Authenticity, Trust, and Awesome Teams. What we tried, and what we’ve learned so far.
Susan Johnston and Kelly Folz
The sweet spot. Where we’re out of our comfort zone, but not so far that our acute stress responses are kicking in. As public servants we’re called upon to advise governments on options to address the complex societal challenges of the day. One of our colleagues, John Medcof, writes about the opportunity we have to work with citizens and harness this disruption for the public good — providing we can work in a way that is kinetic, connected, and collaborative. That’s a lot of shift. How can we support one another along the way?
What does working together effectively, and encouraging team agility and innovation, look like in practice?
According to a 2015 Google re:Work study, “Who is on a team matters less than how the team members interact, structure their work, and view their contributions.” When the re:Work team looked at preconditions for effective teams, what ranked first? Psychological safety, i.e., “can we take risks on this team without feeling insecure or embarrassed?” As public servants across Canada are filling in the 2019 Public Service Employee Survey, Kelly Folz and I thought back to a workshop we offered last year, to help a management team unpack the results of a previous year’s survey and consider possible responses. We wanted to open a conversation about how people and teams succeed in a context where innovation is a precondition for success.
How might a team change the way it works, emphasize well-being, and get great outcomes?
We don’t have a magic answer. But we can share our framework for a workshop we offered on the topic, some practical tools, and some insights about how people have used what they learned. Our half-day session had three main elements:
A review of the data at-hand. After some welcoming remarks, we asked a colleague to present the team’s Public Service Employee Survey results, and in particular to highlight major shifts from the previous year.
Group work to reflect on shared wins and challenges based on criteria for workplace well-being. We used the 13 factors of psychological health and safety, which also form the basis of Canada’s National Standard for Psychological Health and Safety in the Workplace. We asked our colleagues to work in small groups and, for each of the #13factors, to share ideas about what their organization was doing well (e.g., hiring passionate team members, offering flexible hours), challenges they were experiencing (e.g., workload, shifting priorities), plus tools they either had (e.g., Mental Health First Aid courses), or would like to acquire (e.g., supports for when people disclose trauma). We collected their findings and compiled them on large posters. These became a gallery that participants were invited to walk through silently. Each poster highlighted well-being wins to celebrate, and topics to consider as possible areas for improvement. Curious? The Mental Health Commission of Canada has a great video series that explores each of the factors in detail.
Reflection and a conversation on individual well-being, aka what helps people be their best. In the last part of the workshop, we invited participants to develop a “User Guide to Me”. We asked them to spend some time in silence, filling out their own template. While there are many versions online, we chose Cassie Robinson’s excellent model for its conciseness and ease of presentation. Our hope was to help team members better understand one another, build trust, and consequently create a safer space for individuals, and the group as a whole, to take risks.
Some participants were enthusiastic. Others expressed more skepticism. After citing an example of people who do their best thinking before sunrise versus after sunset, they settled down to write. We then invited people to talk about what they had written in small groups. This seemed to open conversations that many on this team hadn’t had before. At the end of the session, we invited participants to post their guide at their desks (two did), and to try the exercise with their teams. While people found the process of putting their needs and preferences down on paper helpful, the exponential value seemed to come from teams making the time to discuss their results. Kelly posted her User Guide on her door, and notes the positive impact that the simple act of respecting her preferences has on her each time someone actually uses it (such as instead of dropping off a printed document for approval, emailed it instead, or suggesting a meeting inside her preferred work hours).
What we’re learning. So far.
A year later, Kelly and I continue to hear positive feedback about the workshop, and about the value of the user guides. Some colleagues have shared insights on how they prefer to manage, or be managed. One has initiated some powerful conversations about mental health with their team.
Still, many colleagues held back from sharing their User Guides. This happened with another group with whom I ran the workshop. I wonder why this is the case. How might we encourage people to talk more openly about things that concern them, how they like to be appreciated, their preferred habits, etc.? Imagine if we all named what worked well for us (perhaps with some insights from those who know us well) and spoke about it openly? If we knew what caused stress for some and excitement for others, we could be so much more effective as a team.
Putting ourselves out there can be hard. I’ve decided to take the plunge and include the last version of my own User Guide. Like me, it’s a work in progress.
My ‘guide also needs updating. Kelly and I have each taken on new roles since we ran the workshop. The past few months have been rich with learning. I have come to know new strengths, and new vulnerabilities, in how I work. The team I’m now working with is growing, so it’s also a good opportunity to revisit the conversation on how we can bring our best selves to work, and grow together. (My current team puts a lot of effort into checking in, including through weekly and monthly team pulse surveys.)
At a time where we are called upon to bring our most authentic selves to our work, being able to talk about who we are and how we thrive matters. A lot. Opening up and sharing what we really care about, and what does and doesn’t work for us, can be a huge step. Still, regardless of where we sit on an org chart, we can take concrete action to foster a healthy workplace, and to strengthen our collective ability to work together with trust and respect. This is also especially important in an age where people are often collaborating across multiple locations and time zones. How can we best support one another as we establish our team, take on new challenges, and work in new ways?
What strategies have you used to support colleagues, both individuals and teams, to encourage well-being, agility, and innovation?