Leveraging the potential of teams and their collective energy can enhance organisational success and help uncover hidden talent. When they’re neglected, however, businesses suffer. In fact, research has found that 86% of executives attribute company failure to a lack of collaboration within or between teams.
If organisations want to succeed, teams should be viewed and treated as the lifeblood of the business. Forbes research discovered that inclusive teams make better decisions up to 87% of the time and do so twice as quickly, with half as many meetings. Meanwhile, more than 50% of employees say they’ve stayed with an employer purely because of a strong team dynamic. It makes sense then, to anchor team development as an ongoing cultural practice.
That being said, it’s not always easy to build and sustain effective teams.
Maintaining high-performing teams can be difficult
Some of the challenges that teams face include:
Changing dynamics: Successful teams are generally built on stability, but today, the world of work very rarely allows for anything to remain the same for too long. For example, as a result of the ongoing cost of living crisis, women are returning to work earlier than usual after having children, and early retirees from the great resignation are rejoining the workforce. So, whether it’s a new starter or a returning employee, personnel changes can cause a shift within a team’s dynamic – disrupting the value chain, bringing new personalities to the table, and challenging current work practices.
Lack of psychological safety: For any team to operate at its full potential, there must be a sense of psychological safety. Employees need to know their team represents a safe space where they can ask questions, challenge ideas and speak candidly about any issues they’re facing. Unfortunately, workplace loneliness is stymying people’s ability to build trusted workplace relationships – leaving them without a support network within their teams and unable to establish psychological safety. Employees who lack good relationships with their colleagues are then 3.5x more likely to feel isolated at work, resulting in an unhappy and disconnected workforce.
Skills crisis: Hybrid working, for all its benefits, has contributed to a growing soft-skills crisis. While 9 out of 10 UK business leaders believe soft skills are more important than ever, 70% of hiring managers say that because of their limited exposure to in-person working, Gen Z employees need additional support to develop key skills such as collaboration and communication. If the development of these younger workers isn’t prioritised accordingly, both their individual potential and the output of their teams will likely lag behind the rest of the organisation.
A physical disconnect: The switch to hybrid working has also exacerbated challenges for line managers. In fact, 23% of managers believe it has made managing a team more complex. Understandably, with teams now dispersed across multiple locations, it can be difficult for managers to establish alignment between their direct reports and the wider organisation – leaving employees feeling disconnected from the business’ overarching purpose and vision. And when this feeling of disconnection is left unaddressed, employee loyalty and retention will only go down.
Team development done right
Given the necessary support and development opportunities, teams can thrive and act as an enabler of success for their business.
When an established UK retailer found their leaders and teams were feeling disconnected, disengaged and lacking a true sense of belonging, they worked with us to help employees reengage with their peers, reflect upon their experience and behaviours to-date, and begin building a greater sense of community throughout the business.
Following their investment:
Similarly, a global automotive supplier wanted to enhance the leadership team in charge of its Poland manufacturing plant. They worked with us to help their team move from good to great by implementing a 9-month team development journey, focused on improving their leaders’ self-awareness of the value they brought to the team, their ability to collaborate effectively and their proficiency in strategic thinking.
In turn:
“Before this project with Right Management, we were recognised within the organisation as a highly effective plant. But I wanted my team to raise the bar, develop trust in our workforce and show up in an even more aligned way.
This work helped us clarify what we expected from our leaders, increase self-awareness throughout the business, and focus our team development support on the leadership behaviours that mattered most.”
‒ CEO of the plant
And as more organisations recognise the value of team development initiatives, the more exciting the world of work will become – with increased cross-functional working, unique solutions and ongoing innovation just some of the benefits of teams operating at their full potential.
If you’d like to find out how your organisation could get more out of its teams, get in touch today.