Changing competency into camaraderie

[MARIA MELIDA]

Working with teams in different kind of organizations, I have seen that competency keeps getting in the way of camaraderie. Usually, the way the structures reward their employees has a lot to do in keeping a rigid culture.

This kind of competency is present in organizational cultures where knowledge and power are highly valued and where acknowledgements go for the individual achievement and not for the team achievement.

The problem comes when the system starts showing itself, causing “pain” to its individuals and teams that start living permanently in the high productivity, low positivity box. This can become the “way things are done around here”, kind of culture, traducing in turn over, talent loss and burn out.

In my practice, that nowadays involves change management and team coaching, this type of organizations are the ones that seek your help but have a high resistance for change.
My experience working with this teams is ambiguos, they long for a different way of work but feel vulnerable without their rigid silos.

My focus is to work on the ability to be flexible and transform, using the proactive, leadership and camaraderie team indicators as a start point to introduce a more flexible culture that values positivity and productivity.

Maybe in a near future, TDA will also include and measure the capacity to transform & change in teams. For now, let´s work on leadership, proactive and camaraderie to help teams move from competency to collaboration.

Here´s a team building exercise I have been working on can help experience and reflect on collaboration.

Name: The flooding

If posible, seek a different location outside the office to promote change and disconnect people from their activities.

Context: Instructor says to the team or teams,
“A flooding is coming to this side of the river, if you want to survive you have to cross the river as soon as you can. You can find “rafts” to cross the river, a raft can carry only 5 people. When I give you the instruction you can take your “raft” and cross the river. You cannot step outside the raft. You have ___ time to do it.
In the first attempt, what will probably happen is that some rafts will get sooner than others, people are still in the competitive mode. Some “rafts” will not make it on time to survive.
In the second attempt, say this “All “rafts” have to get there within this time limit, otherwise you´ll all drown. All the community has to be saved, you can discuss a new strategy”.
What should ideally happen is that participants start engaging in a conversation about team work, being proactive and looking for a strategy to achieve the common purpose.
Give them time to reflect and them ask them to engage in this second attempt.

Solution:
A posible solutions consists in making a chain with the “rafts”, creating a kind of bridge so everyone can cross in time. Any solution that involves collaboration is ok and should be praised.
Possible questions for reflection include:
What was wrong with the first attempt? (we were thinking as individuals or silos)
What are the consequences of leaving the rest of the team o teams behind?
Where and when do we see this happen in our organizations?
What are the rewards that continue to reinforce this kind of behavior?
If we want to excel as a team what rewards should we seek?
What beliefs should we check in order to create a high performing team / organization?

After the reflection I strongly suggest that team agreements are written down, that way in the next coaching session you can review them and create an action plan that promotes collaboration.

Good luck and please post your comments,

I list below some materials commonly used,

Materials:
1. Depending on how big the team is you can have a “raft” for 5 people. Rafts can be a medium sized mat or a large cardboard, no newspaper because people will surely jump, push & pull, etc. Make sure it´s a resistant material that wont break apart. If this happens don´t worry you can always reflect on that to :).
2. Masking tape to create the invisible river
3. If teams don´t know well each other, include name tags and markers.

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