The Power of Similarities in a Fragmented Team

A fragmented team comprises diverse backgrounds, races, experiences, ages, roles, locations, or loyalties. As it challenges our natural inclination to surround ourselves with similar, it can create a wedge or silos that can feel like unsurmountable towers, erecting high and casting a shadow on collaboration.

Imagine a leader in Australia, leading a team scattered in Europe, South and North America, and Asia. It feels daunting to sustain a bonding culture when everyone lives in a different timezone. Add to it the differences in experience (knowing what to do or needing assistance), personalities (introverts or extroverts), gender, and culture, and you face a cocktail of potential conflicts that stem from a lack of presence, attention, adapted support, connection, you name it. It is complex in nature, and too often, we tend to control the process or want to solve the problem by forcing one perspective over the other, losing the power of differences from which change and adaptation can emerge. Remote working can enhance these challenges, yet they can be surmounted.

A Fragmented Team Is a System

A system is, in essence, complex. It is a collection of interconnected moving parts that share a common purpose. No two systems are alike; each member offers a specific attribute to the whole; we call it being a voice of the system. Remove the member, and the whole system shifts. Change the whole and the member changes.

A system is naturally creative and emerging. It will spontaneously look for solutions to overcome a difficulty or signal the need for change. It requires conditions to adapt and solve problems, like presenting enough differences to create tension between differences within which creativity can exist. When the system is too similar, it gets stuck or faces groupthink. The gap between the differences is a space where new opportunities can emerge. The leader of the dislocated team benefits from an exciting tension between the different cultures that helps him look at a situation from different angles, perspectives, and expectations only if they can facilitate the process without stifling it with too much control.

Fragmented Team Experiences Tension

When diversity exists, tension permits adaptation, creativity, and problem-solving. When the difference is relevant enough, it opens a gap between the different positions. As nature doesn't like voids, it tends to fill them in with anything; a fragmented team can be filled with conflict, presenteeism, misplaced loyalty, power struggle, or stonewalling. It is easier to stick to what defines a group or position, their beliefs, habits, or loyalties rather than to explore the unknown. One faction will impose over the others and vice versa, creating cliques, conflict, and silos. Yet, it is in the realm of the "what if," the "not there yet," that lies the void's richness, the capacity to innovate and adapt.

It requires the ability to let go of one's position to embrace a stance of inquiry and curiosity. It is like the climber letting go of one hold to grab the new one; it implies a calculating risk and trust about the process, as well as the capacity to look for the following secure and reachable hold. The gap between the two grips helps to climb up. If they are too close, it will lead nowhere. If it is too far, it is impossible to attain. Trial and error, exploring the proper distance by practicing letting go to catch while trusting the safety chord in case of mishap is essential.

The same goes for a fragmented team. Each position needs to feel secure and a safety chord in place in case of falling short. A safety chord can resemble a designed team alliance, rules, inspiring leadership, roles, and processes. Once a fragmented team is confident about its position and place in the organization, it can open up to new opportunities.

The Power of Similarities in Fragmented Teams

Once the team is open to new possibilities, the coach's role is to help the different positions see what they share, the bridge that connects them beyond their differences in values, vision, skills, habits, processes, or outputs. Once the different parties notice how they share similarities, the conflict recedes, and they can start collaborating by focusing on the outcome rather than proving their different position.

The first step is to enable a paradox: introducing a complementary force. In the case of a fragmented team, the complementary force is similarity. Why? Because differences are potent and members can drift far apart. It takes intent to see past the differences. A savvy leader or coach will soften the differences by bringing more similarities. As it is easier to see what is different, it will require dedicated attention to what lies beyond those differences. Resistance is to be expected and normalized. The leader's or coach's role is to reveal the underlying, invisible bond that each part within the fragmented team shares. The first angle to look at is the goal. If that doesn't work, look at the outcomes or values. If that fails too, look further or closer until you find that bridge that connects the towers of differences.

Every team shares a common goal. Each member plays a different part, like an orchestra. Even though each factor may not see eye-to-eye about the process or the values needed to reach the goal, they share the objective. Otherwise, they wouldn't be a team, albeit fragmented. When I facilitate workshops with fragmented teams, I'm always amazed by the power of just pointing out what they all want: to succeed, be fast, be sustainable, have a meaningful purpose, respect, recognition, or keep their job...

The capacity to balance opposing forces is a skill leaders need to master more and more due to the complexity of the systems they operate in. It requires systemic listening skills as well a diversity of stances. Hence, the need for leaders to grow to navigate complexity inside and outside of their team.

Sara Bigwood - PCC - ORSCC - Team Collaboration Catalyst

PS: This article was written without AI or ChatGPT.