Teaming - the source of Organisational Excellence - Part 5

The Wellbeing of Teams holds the key to Sustainable Success

Prior to the pandemic, over 90% of employed people went to a shared place of work every day. The pandemic flipped that on its head and, in doing so, created new possibilities of how organisations work together.

?In the midst of this evolution, many organisations began to realise that work isn’t about the physical proximity of where we are. They began to discover that being fully present and connected to our work and co-workers was far more important and impactful than merely showing up physically in a common physical space.

And, as individuals, we discovered there was more to life than work. The freedom from the daily commute, the opportunity to share more in the joy of loved ones and the ability to step out into the fresh air and renew ourselves changed our perspectives about work-life balance.

So, as we strive to come to terms with new social and working changes, we all face the challenge of finding our new normal. A new normal that will likely throw up far more diversity in its solutions than ever existed before. And maybe that level of diversity might just work best when we re-consider the organisation as a team of teams.

A key benefit of teams is that they are sufficiently large to embrace diverse thinking and sufficiently small to act fast. The speed and quality of evaluation, decision-making and execution can rocket.

A team is not just the smallest unit of collaborative working; it is, possibly most importantly, invariably the strongest unit of belonging. And, in a world of constant change and challenge, ‘belonging’ (a fundamental foundation of wellbeing) is the most critical glue for human performance.

Wellbeing embraces us as a whole person, a whole team and a whole organisation. It incorporates the choices we make and the actions we take that impact our physical vitality, sense of peace and contentment, mental alertness, social satisfaction, and our personal and collective fulfilment.

The wellbeing of and between teams offers every organisation a crucial lift in attracting, engaging, developing and retaining talent. Leveraging the positivity of belonging, team members become significantly more receptive to collaboration, continuous improvement and creativity. Team members' energy for work and each other is boosted and the commitment to being the best underpins a heightened desire for personal and collective development. Everything rises.

Wellbeing is a measure of how we show up as human beings. Performance is a measure of how we apply ourselves to achieve things. The better we show up, the better we perform.

Mother Theresa said, “With great love, … together we can do something wonderful.” It’s very useful for us to consider that compassion is a great bond that helps develop understanding, connection, belonging and, maybe most critically of all, tolerance. None of us gets everything right all the time and we all have moments where we are not our best. Tolerance, forgiveness and acceptance grant us the opportunity to be human, to be ourselves and, in forgiveness, to become better. Compassion is the glue of great teamwork.

When we master the art of teaming, developing a core competence where teams work effectively together, we are well on the way to mastering the art of organisational excellence in an ever-changing, VUCA world.

Of course, such change also requires new ways of leading; not just leading teams but also leading as a team. Team leaders need to enhance their ability to nurture an environment of shared purpose, meaningful values and a collective commitment to clear goals. Senior leaders need to demonstrate a level of teaming that shines brightly across the organisation.

So, as we move into whatever the future throws up, our sense of collective endeavour, shared hope and committed collaboration, holds the key to sustainable success.

For an in-depth review of research supporting this article please visit https://www.pmsystems.co.uk/post/wellbeing-great-for-us-and-great-for-business

?