A major challenge for the organizations is to develop teams to optimize the synergy and eradicate the possibilities of conflicts. While most of them realize, efficient communication is the key to achieve esprit de corps, they do not realize that the success mantra does not just lie in what is communicated but how it is communicated and that encompasses a set of factors, based on the pillars: Energy, Engagement and Exploration. This has practically transformed the team building exercise from art to science with a set of protocols that we will discuss in the course of the discussion.
Communication in a team
According to a survey conducted by the human dynamics department of MIT university, the overall performance can be based on the analysis of the following nuances of human behavior when working in a team:
On the basis of the study of these factors vis-à-vis the performance of the team, following observations were made:
1) The talent and knowledge level of the team members is secondary to the performance of the team, what matters most is gauging their communication patterns and training them to hone them in the right direction.
2) The members communicate not just with the team leader but equally with the entire team.
3) The overall gestures of the team members are energetic and focus on addressing each of them in the conversation.
4) Each member is given a chance to express his viewpoint, wherein every one listens to every other and also ensures that he speaks precisely and to the point.
5) The team members are not just restricted to the team ideas but explore new channels to grab new ideas and enrich the team as a whole.
The 3 Es
Let us take a look on these 3 important aspects of communication:
1) Energy
This factor keeps varying depending on the situation under consideration. Elated events would normally boost the overall energy levels while the challenges may sometimes lower the energy levels.
2) Engagement
This is the overall distribution of energy in the team. Lets us consider a team comprising of 3 members X, Y and Z. So the engagement can be calculated as the average of energy between X and Y, Y and Z and X and Z. Thus, a strong engagement would be achieved when there is a high level interaction between every member.
3) Exploration
It is interesting to note that the success of the team is not just restricted to the internal communication levels but also to the external ones. This is the channelizing of the energy to other teams, to gain insights enriching the overall team performance. This becomes particularly significant to teams involved in innovative tasks, as it helps to gain fresh insights. The team members need to interact with their back and side channels to explore new perspectives.
The conservation of energy principle states that “energy can neither be created nor destroyed, it can only be transformed from one form to another”. So with finite energy, the engagement and exploration lie at a tradeoff situation, wherein more focus on one leads to sacrificial effect on the other. So, if energy is concentrated inside the team, the energy allocation for exploration is reduced.
Understanding the overall dynamics
Visualization is an effective way to understand the overall energy distribution, the engagement levels (in case of disparity, identifying the unengaged and the dominant ones) and the exploration levels. This can be done on 2 criteria:
1) Mapping w.r.t the team members
This criterion has the members as its reference and the overall understanding is based on this reference. The advantage of this method is that it helps to identify the engagement and exploration on one-to-one basis, making the assessment of the team members easier and also targeting the dominant and unengaged team members, necessary for the optimization of the performance of the team.
Application:
The model is helpful with geographically diversified teams as it ensures equitable distribution of energy, better engagements and exploration.
2) Mapping w.r.t time
This method helps to understand the patterns of interaction i.e the face-to-face communication over the other methods like texts and e-mails. Based on this study, the various issues can be addressed to promote an improved communication in the team and with the outside teams.
These issues comprise of finding out whether the crucial departments are well connected to the other teams , is the communication between different departments even or how does the communication pattern change with the changes in the activities of the organization. Let us take a look at the pattern during a new product launch.
Source: website, hbr.org
Another important observation is that now the customer service is in constant communication with the support team on matters related to the fixing of the issues that arise from the customer’s end.
These observations can help the organizations to understand the communication patterns between the different teams and take measures to promote communication between them, thereby streamlining the overall performance.
Application
This model is helpful for the organization entering into new ventures, by understanding the different communication patterns that would evolve over the time frames. By understanding the level of face-to-face communication over e-mail communication, we can take corrective measures when issues of dysfunctional communication flow arise.
Performance vis-à-vis Energy-engagement balance
1) The most efficient teams were the ones that had high energy-high engagement.
2) However, the unbalanced states like low energy-high engagement or high energy-low engagement were detrimental to the team’s efficiency. On the contrary, low energy-low engagement teams outperformed than these unbalanced teams.
From the figure, point A and B have same efficiency, though they have different combinations of energy and engagement. Thus, it can be concluded that maintaining a balance of energy-engagement was imperative for the efficiency of the team.
Conclusion
Team building is a scientific process based on how to communicate and not what to communicate. No matter what is the nature of the industry, the signature characteristics that determine their success is energy, engagement and exploration. The visualization pattern can is useful tool to understand the communication patterns and identify the bottlenecks hindering overall team efficiency. The discussion thus boils down to focusing on the members with the right attitude and not just sufficient knowledge. Having considered this viewpoint, we can synergize the output of the teams, whether physically connected or parted.
This article has been authored by Ela Koshal from WE School.
Image(s): FreeDigitalPhotos.net
The articles in this section have been submitted by our Authors. They have been reviewed & uploaded by the MBA Skool Team. The content on MBA Skool has been created for educational & academic purpose only.
If you are interested in writing articles for us, Submit Here
What is MBA Skool?About Us
MBA Skool is a Knowledge Resource for Management Students & Professionals.
Business Courses
Quizzes & Skills
Quizzes test your expertise in business and Skill tests evaluate your management traits
All Business Sections
Write for Us