
• Frequent rotation and mobility of team members.
• Disagreement on the group's objectives and goals.
Conversely, leaders can create higher levels of task cohesion and social cohesion within the team by:
- Assigning roles within the team equitably.
- Clarifying expectations with each team member.
- Establishing clear norms for the team.
- Rewarding cooperative behaviors within the team.
- Encouraging interdependence among team members.
- Rewarding respect for team values.
- Anticipating and quickly responding to interpersonal conflicts.
- Maintaining open communication channels with each individual and with the team as a whole.
- Organizing recreational activities outside of work.
High performance demands the leader use concrete measures to attend to and encourage cohesion. It is an almost irreversible error only to begin to pay attention to cohesion when a conflict arises within the group or after a lack of cooperation.
3). Team Communication
Clear and efficient communication is a leader's cornerstone for fostering an ideal team climate. It is not just about merely exchanging information but rather about ensuring that the transmission of the message is comprehensive, well-articulated, and resonates effectively with the team members. When communication is perceived as a strength in teams, it manifests through a rigorous commitment to the clarity of the message delivered and a keen awareness of the intended and actual impacts.
Yet, it's crucial to underline that effective communication isn't exclusively about delivering messages proficiently or in high volumes. It's inherently a two-way process that necessitates both transmission and reception. In other words, the art of listening is equally, if not more, important. Communication breaks down when messages are not understood, misinterpreted, or ignored. Thus, proficient communication is about expressing views clearly and ensuring they are correctly comprehended and acknowledged.
Top-tier team leaders are distinguished by their excellent listening skills. These leaders value the voices of all members, fostering an environment where everyone feels heard and appreciated. They understand that absorbing the views and insights of team members fosters collective understanding, nurtures shared perspectives, and empowers effective decision-making. This underlines why robust communication is a core driver for a positive team climate. Ultimately, the best teams not only talk the talk but walk the walk by acting on the communicated messages.
In Summary
In this article, we have attempted to establish specific guidelines about the second dimension of high-performance leadership. The aspect of team climate under the umbrella of high-performing leadership cannot be overstated. Gandhi's words remain true today; leadership is no longer about the strength of muscles but the power of relationships. The various facets that contribute to a conducive team climate - internal norms, task and social cohesion, and effective communication - are crucial elements that every high-performing leader should be keen to nurture within their teams.
Leaders who focus on setting clear, mutually agreed-upon norms pave the way for stability and fairness within their teams. Similarly, an understanding and deliberate emphasis on task and social cohesion can create an environment conducive to high performance, mutual respect, and a strong sense of belonging. Furthermore, robust communication skills - encompassing clear transmission of messages and active listening - have emerged as a core driver of a positive team climate.
To lead a high-performing team, one must go beyond individual preferences and tap into the shared consciousness of the team, fostering a climate of transparency, inclusivity, and mutual respect. It's vital that leaders not only invest in productivity but also in building a sustainable, enjoyable, and conflict-free team climate.
As we look forward to exploring in our upcoming post 'individual development,' the third facet of high-performance leadership, we hope the insights shared here are helpful for leaders aiming to foster an optimal team climate. Ultimately, the leadership journey is one of continuous learning and adaptation, where the focus should always remain on getting along with people - as accurate today as it was in Gandhi's time.
To finish off with a quote by John F. Kennedy: Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other.
Notes:
[1] René Sonneveld, Aspects Of High-Performance Leadership Productivity (2021)
[2] Team Diagnostic by Team Coaching International
[3] Festinger, L., Schachter, S., & Back, K. (1950)Social pressures in informal groups: A study of human factors in housing.
[4] De Diego, S.; Sagredo, C.(1992): Jugar con ventaja. Las claves psicológicas del éxito deportivo.
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