Team Coaching

How to Teach and Encourage Team Collaboration Skills as a Leader

Team collaboration is everything for an organization!

The opposite of team collaboration is… team competition. Team competition is a sure way to stagnate any project and any progress you need your team to make.

This article is all about how to teach and encourage team collaboration skills.

Collaboration skills: definition

Collaboration skills are the abilities that individuals possess to effectively work with others towards a common goal.

These skills include:

Collaboration requires each member of the team to bring their unique strengths and ideas to the table and work together to achieve a shared objective.

Collaboration skills: examples

Examples of collaboration skills include

open communication – receive and give
constructive feedback – receive and give
accountability – to peers and leaders
trust – give and get
and respect for diverse perspectives

Collaboration skills: how to improve

To improve collaboration skills among their team, leaders like you can create a collaborative work culture, establish clear goals and expectations, encourage open and honest communication, and provide opportunities for team members to work together on projects and initiatives.

Additionally, leaders should offer their team access to training and development programs that focus on collaboration skills such as conflict management and resolution, active listening, and effective teamwork.

Providing your team with the necessary project management tools to succeed is another step in this process of improving collaboration skills.

What is the difference between team collaboration and teamwork?

Team collaboration and teamwork are closely related concepts but there is a subtle difference between the two.

Teamwork is the collective efforts of a group of individuals working towards a shared goal or objective. It involves individuals working together, coordinating their efforts, and supporting each other to achieve a common purpose. Usually, people doing teamwork together have the same skillset.

Teamwork can involve different types of activities such as brainstorming, problem-solving, decision-making, and execution.

Then team collaboration is a more specific type of teamwork that involves individuals working together to achieve a specific outcome or complete a specific task.

Team collaboration often involves individuals with different skills and expertise coming together to work on a project or problem, each providing that unique skill needed to complete the project. It involves sharing ideas, knowledge, and resources to achieve a common goal.

In other words, teamwork is a more general term that encompasses all types of collective effort towards a common goal, while team collaboration is a specific type of teamwork that emphasizes working together to achieve a specific outcome.

Define and communicate team goals

It is essential to a positive outcome to involve the entire team in the process of defining and communicating your team goals. Sharing goals with everyone ensures each person on the team understands the purpose of their work and how it fits into the company culture.

Regular team meetings provide an opportunity to discuss progress towards shared objectives and ensure that all team members are on the same page.

A common purpose fosters collaboration

Clearly defined team goals create a joint effort towards a common purpose, and this, in turn, helps to build a solid foundation for effective collaboration.

When everyone understands what they are working towards, they can focus their efforts on achieving the team’s goals and work together more efficiently.

10 Collaboration skills to develop in your team!

Here are some key collaboration skills that leaders can encourage and develop in their teams:

Communication: This includes active listening, clear and concise messaging, and the ability to express ideas and opinions effectively. It’s important to note here that every voice should be heard!
Trust: Building trust among team members is essential to encourage open and honest communication, idea-sharing, and constructive feedback. Building trust takes time and dedicated effort.
Conflict resolution: Collaborating teams may encounter conflicts, and it is crucial to have the skills to resolve disagreements effectively and find solutions that work for everyone. Bringing in a facilitator can help with team conflict as they should remain neutral at all times.
Flexibility: Being open to new ideas and approaches, and being able to adjust to changing circumstances is a valuable skill in collaborative work. This is one of the four agile values – “Responding to Change Over Following a Plan”
Accountability: Taking responsibility for one’s actions, following through on commitments, and being reliable are essential qualities for a collaborative team. This includes being accountable to stakeholders as well as peers.
Empathy: Understanding and respecting different perspectives, needs, and opinions of others is key to effective collaboration.
Positive attitude: Maintaining a positive attitude, encouraging others, and celebrating team successes creates a supportive and collaborative team culture.
Problem-solving: Being able to identify, analyze, and solve problems together is a valuable skill in collaborative work.
Time management: Collaborative projects require effective time management skills to ensure deadlines are met, and work is completed on time.
Creativity: Encouraging creative thinking and innovative approaches can lead to new ideas and solutions that benefit the team and the organization.

You might find you and your team need help with some or all of these. Start by prioritizing this list and work on one skill at a time!

What are the 3 crucial skills in team collaboration?

Long-term success for innovative teams is not achieved overnight. Collaborative skills help members gather and prevent roadblocks. While earlier we talked about the 10 skills teams should be developing within, here are three collaborative skills that make teams great:

Communication: Effective communication is key to ensure that team members understand each other’s ideas and perspectives. It involves active listening, sharing thoughts and ideas clearly, asking questions, and providing feedback.
Trust: Trust is vital for creating a safe and supportive team environment. When team members trust each other, they are more likely to be open and honest, share ideas freely, and work together towards a common goal.
Problem-solving: Collaborative projects often involve overcoming obstacles and finding solutions to complex problems. Strong problem-solving skills involve breaking down problems into manageable parts, identifying potential solutions, and working collaboratively to find the best course of action.

These skills are interconnected, and each one can help reinforce the others.

For example, good communication skills can build trust, which, in turn, can enhance problem-solving efforts.

Ultimately, a combination of these skills can lead to a more productive and successful collaborative team.

Fostering collaboration as a value

Fostering collaboration as a value is a critical aspect of building a collaborative team culture.

Leaders can encourage this by promoting the idea that collaboration is essential to achieve shared goals and values.

Emphasizing the importance of collaboration in team meetings, performance evaluations, and other communication channels can help to reinforce its value.

Additionally, leaders can model collaborative behavior by working closely with team members, seeking input and feedback, and demonstrating a willingness to compromise and adapt.

Fostering collaboration skills

Creating a collaborative work environment involves setting up a structure that encourages teamwork and collaboration, such as project-based work, cross-functional teams, and knowledge-sharing platforms.

When collaboration is embedded as a core value, team members are more likely to work together, share knowledge and skills, and support each other, leading to a more productive and effective team.

Why leaders should highlight successful teamwork

Leaders should highlight successful teamwork because it reinforces the importance of collaboration and celebrates the achievements of the team.

Recognizing and acknowledging the success of the team can boost morale and motivation, leading to increased productivity and a positive team culture.

Highlighting successful teamwork can help to identify the strategies, processes, and skills that contributed to the team’s success, providing valuable insights for future projects.

Leaders can highlight successful teamwork through various means, such as public recognition, awards, or team celebrations.

Sharing success stories with other teams within the organization can also promote the importance of collaboration and inspire other teams to work together effectively.

Ultimately, highlighting successful teamwork can foster a sense of pride and accomplishment within the other team member, strengthen their bonds, and motivate them to continue working collaboratively towards future goals.

Encourage open communication…

And say that to your team!

Collaboration occurs in situations where team members feel they can bring themselves to the job. It should be encouraged for everyone to contribute and communicate.

Instead of letting go or controlling their emotions, they are free to be themselves bringing all of their ideas into being.

However, open communication does sometimes mean disagreement. A dispute shouldn’t hinder good teamwork.

The importance of constructive discussion and healthy disagreement are essential for facilitating a productive collaboration and positive work environment.

Good team collaboration improves employee engagement and happiness

Good team collaboration is not only beneficial for achieving business goals but also for improving employee engagement and happiness.

When employees collaborate effectively in remote teams, they feel a sense of belonging and purpose, leading to increased job satisfaction and motivation.

Collaboration allows employees to leverage their skills and knowledge, leading to a greater sense of accomplishment and contribution.

Working together towards common goals also fosters a sense of teamwork and camaraderie, building stronger relationships among team members.

Good team collaboration reduces workplace stress

Team collaboration helps reduce workplace stress by promoting open communication, shared accountability, and a sense of support among team members.

When employees feel valued and supported, they are more likely to be engaged, productive, and happy in their work.

Overall, good team collaboration is a key factor in creating a positive work environment, where employees feel valued, connected, and motivated to contribute to the team’s success.

Establish common objectives for team members

As a leader, one of the most important steps to take to foster better team collaboration is to establish common objectives for team members.

By setting clear goals that everyone can work towards, you can ensure that everyone is aligned and focused on the same priorities.

To establish these common objectives, we work closely with all team members to define your overall vision and then break it down into specific goals and milestones.

This helps you to identify key areas of focus and track your progress towards achieving them.

Everyone on the team should have a clear understanding of their role and how it contributes to the overall objectives. This helps to build a sense of accountability and ownership, encouraging everyone to work together towards our shared goals.

By establishing common objectives for team members, you are able to foster collaboration and teamwork, as everyone is working together towards a common purpose.

This not only improves your productivity and efficiency but also helps to build a stronger sense of camaraderie and shared accomplishment among the team.

Lead by example

Do you find it difficult to build productive teams and diverse teams? Could it be you lack some important collaborative leadership skills? If that’s the case, you’ll want to start your own learning journey.

Why?

Because collaboration commences at the top. Make sure team leaders and you are always encouraging co-creating openly and have plenty of room for creativity proper communication and collaboration.

Encourage your team members to contact you to get their questions answered.

How to build time for team bonding

Building time for team bonding is important for fostering collaboration, strengthening relationships, and promoting team morale. Here are some strategies that leaders can use to build time for team bonding:

Schedule regular team-building activities: Set aside time on a regular basis, such as once a month, to engage in team-building activities, such as group outings or team lunches.
Plan team-building events: Organize team-building events, such as volunteer opportunities, off-site retreats, or team-building workshops, to provide opportunities for team members to connect and collaborate.
Incorporate team-building into work activities: Build team bonding into daily work activities, such as regular check-ins, project kick-offs, or team huddles.
Encourage team socialization: Encourage team members to socialize and get to know each other outside of work, such as by organizing after-work events or happy hours.
Lead by example: As a leader, model the importance of team bonding by participating in team-building activities and encouraging others to do the same.

By building time for team bonding, leaders can strengthen relationships among team members, foster collaboration, promote their collaboration skills, and create a more positive work environment.

Stop ineffective and ill-prepared team meetings

Ineffective and ill-prepared team meetings can be a waste of time and hinder team collaboration. To avoid meetings that are a waste of everyone’s time, leaders can take the following steps:

Set clear objectives: Before scheduling a meeting, set clear objectives and communicate them to all team members. This will help everyone understand the purpose of the meeting and come prepared.
Prepare an agenda: Create a detailed agenda and share it with all team members in advance. This will help ensure that everyone is prepared and that the meeting stays focused.
Invite the right people: Only invite team members who need to be there. This will help ensure that the meeting is productive and that everyone’s time is respected.
Start and end on time: Respect everyone’s time by starting and ending the meeting on time. This will help demonstrate that the meeting is important and that everyone’s time is valued.
Encourage participation: Encourage everyone to participate and share their ideas during the meeting. This will help ensure that everyone’s perspective is heard and that the meeting is productive.

By taking these steps, leaders can ensure that team meetings are productive and effective, and help foster collaboration among team members.

Highlight successful teamwork

Everyone enjoys being recognized and the recognition that reflects the efforts of the entire team and members.

If two people collaborate to bring their ideas same business goals to life, give them equal participation and credit for the particular challenge they are faced with. It will give them the opportunity to shine in the spotlight and may also be an example of future collaboration between other teams.

6 Key values of collaborative teams

Collaborative teams are built on several key values that promote effective collaboration and drive success. These values include:

Trust: Team members must trust each other, have faith in each other’s skills and abilities, and feel confident in their collective success.
Respect: Collaborative teams must be built on mutual respect, recognizing and valuing each other’s contributions and perspectives.
Open communication: Effective collaboration requires open communication, with team members sharing their ideas, feedback, and concerns freely and honestly.
Flexibility: Collaborative teams must be adaptable and flexible, willing to pivot, and adjust as needed to changing circumstances and evolving goals.
Accountability: Team members must hold themselves and each other accountable for their actions, taking ownership of their work and its outcomes.
Collaboration: Effective collaboration involves working together towards shared goals, leveraging each other’s strengths and resources to achieve better outcomes.

By embracing these values, building collaborative teams that can foster a culture of collaboration, innovation, and success, where team members feel valued, supported, and motivated to work towards common goals.

Celebrate and reward successful teamwork

Celebrating and rewarding successful teamwork is a powerful way to reinforce the value of collaboration and encourage ongoing collaboration among team members.

When team members are recognized for their contributions and successes, it creates a sense of pride and accomplishment, strengthening their commitment to the team and its goals.

Leaders can celebrate teamwork in various ways, such as highlighting successful projects during team meetings, recognizing team members’ contributions in company-wide communications, or providing incentives or bonuses for successful team outcomes.

By celebrating collaborative behaviors and rewarding teamwork and team performance, leaders can reinforce the importance of collaboration and motivate team members to continue working together towards shared goals.

Promote a community working environment

Collaboration is essential in fostering an open-minded working environment. A team member feels more connected and valued when the company leadership has an interest in their job.

You shouldn’t overwhelm a team with endless meeting times or insist on working in collaboration.

Want to learn more to reignite your meetings and make them a place of successful team collaboration, even if your team is a remote team? Read this resource guide to get started.

How to assure alignment across distributed teams

Assuring alignment across distributed teams can be challenging, but there are several strategies that leaders can use to promote collaboration and communication.

First, it’s important to establish clear goals and objectives for the team, ensuring that everyone understands the team’s mission and how their work contributes to its success.

Leaders should encourage regular check-ins and updates, using video conferencing and other communication tools to facilitate real-time discussions and collaboration.

Team members should also have access to shared documents and other resources, ensuring that everyone has access to the same information and can collaborate effectively.

Another effective strategy is to establish clear roles and responsibilities, ensuring that team members understand their individual and collective responsibilities and how their work contributes to the team’s success.

Finally, it’s important to foster a culture of open communication and feedback, encouraging team members to share their ideas, concerns, and challenges.

By implementing these strategies, leaders can ensure alignment across distributed teams, promoting collaboration, innovation, and better outcomes.

What does effective collaboration look like?

Effective collaboration is characterized by a shared sense of purpose, mutual respect, and open communication among team members.

It involves working towards a common goal, pooling resources, and leveraging each other’s strengths to achieve better outcomes.

Effective collaboration also requires active listening, constructive feedback, and a willingness to compromise and adapt. Successful collaboration involves setting clear expectations, establishing common goals and timelines, and ensuring that everyone has the resources and support they need to contribute effectively.

In a collaborative environment, team members are empowered to take ownership of their work, contribute their unique perspectives, and hold each other accountable for their actions.

Ultimately, effective collaboration leads to better decision-making, increased innovation, and improved outcomes, benefiting both each team member and the organization as a whole.

Good team collaboration supports knowledge sharing

Shared knowledge among team members is a critical aspect of effective team collaboration.

By sharing knowledge, team members can learn from each other, build on each other’s strengths, and develop a deeper understanding of the project or task at hand.

This can be especially important when working on complex or technical projects that require specific expertise.

During team gatherings and meetings, you’ll be able to share ideas and experiences with one another. Therefore, teamwork provides the ability to gain more knowledge from colleagues.

In exchange for the knowledge they gained, this is an opportunity for team members to learn more about each other.

By sharing knowledge, team members can avoid duplicating work, reduce errors, and develop more innovative solutions. Additionally, shared knowledge promotes a culture of continuous learning, as team members are encouraged to seek out new ideas and perspectives.

This can help to boost morale and motivation, as team members feel that their contributions are valued and that they are part of a collaborative and supportive team culture. Leaders can encourage shared knowledge among team members by creating opportunities for knowledge sharing, such as regular team meetings, peer-to-peer mentoring, and training sessions.

By modeling collaborative behavior and promoting shared knowledge, leaders can help their teams develop a more comprehensive understanding of their work, achieve better outcomes, and foster a culture of collaboration and learning.

Team collaboration makes organizations more connected

Team collaboration plays a crucial role in making organizations more connected.

When employees collaborate effectively, they are better able to share information and ideas, which leads to greater transparency and communication within the organization.

By working together towards common goals, teams can break down silos and build stronger connections across departments and functions.

This not only improves the flow of information but also helps to build a culture of trust and collaboration throughout the organization.

Team collaboration helps build a sense of purpose

Collaboration also helps to build a shared sense of purpose and direction, aligning everyone towards the same vision and goals.

This creates a more cohesive and connected organization, where employees feel that they are part of something larger and more meaningful.

Overall, team collaboration is a powerful tool for building stronger connections and fostering a sense of unity within organizations.

By encouraging collaboration and teamwork, organizations can improve communication, build trust, and create a more connected and engaged workforce.

Good team collaboration improves employee engagement and happiness

In a more collaborative culture and team, it’s crucial that everyone maintains a high spirit. And if your team has freedom of expression, then company culture in your workplace will be much healthier too.

When working for an employer, a person is happy with his or her work environment so it is possible that he can remain in that position longer.

Why team collaboration matters

Shared knowledge among team members is a critical aspect of effective team collaboration.

Team members can learn from each other, build on each other’s strengths, and develop a deeper understanding of the project or task at hand.

Shared knowledge is especially important when working on complex or technical projects that require specific expertise.

By sharing knowledge, team members can avoid duplicating work, reduce errors, and develop more innovative and better solutions together.

Long-term benefits of learning team collaboration skills

Shared knowledge promotes a culture of continuous learning, as team members are encouraged to seek out new ideas and perspectives.

This can help to boost morale and motivation, as team members feel that their contributions are valued and that they are part of a collaborative and supportive team culture.

Leaders can encourage shared knowledge among team members by creating opportunities for knowledge sharing, such as regular team meetings, peer-to-peer mentoring, and training sessions. This takes facilitation skills and work.

By promoting shared knowledge, leaders can help their teams develop a more comprehensive understanding of their work, achieve better outcomes, and foster a culture of collaboration and learning.

What if you have slow results?

Problem: Team performances are not improved and group dynamics do not seem to have remained unchanged. Or maybe you don’t know how to improve the work environment at work in your company.

Solution: Increasing Teamwork isn’t something you get instantaneously. It is also important to get visibility in your organization.

Try to set measurable and specific goals to get there and stay focused to see if it is progressing.

Some teams will face the same problems when they are together, but whoever you’re leading is more likely to succeed in overcoming these difficulties.

The complexity of decision-making

Collaboration is based on common sense and a shared vision for collective work. In many cases finding this consensus requires many different perspectives and backgrounds.

In fact, decisions in workplace collaboration may become difficult and even violent when the hierarchy isn’t followed.

This scenario could slow the work and complicate interpersonal interactions and established relationships between colleagues.

Avoid information overload

It has already been shown that improved information sharing can improve collaboration among colleagues across professional fields of expertise.

Ideal for organizations that provide greater clarity and connection between different components.

However, in a more challenging situation, additional details could overwhelm individual team members or the course of the collaborative effort. Then there are:

Team collaboration skills increase engagement

Active workplace collaboration helps people to be engaged workforce and become more involved with the company’s overall mission in terms of work and its goals.

Global Workplace Report 2020 shows how collaboration with others contributes significantly to employees feeling engaged. In contrast, employees who work primarily independently tend not to have full engagement with a company in any way.

Engaging employees are much more involved and committed to the organization’s success, and success and more inclined to contribute.

Increasing teamwork results in increased employee satisfaction and consequently lower severance rates for employees.

How to get your team started by learning team collaboration skills

Most likely this is a task you want to outsource to a professional leadership coach who has experience in teaching effective communication skills to your entire team and has a model for leadership success for you.

If you are ready to work and build your own model for leading change, you can start today!

10 Steps To Go From Lack of Clear Priorities to Leadership Success

In a recent survey we conducted at TeamCatapult (January 2023), leaders shared their top five struggles in their current leadership roles and key traits they might be missing.

Leaders indicated that they

Felt like there is only so far they can go in your current role
Were unsure how to get people to buy into their vision for the team
Struggled with a lack of clear priorities
Have a team that can’t agree on rules, responsibilities, outcomes, and strategies
Tried controlling everything or tried figuring things out on their own

What would it look like if leaders shared their ideas and vision? Would leaders try harder if they were not afraid to fail? Can you imagine a business world full of confident leaders leading us into the next century?

At Teamcatapult, we cultivate great leaders and effective teams by accessing collective intelligence. We motivate and develop one leader at a time!

Leadership development is vital to leadership success

Leadership success depends on a lot of factors. Clarity of purpose will help effective leaders move their companies forward. At the same time, with a lack of clear priorities, it can be challenging to know as a leader where to even start leading and motivating your (new) team. How can a leader be successful if they do not have a clear purpose or priorities?

Overcoming obstacles and paving the way to becoming a successful leader

What does it look like to overcome obstacles and be successful as a leader? It looks like work! There is no magic wand or easy way to get there, but through doing the work.

Competency comes with practice. Sometimes, years of practice. While you might immediately think: “I don’t have years to dedicate to this” that doesn’t mean you couldn’t start today.

What does it take to lead a team and be a good leader?

It takes effort and time to be a top manager, a great leader, inspire employees, lead a team, develop a clear mission, and achieve success!

What does successful leadership look like?

It takes… a lot and it looks like work!

To become a great leader, one needs to have the desire to work on personal development, a better future, and increase productivity, innovation, and dedication. It might include developing a model of leadership that is focused on a desire to lead change.

The leader’s roles and responsibilities

Leadership must focus on the future. You’re unable to take your people to the destination without knowing the end destination and without having a clear direction.

Employees want to know their leaders are optimistic and confident about the future.

As a leader, you must keep your attention and direction in mind while keeping your staff from distractions. Lead in a can-do spirit to continually improve, while strengthening step modifications to sustain successes.

Leadership skills come with doing the work

Successful leaders all demonstrate the willingness and ability to learn, change and grow. These leadership qualities are developed over time and with experience.

Competency comes from doing the work.

Here are 10 Steps to go from “lack of clear business priorities” to “leadership success”.

1) Identify your leadership goals

Write down your goals, team goals, and your organization’s goals. What does your leadership expect from your company and your teams? What direction do you want yo organization and your company to go in and what company goals need to be met?

Next, determine urgency and consider the importance of each goal. Set a timeline to achieve your goals, whether they are short business goals or long-range goals to achieve long run success.

Create a (written) plan for your goals and then focus on the top priorities.

Last but not least, review and adjust your priorities often as they may shift by life’s curveballs thrown at you!

2) Understand the importance of priorities to attain leadership success

Successful leaders start with prioritization. Whether it’s in their personal or professional life prioritization of priorities is step one to achieving goals.

Start by identifying your most important goals and tasks.

Next, focus your time and energy on these most important goals first. Doing so can help you make significant progress toward achieving success.

Setting priorities forces you to be organized and manage your time effectively. At the same time, avoid getting sidetracked by distractions or unimportant tasks, as doing so can undermine all your hard work.

Prioritizing should be a (new) habit you practice daily. In short, develop a more disciplined and practical approach to achieving your goals thus improving your chances of success as a leader.

3) Overcome analysis paralysis

Analysis paralysis is quite a common problem, among professionals, managers, and yes, leaders. Analysis paralysis prevents you from making decisions when the going gets tough and might lead to you not sticking to your priorities. To overcome this paralysis you need to have a system in place for making decisions and taking action, even when you feel like can’t.

4) Leaders, manage your time wisely

Many books have been written about time management. Do you have trouble getting the job done when it needs to get done?

There are many options to manage your time including calendars, tools, and time blocking.

Ultimately what will work is you making a decision to start working smart, not just hard. Managing your time is a gift to yourself.

Cut out meetings that can be an email.
Stop meeting for the sake of meeting.
Hire an assistant, and outsource repeating tasks. ‘

Anything you can do to manage your time wisely will help you move forward as it will free up more time to do the things high on your priority list.

5) Eliminate distractions at work

Set yourself up for success by finding the best time and best palace to work so that you can focus on the key tasks at hand. The environment in which you work is key to your overall success rate as a leader.

When are you most productive, in what type of environment and setting at what time of the day? In the early morning or late in the day? Do you like working at home, in the office, or on location?

Can you work with colleagues in the room, or do you need headphones or a quiet place? Eliminate email notifications, turn off your phone – do whatever it takes to keep moving forward towards your goals.

Last but not least, an effective leader shows their teams how it’s done by setting an example. Leaders inspire people; but by setting the right example and eliminating distractions to get the job at hand done, you inspire team members to do the same.

6) Build accountability

Sharing your goals and then sharing your success with others, both leaders and your team members, holds you accountable for getting things done.

Start by tracking everything you want to accomplish and everything you do. You can not improve your performance if you do not measure anything!

Data is powerful.

Next, tell a trusted colleague, a coach, or a friend what you are trying to achieve as a leader and how you want to improve performance.

Saying it out loud helps make the goals real and helps hold you accountable for your actions, and in-actions.

7) Embrace flexibility

What happens when circumstances change for you as a leader? Give yourself permission to embrace the new reality and help each person on your team understand that you are a person who is looking out for the overall best interest of the team and its team members.

Embracing flexibility does not mean letting go of the goals or the vision. It might mean restating expectations, readjusting a time frame for completing the goals, or reprioritizing the goals. It might also mean asking for help from leaders in your network, signing up for life coaching, and working on personal development to lead your team to success.

8) Seek support from other leaders

We are huge components of leveraging the help of others to achieve success. There is so much power in collective leadership. Great leaders mentor future leaders! You need a core group of people who will celebrate with you when you succeed, and will also stand by you if you fail and help you get up.

While you as a leader are responsible for the success of your team, that does not mean you can’t seek and ask for support from effective leaders you know.

If you’ve never experienced support like this, consider our cohort program. It might be exactly what you need to have the confidence to move forward in your care, job, or leadership role.

9) Mindset shifts

We would be remiss if we didn’t mention that mindset shift is another tool in the leadership toolbox needed to attain success as a leader.

When a lack of priorities and confidence is present, it is often combined with a mindset of self-defamation and self-doubt. This leads nowhere. A mindset shift is needed if you are to believe in yourself, understand you can do it and set yourself up for success and be a good leader!

You. Can. Do. It.

10) Celebrate small wins

Celebrate successes along the way. Don’t wait until someone else recognizes your success, you should recognize and celebrate your own wins along the way.

‘How do you do this? Each time you reach a preset goal, give yourself permission to celebrate. Celebrate with your team members, fellow leaders and anyone else who’s part of your leadership success story!

Connect with your team members

Leaders in a company must be trusted by their team members. The key is connecting good leaders to one another to accomplish their objectives. These qualities will lead you towards genuine relationships with other people in your team.

Building relationships ad networking with other leaders is essential to building an effective culture for accountability and exceptional performance.

Ask for feedback on your leadership

Your employees don’t always have a right to be informed about your work. When evaluating a leader’s effectiveness you need support from other leaders, colleagues, or even your own people. Speaking to other people can offer the perspective you need for leadership skills. Leader training also helps identify areas that need improvements. Professional coaching is a better motivator than a book or a seminar for a leader.

Coaching and mentoring enable leaders to create connections and apply the change to an open communication authentic environment.

Measuring leadership performance and leadership success

Having clarity around your priorities is crucial to achieving success as a leader. After reading the 10 steps in this article, have you gained a better understanding of what truly matters to you and your organization?

Remember to take the time to reflect on your priorities regularly and adjust them as needed, especially when circumstances change. Always keep team members and stakeholders in mind as you make important decisions.

Cultivating great leaders and effective teams

Should you need coaching, or facilitation skills, want to learn more about setting priorities, or a mindset shift, reach out to us at TeamCatapult. We have many ways to support leaders.

May I suggest you start by listening to the ‘Defining Moments of Leadership’ Podcast? It might help you connect with other leaders like yourself.

3 Ways You Can Help Increase Collective Team Performance

As a leader or an Agile leader, you are part of a fast-paced and dynamic work environment. As the leader, is team performance a critical measurement of your overall success? We think so!

In addition to your success as a leader, stakeholders want to see a continued increase in team performance, because… let’s be honest, who wouldn’t want to? If you are the leader of an agile team, may I assume that collaboration, flexibility, and continuous feedback are already fostered on a daily basis? How then can you influence and contribute to an increase in collective team performance?

In this article, we will explore three key strategies that you can implement that will increase collective team performance, including clear communication, team collaboration, and continuous improvement.

These approaches help leaders like you build high-performing teams that are capable of delivering exceptional results in a rapidly changing world. We know this to be true because we train people like you in our workshops and cohorts to be better team facilitators, better communicators, and better leaders.

Improve Collective Team Performance with Clear Communication

Clear communication is essential for improving collective team performance in any team environment. Agile principles emphasize the importance of collaboration and open communication between team members, as well as between the team and stakeholders. As a leader, you can promote clear communication by establishing a company culture of transparency, encouraging active listening, and promoting open and honest feedback.

By using tools such as:

daily stand-up meetings
team retrospectives
regular check-ins

leaders can help ensure that everyone is on the same page and working towards a common goal.

By not only promoting but modeling clear communication yourself, you build trust and alignment within your team. To start, have ‘thinking together’ conversations.

Improve Collective Team Performance with Collaboration

Collaboration and team building activities are two ways to improve team performance and go hand in hand. As the leader of any team, it’s of the utmost importance to organize team-building activities, consistently encourage collaboration within the team, and create a space for planned idea-sharing times. In other words, create a positive, safe, supportive work environment, aka an inclusive work culture.

In addition, fostering regular and clear communication between teams and stakeholders can help to build trust and alignment all around, leading to more effective and efficient decision-making.

By prioritizing collaboration along with clear communication, leaders can help to drive innovation and creativity, and increase overall team performance.

Improve Collective Team Performance with Continuous Improvement

After clear communication and collaboration, continuous improvement is the third key aspect of leadership and a key factor in improving collective team performance. By embracing a growth mindset and continuously seeking ways to optimize processes and workflows, teams can stay ahead of the curve and continuously improve their performance.

As the team leader, you promote continuous improvement by encouraging the following within your team.

Experimentation
Providing opportunities for skill development
Fostering a culture of learning

Leaders who help their teams stay adaptable, innovative, and always striving for excellence have some of the best-performing teams and a high rate of employee retention and satisfaction, too!

Are You Unintentionally Hindering Team Performance?

You *might* be the culprit and hindering your own team’s performance. Do you want to find out if your team is underperforming partly because of your leadership?

Read this article about team collaboration at its best and worst. TeamCatapult helps leaders like you (and teams like yours) increase their performance. Curious about what that looks like?

Start here.

How Interrupting a Pattern of Behavior Helps Conversation Flow!

Conversations are an essential part of our daily lives, and they play a crucial role in building and maintaining relationships. However, sometimes conversations can become stagnant, and the flow can be interrupted by patterns of behavior that prevent open and honest communication.

Whether it’s the tendency to interrupt, dominate the conversation, or avoid certain topics, these patterns of behavior can create barriers to effective communication.

The Case Study: Setting the Stage

In this story, the leader of an organization recognizes that the current approach to a reorganization is not working and is causing resistance and opposition among his team. He decides to try something different and interrupts the pattern by taking a break and listening to the team’s concerns.

This shift in approach leads to a more productive conversation and a greater willingness among the team to engage in co-creating solutions to their challenges. The leader’s actions demonstrate the power of suspending one’s own point of view and actively listening to others in order to create the conditions for change to occur.

The Story Starts Here: Leading a Reorganization

There once was a leader who was leading a re-org in his organization. He had been working with me for a while as part of the organization’s transformation process because he recognized that there were a lot of entrenched behaviors — including his own — that needed to shift if the re-org was going to be successful.

Then, one day, he was in a meeting that was going in the exact same direction as meetings had been going for weeks: it was heated and he was on the defense team. He was caught in a familiar pattern of explaining, justifying, and trying to convince others of his perspective and help them to see his viewpoint of why the reorganization was needed.

Recognizing a Pattern of Behavior

But on this day, in the heat of the moment, he had a moment of noticing. First, he noticed that he was in a familiar pattern. Then he noticed that the pattern was him digging in his heels, defending his point of view, and getting into a heated debate with his team.

This was his aha! moment.

He then decided to move through the steps of the “pattern interrupt” he’d been practicing with me in coaching sessions.

First, he called for a brief break and he got up and took a walk around the building. Then, when they reconvened, he sat down and acknowledged that he was defending what he believed to be right. And then he voiced his decision to shift into the mode of curiosity.

He shared with the team that he was going to listen. He was actually going to pause his active participation in the meeting so that he could really listen to what they were saying.

He moved to the back of the room, and he asked them to resume the conversation they were having previously about their concerns. The team began to talk with one another again, sharing the risk they saw, the personal impact this org change would have, and the individual fears that everyone shared. They also talked about the deep pain and frustration they had been experiencing because they felt like none of their concerns had been heard even after multiple weeks of trying to share them.

The Power of Pausing and Listening to Interrupt a Pattern of Behavior

After 45 minutes of listening, the leader re-joined the conversation and shared what he had heard. For him, it had been deeply moving and it radically shifted his understanding of what was happening to them. They weren’t just resisting his viewpoint, they were feeling totally unheard in their viewpoint. So, he apologized for the impact he had been having on the team, acknowledged the hurt and pain, and shared how he totally saw what they were seeing now.

When he finished sharing his experience of listening to them – one by one each leader leaned into the conversation and said ‘I’m in, let’s do this…’

A Defining Moment of Leadership

The executive would later share with me that it was the most profound moment of his leadership and that he didn’t really understand what he had done.

Here’s what I told him happened. You suspended your point of view long enough to hear their perspective and experience. By doing this, you brought the real conversation in the room – it actually wasn’t an opposition to the re-org as much as it was opposition to not having their concerns addressed.

By the leader’s action, people felt seen and heard, and were ready to engage in co-creating solutions to some of their challenges instead of resisting and blocking the change.

Creating Space for Change to Occur

This is the power of the conversation. It had created the space for change to occur, it helped people feel seen and heard so that they could buy-in to the change.

There had been a pattern established by the leader resisting their perspectives. He was advocating rather than inquiring — defending rather than suspending. As a result, the concerns of the group continued to persist in the form of roadblocks and opposition. And what you resist ALWAYS persists.

Once this leader had shifted the course of the conversation by starting to inquire more, when he recognized that it was time to stop resisting, …something new happened.

By creating the conditions for change to really happen, he was able to lead the change within his organization in a radically different and more effective way.

When You Are Stuck, Try Interrupting Your Pattern of Behavior!

Interrupting patterns of behavior is a powerful tool for improving the flow of conversation and enhancing the overall quality of our interactions with others.

Next time you find yourself stuck in a conversation or relationship that is not flowing well, try interrupting your pattern of behavior.

This can be as simple as taking a pause by stepping away, changing the subject, or listening more actively. By interrupting these patterns, we can create new opportunities for growth and connection with others.

Remember, effective communication is not about being perfect, it’s about being open and willing to make changes when necessary.

7 Keys to Successful Delivery Culture Change

This is a case study, a story, of how one organization changed their delivery culture and used Agile training as a cultural intervention to level up their delivery leads and their teams.

The Delivery Culture That Wasn’t

The Client:

A mid-sized tech development company who was growing fast and experiencing the consequence of growth pains. They were what they called ‘practicing agile’, and yet they were struggling with team cohesion, decision making and delivery.

The Struggles:

Teams did not feel heard.

Teams felt like they were getting stepped on.

Ideas from younger team members weren’t taken seriously by older team members.

The attitude around meetings was ‘Why would I bother coming to a meeting where you’re going to ask me my opinion, but you’ve already got a solution figured out? Why don’t you just tell me what to do, and I’ll go do it? Don’t waste my time.’

Team leaders were frustrated by on-going team resistance. They struggled to get their teams on board with new ideas or changes in the direction that the leaders knew needed to happen.

Teams would revisit topics that had already been discussed and decided, because, in fact, they hadn’t really been decided.

This lack of team cohesion and the constant resistance to ideas and change impacted product development and delivery. The process impeded creativity and efficiency. It caused frustration for everyone involved.

None of this is good for a growing tech company looking to break through the market and survive long-term.

This company was growing quickly and knew they needed to be more adaptable in their execution. They had laid down the core principles of agile. They thought they knew agile well.

But why were they still not seeing the results they needed? They had spent thousands of dollars in agile training, but they were not seeing the improvement results they expected or needed from this effort.

What was going on? How could this be fixed?

The Pitfalls Before Delivery Culture Change

The world of work is becoming more adaptive. No longer do we create five-year strategic plans or twelve-month project plans and expect them to be relevant past the end of the week. Markets and needs change quickly.

1 We need businesses who understand agility and adaptability at a core DNA level. Training is just one component.

2 We need leaders who can guide the process internally. Agility does not happen in big movements; it happens in small decisions that get made at a moment in time. The point where a leader says: I’m going to choose emergence over knowing all the answers upfront. Or I’m going to trust that the team will produce value, even if I don’t quite understand exactly how it will happen at a level that would make me comfortable.

3 The problem is viewed as a knowledge gap rather than a systemic issue. Sometimes in the case of facilitation, yes, it is a knowledge gap, but it’s also so much more. Just acquiring the new knowledge will not solve the systemic challenge in an organization that has a culture of leaders showing up late to meetings, refusing to hold themselves accountable to working agreements like ‘no technology’ during the meeting

4 No internal champion or sponsor. Training is procured by a vendor or even developed in house. Intervention and culture change at this level requires someone with seniority and gravitas inside the organization to be an ongoing champion

5 Training staff in the practices of agile without skills in how to help teams implement them – beyond the “what”, ensures that your teams spend their whole day in meetings without the skills to make them effective. It also makes everyone hate meetings.

6 Helping teams, scrum masters and agile coaches make some of the key mindset-shifts needed for agile, but failing to engage middle management and executive leaders or provide them a path for their own leadership growth.

7 Keys To Success of Delivery Culture Change

Today, this company is thriving!

Teams are high-performing, and the delivery leads are equipped to handle challenges as they come. Newer team members have more senior delivery leads they can lean on to help mentor them through tough team dynamics.

These are the reasons of how they got there:

Laid down the foundations of agile – mindset, practices, key principles. They know why agile is important. They understand why you’re doing it.
Effective collaboration and facilitation skills are table stakes for agile transformation. Facilitation is not optional. Everyone in an organization needs to understand what makes meetings effective. We need to wage a war on ineffective meetings that waste time and just repeat the same conversation over and over again.
Used a competency model for agile coaching – scrum masters and agile coaches are being asked to lead teams in different ways. We are leaving behind the days of telling people what to do, putting everything in a project schedule and managing to the schedule. Effective meetings and collaboration are at the heart of agility.
Developed the skills of facilitation and coaching throughout the organization – at all levels. Patrick Lencioni in his book “The Advantage” said “there is no greater way to change the culture of an organization than by starting with how they meet.”
Leaders went first. Leadership must model and support this – not contradict it. Leaders hold power and privilege over those learning. The fastest way to frustrate someone who has just learned a set of skills that light them up is to not support it. Mid and senior level leaders in the organization need to develop their own leadership.
Setup systems that support and reinforce what people are learning. When the skills of facilitation and coaching are not supported by the organizational structures they will not stick. Training in large organizations we often hear, “When will my boss go through this training?”
Built the competence of facilitation and coaching. Facilitation and coaching are professional bodies of knowledge. To become certified in either one requires hours of learning and practice, which helped to embed these skills through competency development programs.
1. Competency cohort with certification
2. Learning circles
3. Coaching circles
4. Work with a professional coach
5. Get mentoring and supervision from a professional facilitator

You Can Facilitate Delivery Culture Change Too!

Training programs CAN be one component of a successful intervention. If you want to change the culture, start by changing the way you meet. Management must get on board. Agile as a culture starts at the top. The leadership team must lead by example to create real cultural change. Companies who are willing to invest in this change can have real, lasting impact on employee morale, creativity, efficiency, future change and pivots.

An agile culture leads to greater productivity in less time, tapping fully into the creative and intellectual capabilities of the entire team; making employees feel valued, heard and a part of something bigger than themselves.

We Are The Team To Help Your Company!

We at TeamCatapult are a team of passionate, caring agile coaches who want to help your team transform, find your path and flourish. We want to help you get unstuck. We want to help you find true collaboration, creative process and team efficiency.

We believe deeply in the principles of Agile.

We are:

Adaptable
Able to bring clarity to complex situations
Experienced
Results-oriented
Growing in Capacity and Capability
Committed

We believe:

Conversations are fundamental
Performance is directly tied to leadership effectiveness
Organizations are perfectly designed to get the results they get
Challenges are addressed from a whole new system view

In research and real-world application.