A guide to setting up or resetting your team in transition

In the last few months, I have had many clients saying that they feel like their teams are being set up again from scratch. That there is a resetting going on. Of course, this makes sense in the context of the last few years and is happening for many reasons including:

• huge growth,

• restructuring,

• the great resignation and associated great re-hiring (meaning new starters abound)

• some companies are setting up projects in different ways,

• and many more.

In all these contexts, leaders are being asked to bring new groups of people together to achieve an outcome. And the subtext is that they’d better do it well and do it quickly. Oh, and make sure to ensure lots of psychological safety while they do it!

I have worked with groups for many years now. Leadership teams, functional teams, project teams, toxic teams, high performing teams, brand new teams. They are all unique, and yet there are common threads to how we best support them in the set up (or reset) phase.

Many of the same concepts that apply to how we support individuals through significant transitions apply to how we enable reset or transition for teams. While an ongoing process may need to emphasise team coaching, team facilitation, team building or team development (yes they are all different things!), in the early phase there are some foundational activities that are required to set teams up for success.

Here is our guide on the key elements for a successful set-up or reset for your team:

1. REFLECT

A great team is comprised of self-aware individuals.

It seems paradoxical I suppose, but my starting point in building great teams is to pause and allow all the individuals in the team to reflect first on themselves. This includes understanding their personality, preferences, values and derailers - particularly when it comes to working with others. Each individual in the team needs to be clear about how they can most effectively ‘show up’ in the team. Taking time to do this (with a coach or their leader, and maybe using a good psychometric assessment) is a perfect example of slowing down to speed up.

We can then take this process and apply it to the group. A reflection process at the whole team level should explore the similarities and differences in style and approach, particularly in the contexts that the team is likely to encounter including communication, conflict, feedback giving and strategic planning. A skilled coach or facilitator can aggregate data from assessments and highlight areas that may represent strengths or challenge areas.

Team members love this part. This process is usually the part that they will reflect on as their ‘a-ha’ moment about the team and individuals in it, and is almost always the highlight of a team development session.

2. ALIGN

Once the reflective process has provided insight and awareness, we use that knowledge and the commitment that has been built to fuel the subsequent conversation.

The next step is that the team needs to get on the same page. Sounds simple right? Umm…

When I say the same page, I mean that there needs to be a shared understanding of a few key matters. Here is a (non-exhaustive) list of the types of discussions that your team may need to have to get on the same page:

• What are we here to do/achieve?

• What is important to us in relation to ‘how’ we do that?

• What are our expectations of each other?

• How will we work together (including tricky situations like giving feedback, communicating, navigating lack of geographical co-location)?

• What can we do together that we can’t do apart?

• Who are our stakeholders and what do they need/expect of us?

• How will we celebrate our successes?

• How will we hold ourselves accountable to our commitments?

If the ‘Reflect’ stage is the foundation for the team development, then the ‘Align’ stage is the North Star.

3. PLAN

It is easy (and common!) to run out of steam after the reflection and alignment conversations because everyone is feeling great and motivated. But if we don’t finish up with a clear action-defining planning process then the investment of time by the team won’t be fully utilised.

There needs to be a good process for making a plan that documents and confirms the way forward. It should cover: Who will do what? When? Who owns accountability for setting up next steps for the team?

This should relate at a minimum to the team-oriented actions and plans discussed in previous steps. Beyond these though, this is also a good time to commence or integrate a substantive process of team planning for business accountabilities using a RACI matrix or other internal model (ask me more about the RACI if you haven’t used it before!).

A good planning process should also consider alternative pathways to desired outcomes.  This is quite simple and means that if things don’t go as planned (and frankly, this is most of the time!), what are some alternative ways to achieve the desired outcomes? While it sounds almost too basic to focus on, there is great research that shows that deliberately considering what you will do if the initial plan doesn’t work is associated with higher levels of goal attainment.

If the ‘Reflect’ stage is the foundation for the team development and the ‘Align’ stage is the North Star, then the ‘Plan’ stage is our engine room to drive the team forward in the desired direction.

To conclude, there is a lot we can do to support setting up or resetting our teams in transition. This can all be done by the leader, or with the support of an external facilitator/coach. This investment of your time and energy will certainly pay off in a more cohesive, aligned and engaged team, and likely in performance and time freed up from dealing with team dynamics challenges.

If you’d like more information about setting up or resetting teams in transition (generally, or yours specifically!) please reach out for a quick chat – you can book directly into my calendar here.