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Successful teams
Mindset
Project Aristotle by Google.
Teams are really effective when team members are attuned. Surprisingly team size, colocation and individual performances isn't what makes a team effective. What matters most is how people interact with one another.
The research looked at 180 teams and tried to uncover effectiveness in 4 ways: leading, team leaders, team members and results.
It seemed that the magic happened when there was psychological safety.
Collaboration works when people are feeling comfortable to take risks, ask questions, admit mistakes and suggest new ideas.
There are other building blocks which matter as too: dependability (do what you say), structure and clarity (goals, roles), meaning (having purpose) and impact (do I contribute). But all those building blocks require 1 thing: psychological safety.
High-Performing
The pressure of the word is big. In business, we aspire our teams to deliver consistently, be predictable, continuously improve, tackle business challenges like no other team ever did. The terminology if off: high performing puts a lot of unnecessary pressure on teams because it serves as a consequence of the choices the team makes. What teams can control is how they show up.
* showing up: means being fully present, engaged, and authentic in any situation—whether it's a meeting, a conversation, or a challenge.
VAST - the engagement Cycle
The VAST Cycle is a powerful model for fostering engagement and connection in teams and organisations.
VAST is an acronym for:
Vulnerability - choose to share openly, even when it feels risky
Authentic Connection - building real and genuine human-to-human relationships
Safety - Creating an environment in which people feel secure to speak up
Trust - Developing confidence in each other's intentions and actions.
As explored and found out by Google, engagement and collaboration thrive when people feel safe, connected and trusted. Since trust is an emerging phenomenon, it emerges out of vulnerability and having authentic connections. The real catalyst is vulnerability.
credits for this VAST Engagement Cycle go to Michael K Sahota and Olaf Lewitz.
link to the post by Sahota
link to the post by Lewitz
When VAST runs in reverse, it creates organisational debt.
Org Debt = the cultural baggage that limits engagement, innovation and performance.
How this reinforcing cycle works and leads to isolation, lack of trust, increased fear:
No Trust : People avoid collaboration and distrust leaders
Fear: No risk-taking, no asking for help
Keep Calm/Cover you ass: withholding information, avoiding speaking up
Alone: Disengagement, feeling powerless and undervalued.
The impact is big zith reduced cooperation and less innovation, low organisational resilience, feelings of an inhumane workplace, ...
The way out of the cycle is by recognizing the situation, having that awareness, and shift towards VAST behaviours.
link to Sahota Org Debt post
Creating a brave space
When we work together, it is up to ourselves to create a space which allows us to get the best out of ourselves.
Get inspired by this
Untitled Poem
There is no such thing as a “safe space” —
We exist in the real world.
We all carry scars and have caused wounds.
This space seeks to turn down the volume of the world outside,
and amplify voices that have to fight to be heard elsewhere,
This space will not be perfect.
It will not always be what we wish it to be
But
It will be our space together,
and we will work on it side by side.
Facing History & Ourselves, “Untitled Poem by Beth Strano”,
last updated August 9, 2023.
AN INVITATION TO A BRAVE SPACE
Together we will create brave space
Because there is no such thing as a “safe space”
We exist in the real world
We all carry scars and we have all caused wounds.
In this space
We seek to turn down the volume of the outside world.
We amplify voices that fight to be heard elsewhere,
We call each other to more truth and love
We have the right to start somewhere and continue to grow.
We have the responsibility to examine what we think we know.
We will not be perfect.
It will not always be what we wish it to be
But
It will be our brave space together,
And
We will work on it side by side.
by Micky Scottbey Jones adapted the poem from the Unitled Peom by Beth Strano:
What we often see today is the expectation that a Safe Space already exist. And more recently, we see the Safe Space move towards a space in which we should be nice for each other. Safe Spaces as described by Amy Edmondson, are not about being nice and holding back on something a person might find unpleasant. A safe space is about candor. Even more, psychological safe workplaces recognize having conflict whilst exploring to understand each other viewpoints to come with a better solution. Psychological safety isn't the goal, but it's a means to the goal of excellence: commitment to high quality care combined with commitment to excellence (high standards of performance) leads to that learning zone. This is where problems actually get solved.
But like said... people already expect the commitment to high quality care to be there, forgetting that they play an important role in that.
That is why the concept of Brave Space is interesting: it's an invitation to create the space together. That space gets created when we leave our ego at the door (drop our ego), listen more than we talk, be curious, be candid, become courageous and dare to do more. And when we do that, you'll end up having a team, picking up their radical responsibility.
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