Teamwork as a NORM.

If you are in the modern workplace business, you will probably agree that these are exciting times for many organizations. I mean think about it, we are helping to shift people from email-centric ways of working to more collaborative and networked platforms. Wow - adding culture and organizational transformation to your resume is NO joke!!

Yet, as much as I LOVE this space, and believe me... I LOVE what I do. I have to speak the raw, awful, ugly truth. That is to say, regardless of how fancy a platform is... the reality is getting people to work collaboratively or as a team will never, ever, ever, ever result by itself.

There I said it. I might as well just let loose...BIG breath. Here we go...

Why is that so you might ask? Well, if we think about what it takes to become a collaborative team it requires people to behave in a way that fosters teamwork.

What is teamwork? Let me just shortcut this and bring my friend Merriam-Webster to do what it does best: "Teamwork: work done by several associates with each doing a part but all subordinating personal prominence to the efficiency of the whole."

On that note, if we go "throwback" for a moment and we think about those early years. Whoah - wait a sec, don't go too far back! Let's keep it in kindergarten :-)

So, at that time you might recall that back then in order to make friends you needed to do a couple of things: play nice, be friendly, share, be respectful, be helpful, and most importantly that you kept your promises with Robby, Sally, and Juan (kidding - but you get the point.) That said, fast forward to today - as adults, we still require and demand the same behaviors from one another. Except... we don't often take the time to actually tell each other.

Saying it differently - if we want to work as a team we have to spell it out, write it out, and make it a norm to work as a team.

We simply assume that others will know how we want to work and expect projects, tasks, initiatives to get done effectively by just upgrading to new tools without making these core behaviors the norm of how we work!!!

Back up - Lilly. What IS a norm??!!

There are several definitions out there but just to be consistent here, I'll go back to Merriam Webster's: a norm is "an informal guideline, custom or usual practice". As such, we often let norms dictate how we work without challenging if that is how it should be.

So to wrap things up... what exactly does it take to make teamwork happen again? Again, it takes spelling it out. Like really spelling it out.

At our workplace we are just scratching the surface with the modern workplace with tools like Yammer and Teams. We are learning what it means to work in a different way. So, if you are struggling with how to get people to work collaboratively as a team. You might want to keep some of the norms that are working for us. 

Teamwork as a Norm:

1.   Commitment - Picture an invisible group handshake. Where everyone that is going to be part of the new collaboration effort agrees that using a Team work space will be the primary mode of collaboration.

2.   Accountability - This one is big! Everyone understands that each of them owns the whole objective not just their own part of the work.

3.   Follow-Through: If you say you will do it - do it. Use the right tools to help keep track of action items to get the job done.

4.   Clarity and Focus: Ask clarifying questions and stay focused on what needs to be done in the work space.

5.   Communication: Reduce redundancy and duplication of messages. Use @mention as a way to deliberately call out focus to a person or call to action. Otherwise, the message is nothing more than FYI.

6.   Meaningful Dialogue: Before you post a message think about how that topic will help promote conversation and discussion. Otherwise - it's just noise.

7.   Respect: Never has the golden rule been so relevant than in today's workplace! Treat others as you would like to be treated. If someone posts a message take the time to reply, to like, to acknowledge that you've read it. And be TIMELY with your responses!

8.   Responsibility: If you created a dedicated space for your people to work in take the time to spell out how the space will be used. Defining rules of engagement can make or break your Team!

As I said, it's really working well for us and I hope to share some success stories in the next year. The magic of collaboration happens when keep these norms in front of us. 

Remember, to change the way people work, requires people to change. It requires intentional behavior and deliberate use of collaboration tools. That's it. That's all it takes to truly make teamwork a norm at the workplace. 

P.S. Can you think of additional norms? I'd love to hear your thoughts!