5 Strategies to Build Team Unity
Whether you’re leading a team or working together towards a shared goal, you create your own unique ‘group dynamics’.
We've all been there: excited to join a group, only to end up frustrated and disappointed after a few interactions. In many teams, one person dominates the conversation while others remain passive listeners. Some might want to speed things up, while others are focused on different topics. Does this ring a bell?
There are many unhealthy dynamics that can hold groups back, including:
Not feeling heard or listened to by others
Not speaking up or saying what you think
Feeling criticised or taking things personally
Needing to agree or disagree, or needing to be right
Disengaging and complaining to others outside of the group
Discussing and sharing thoughts, without taking action or making a decision.
Unhealthy group dynamics can undermine your team’s productivity and success, as well as team members’ morale, engagement and creativity.
Building a cohesive and unified team isn't just about planning a few team-building activities or fostering a friendly work environment. According to Organisational Psychology, creating true team unity involves deliberate strategies that enhance collaboration, trust, and communication. Here are five evidence-based strategies to help you build stronger, more unified teams:
1. Clarify expectations
A unified team starts with clarity. Each team member brings their own assumptions and expectations about how the group will function. Often, teams rush into discussions without clarifying these expectations, leading to gaps between what individuals anticipate and what they experience. To avoid this, dedicate time to define and communicate the team’s goals and individual roles. At the start of each group interaction, address these three key questions:
“What outcomes are we seeking from our group today?”
“What is most important for us to focus on?”
“How do we need to interact to achieve it?”
And keep this going. Make sure that people understand all the important things. Why the team exists. What it must achieve. How will the work be done. Who will do what, by when. How the team is performing . . . . and so on.
2. Foster open communication through vulnerability
How do you ensure that when individuals come together as a group, they are able to be authentic, honest, open, and speak their mind? One of the biggest levers to achieving this and improving the speed at which a group operates is trust. And one of the most important factors for building trust is vulnerability.
Vulnerability-based trust is about acknowledging that we are all humans, and that we all share the same fallibilities. It enables group members to share their skills and display their weaknesses, without fear of any consequences. This is critical for innovation, creativity and change.
To foster trust-based vulnerability in your group, practice saying what you’re feeling, not what you think the group wants to hear. Don’t just focus on content and the topic of conversation, share what is going on for you internally. Are you feeling frustrated that the group can’t come to a decision? Share that with the group. Are you feeling anxious about sharing your perspective because it’s different to that of the group? Share your anxiety. This transparency helps build trust and encourages others to do the same, leading to more effective collaboration and faster problem-solving.
3. Get on the balcony
Often we get so seduced by the content of conversations we fail to pause, take a step back and reflect on what’s really going on. The skill of ‘getting off the dance floor and getting on the balcony’ is a metaphor coined by Heifetz & Linsky for getting out of the action and finding perspective.
If you notice that your group is taking a detour from your shared expectations, or you notice patterns in your group such as shying away from difficult conversations, experiment with some of the following questions to get the group up on the balcony.
“What is everyone noticing about how we’re interacting at the moment?”
“What is the most important thing for us to be talking about right now?”
“What is really going on here?”
Bringing a balcony perspective, or meta-view of the conversation, will draw people back up to focus on what really matters.
4. Experiment with different ways of working together
The most common ways in which groups interact is through discussions and meetings. Unfortunately, unless they are well-run, they are often too inhibiting or too loose and disorganised. The good news is that there are a wide range of other ways to approach how your group works together and makes decisions.
Experiment with different practices and ways of relating, such as liberating structures
Experiment with different decision-making processes – for example, integrative decision making, consent decision making, sociocracy, holacracy
Leverage technology to complement face to face engagement – for example slack, telegram, loomio.
Bring the heart and body into group interactions, such as through mindfulness, meditation, presencing and other ‘Theory U’ processes.
5. Review and reflect after each interaction
Finally, one of the most important ways to improve your group dynamics is to conduct a quick review at the end of every group interaction. If you do nothing else, do this one!
What does the group want to stop/start/continue doing?
What worked well?
What held us back?
This information is invaluable - use it to improve how you work together next.
Experiment, reflect, evolve!
Just these five simple ideas can make a major difference to your group’s productivity and morale. Try just one. Then another. Persist when you do, reflecting on what you’ve learned from each go at it, and fine-tune your approaches. Achieving team unity is an ongoing process that requires consistent effort and attention.