Teaming for High Performing Organisations

As part of our Relational Performance Framework at Hauora, teaming - “rapid coordination across boundaries and functions” - sits within the domain of cohesion. And in today's fast-paced work environment, building a culture of teaming is essential for success.

Teaming involves identifying essential collaborators and quickly getting up to speed on what they know so that you can work together to get things done.

Although stability within teams is optimal for performance, teaming has become increasingly important because work - now more than ever - presents complicated interdependencies that have to be managed on the fly. For example, the time between an issue arising and when it must be resolved is shrinking fast, sometimes preventing the ideal act from being implemented.

As suggested in a Harvard Business Review article by Amy Edmondson, to be effective at teaming, team members need to possess qualities such as curiosity, passion, and empathy. 

Leaders must build a culture where teaming is expected and feels natural, which starts with modelling these behaviours. By asking genuine questions, listening intently, displaying deep enthusiasm for achieving team goals, and showing that they are attuned to everyone's diverse perspectives, curiosity, passion, and empathy can take root in a culture.

Edmondson discusses the case of Julie Morath, who launched an ambitious patient safety initiative at Children's Hospital and Clinics in Minnesota. Creating a safe environment where employees feel comfortable sharing their experiences and ideas is crucial for building a culture of teaming.

To capture the attention of employees, Morath delivered compelling speeches on patient safety and held personal meetings with opinion leaders across the organisation. Her efforts were instrumental in creating a safe space where employees felt comfortable sharing their experiences and ideas. Despite these efforts, staff resisted the change, confident that the hospital did not have a problem.

Instead of using her position to argue her point more forcefully, Morath responded to the pushback with questions. By asking thoughtfully, "What was your own experience this week, in the units, with your patients?" Morath transformed engagement and started to shift the organisation's culture. Her simple inquiry made the staff realise that they had been at the centre of a healthcare situation where things did not always go well and that the hospital could indeed be doing better.

By fostering curiosity, passion, and empathy, team members can build stronger relationships and work more effectively together. As the workplace continues to evolve, teaming will become an increasingly important skill for teams and individuals to possess.

Assessing teaming within a team can be done through Relational Performance Questionnaire statements such as "I can quickly get up to speed working with new people" or "I struggle working with new people or getting up to speed in new teams." These statements can help identify strengths and weaknesses and, as part of the wider questionnaire, can highlight where team members might need additional support or training.

Various actions and interventions can be taken to improve teaming within a team. On or off-site team-building activities can be beneficial in building relationships and increasing collaboration. Storytelling workshops and team murmurations can also be powerful tools for building empathy and understanding when meeting new people or integrating into a new group.

Building a culture of teaming can be challenging but is achievable with the right mindset and approach. Leaders must model curiosity, passion, and empathy to help everyone become effective collaborators. By creating a safe environment where employees feel comfortable sharing their experiences and ideas, a culture of teaming can emerge. As Julie Morath's example shows, with the right mindset and approach, any organisation can build a culture of teaming that leads to success.

Teaming also correlates to the other components of the Relational Performance Framework, including stability, collaboration, and shared purpose. 

• Stability is optimal for team performance, but when stability is not possible, teaming can help teams adapt and work effectively together. 

• Collaboration is essential for successful teaming because it involves working together to achieve a common goal.

• Shared purpose is also critical because it helps team members understand why they are working together and what they hope to achieve. 

By building a culture of teaming, teams can foster stability, collaboration, and shared purpose to achieve success.