Adapting your management style to the collective dynamics of the team

September is one of the key times of the year for internal job changes. A sizeable proportion of teams will be integrating new team members, and some may even be changing managers if it’s you as the manager who has recently changed jobs. As a manager it could be all too easy to fall into the trap of moving towards a delegating management style with your previous team, and then just continuing to manage the same way with your new team. Or similarly, assuming that the person you have just recruited can be managed in the same way as the individual who is just leaving the team for a new position.

As the collective group of people making up your team develops maturity and ability, relationships establish, and as a manager you’ll need to adapt your management style. This is another reason to consider the need for flexibility in the way you interact with the talents in your team. In addition adapting to their individual needs (depending on their skill level and motivation) it is also necessary to consider the dynamics of the team as a whole, and how as a manager-coach you adapt your management to lead the team most effectively. 

Using a very popular model by Dr Bruce Tuckman published in 1965, let’s consider the different stages of team development. 

FORMING

After staffing changes in the team, or any reorganisation or changes to operational responsibilities, the dynamics of the team will probably re-form. 

At this stage, it will be appropriate to adopt a directive management style as the team depends on the manager for guidance and direction and objectives. This isn’t to say that this all needs to take place in a “top down” fashion the dialogue can nevertheless be consultative and as a new manager to the team you may learn useful things from talking with the existing team members. Let’s not forget who the manager is however and it is important that you show you are setting the purpose and direction and objectives, and can link them to the strategy and objectives of your wider business unit or company. Individual roles and duties may be are unclear due to the changes. This is the time to reconsider formalising and changes to job descriptions, or responsibilities. 

This can be a testing time as the existing team members try and understand how they will interact with you as their new manager. Take the time to meet with them individually, get to know them and start to build trust and the interpersonal relationship. For new members of the team also set appropriate time aside to work with them on an individual training plan that looks into the medium term (3 years), enabling them to project themselves forward and understand how their competency is expected to increase over the time they are in your team. 

STORMING

Next comes a stage in which there may be some conflicts and disagreements or power struggles. More experienced team members may vie for position. Relationships in the team may segregate with interactions in subgroups of “new” and “existing” team members, and it may feel hard to integrate. Purpose and objectives become clearer but uncertainty persists in the way the team works together. 

As the manager-coach, this is the time you can take an encouraging management style. Your input with the team as a whole will help connect the team’s activity and share progress together. You can involve the team and recognise those with expertise to share in collective brainstorming sessions, and by ensuring an inclusive dynamic you can start to build relationships within the team and help to integrate any other new arrivals. 

It is important not to be distracted from the wider sense of purpose for the team by any distractions due to the relationships and emotional exchanges, and to help correct any disrespectful behaviours. Handled correctly this stage will pass and make room for compromise or, better still, true collaboration based on empathy and deep and active listening will enable the team to find solutions and progress together. 

NORMING

Through your management of the storming phase, and your support to the team to find solutions to work together, agreement and consensus will start to form and roles and responsibilities will be accepted. At this third “norming” stage, the team will be working together with a good rapport and interpersonal relationships, respecting each other and you as their manager. Your “way of work” (your day to day working practices, routines, rituals) will be established, shared and understood, and processes, roles and responsibilities will have been clarified.

At this stage as a manager-coach you can have a participative management style, supporting the team and facilitating and enabling their work. Your role and support here may be to help the team in their working relations with other teams they rely on transversally. You’ll also find at this point that the team will enjoy getting together socially for example to celebrate collective successes. As a manager-coach you can play an organisational role in ensuring opportunities exist to bond socially together, through team-buildings, seminars or simply some informal social time. This needn’t be relegated to “after hours”, eating into people’s private life with after work drinks, dinners etc : to be inclusive of the entire team in respect of people’s private obligations and family life, consider making time in working hours for these moments of conviviality.  

PERFORMING

Once the team have established their norms, working practices, social bonds and collective unity, you should find you move into the realms of high performance. Here your team knows what is expected of them, they have a clear sense of purpose and a shared vision, and they work without needing direction from you as their manager with a high degree of autonomy. The team will be able to resolve issues amongst themselves and positively collaborate together to find win-win outcomes. At this stage the team are really looking out for each other’s wellbeing and will support each other. Whilst you can’t rush the previous stages, ideally, you get to this phase quickly once you join the team (or after a change of members of the team) and stay here for as long as possible. This stage is where the best work will be done. Once the team are largely self-managing, this is where your role of manager-coach really comes into play. 

Now you will probably find yourself focussing less on the team as a whole and being able to allocate more of your time to support each member of the team individually. It is with a competent, motivated, cohesive performing team, empowered to get activity done autonomously, that you are freed of some of the organisational and operational aspects of the managerial role and have more time to dedicate to support and accompany their individual growth and, provide feedback for development, helping with personal and interpersonal development, and improving their skills. 

LANDING A TRIPLE WHAMMY

By being conscious that management is not a “one size fits all” approach, and recognising that as a manager-coach you need to adjust not only to the individual needs on your team based on their abilities and motivations, but also based on the collective team dynamics you can lead a performing team, empowered to get the job done without needing direction from you. In turn with this virtuous circle you free up more time to work on the individual development with each member of the team on a one on one basis.

Get this right, to finish on a scrabble metaphor, and you play a winning combination on a triple word score : a high point performing self-managing team, comprising engaged and growth minded individuals striving to improve, and gaining yourself a reputation as a caring development-focussed manager-coach in the process which will help you attract the best talent when you next have need to integrate someone new into your team.

Alan Lambert is an International HR leader currently working at the Corporate HR Strategy division of a global energy major