I’ve been a member of all manner of different teams. Dev teams working to build a product. Sports teams trying to win a game. Leadership teams in a church environment. As different as the goals are in these different types of teams, there are plenty of things which stay the same. Not least of which, they are all made up of people. So, here are the three things I try to remember at all times when in a team.
Communication
This is a big one. Communicating with clients, customers, sales reps, colleagues. We have to share information somehow, and that is called communication. I’ve written about the fact that it is tricky before (Communication, clearly), but I’ll repeat some of that here. On the hockey field, when my team is quiet, it usually means we’re also playing bad hockey. No one has lost their skills, but the game is not going our way. Why? Because we’re not telling one another what is going on around us. Just calling out “man on!” when the defender is about to run up behind can change the play from losing the ball, to passing around the other player. Dropping a line to the customer to say “hey, I started working on that bug, it’s more complicated than I thought” earns you trust. You haven’t made any promises you can’t keep, but they know what you’re doing.
Communication is important enough that is has it’s own “three C’s” nested into it.
You want to be clear. No ambiguity. Not sugar coating, or hand waving. Explain the data as you see it. The problem as it shows. The challenge you aren’t coping with. Tell your fellow player where you are, not just that you’re open. Back on the field, spacial awareness is important, but if you hear a call of “I’m open” running past you on the left, you still don’t actually know where to send the ball. Clarity is calling “down the line”. In a very loud voice. Tell your colleague “when you’re late for meetings with me, I feel like you don’t respect my time”. Now they know what they can do to improve your relationship.
You want to be concise. Don’t waffle. Don’t over explain. Don’t repeat yourself endlessly. Time is valuable, and if someone is repeating the same thing over and over we tune out. Take the time to choose your words, and use then effectively. Adding fluff is just going to make it harder to understand. I don’t ask someone to “stay where you are until they pass the ball” in the heat of the moment on the field, I use an agreed upon shorthand of “hold”. Loud, clear, and obvious. I frequently get called back with “on your left” or “your player”, meaning the person I am supposed to be marking has got away from me, and my team mate is telling me where she is.
You want to be constant. Don’t get quiet. Unless you’re actually away. No one can help you when you stop speaking to them. I know this one the hard way, because in times of stress my instinct is to withdraw. I go quiet, then I wonder why no one is talking to me. Why they can’t tell something is wrong. Maybe because if they aren’t seeing or hearing from me they don’t know? In the DevOps space, if you have a “production is down” event, maintaining a constant stream of communication helps stakeholders and colleagues know the status of the event without having to bug you about it. It allows a more senior person to jump in a make suggestions based on what you have already eliminated, rather than watching as they infuriatingly suggest all the first things you tried. On the field, it is the difference between losing the ball every time you try to attack and making it to the other team’s goal line.
Composure
Putting a group of people together and asking them to achieve a goal is not the most chilled thing ever. You are going to have the highly strung, anxious types. The laid back “what will be will be” types. You will have the type A organised, and the type B follow where the wind leads. You want this chaotic mix. That diversity is what will give you brilliance. You have to maintain your composure in the face of adversity, else you simply add to the chaos. Back to the hockey field, when you play against a superior team, it is very easy to panic when you get passed the ball. As soon as you have collected it, you have two players converging on you to tackle and steal it. In these moments, composure means knowing where your players are, knowing that you can move to protect the ball, slowing the game down to maintain control, and not just running straight into someone.
Maintaining calm in chaos (hi FMR) allows you to become an oasis for the rest of the team. When that deadline is looming and the project isn’t done yet, if one person is able to say “there is a plan, and we just have to do x, y, z” the whole system can stabilise.
Compassion
Yes. Compassion. You don’t need to step on anyone’s toes to get ahead. You can build people up. You can forgive them when something goes wrong. You can show understanding. These are things which build trust. Showing someone compassion can take them from adversarial and panicked to composed (see) and productive. When life happens (as it does) you don’t need to punish your team for it. I might tease someone for tripping over their own shoes on the field, but I’ll do that after the game in the full knowledge that they have done it to me before. We don’t yell at our own team mates in anger. We acknowledge that they freshied (hitting at the ball and only getting fresh air) that shot, and then we reset the defensive play to try again.
When someone misses a meeting, and then reaches out later with an apology, I have found it far more freeing to respond with empathy and compassion. Even if they really let me down. To say to some one who is pulling out of a commitment to the team due to personal reasons “we will really miss you, but please take care of yourself”. I’m telling the truth in the “we will really miss you” part. I won’t go further than that, because I don’t want to start guilting them into staying. Again, personal failing, I can be overly responsible. I am that person who won’t pull out of training because of the rain, even if I’m getting sick and I had a miserable day. My team is counting on me. I have learnt to not go to training with a migraine or if I am actually ill, but that took time. So, a little compassion can go a long way.
Conclusion
I have a little paper card stuck to the wall by my desk with these points on it. Reminding me that these are the values I want to see in my own view of teamwork. I consider them important, and I believe they take me to the next level as “a person who works well in a team”. Teamwork is not going anywhere, even as a freelancer or individual contributor you work in a variety of teams. So I like to be reminded Communication, Composure, and Compassion are the three things I need.
Pippa Hillebrand 