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Most organizations want more collaboration. Fewer know specifically why and that ambiguity is usually the reason the efforts to build it do not hold. This is the starting point for any serious attempt to increase teamwork across an organization. Clarity about where collaboration is actually needed, how it creates value in that specific context, and what would be lost if it did not improve. Without that clarity, the actions taken tend to be generic culture programmes, team-building exercises, values statements and the results tend to be correspondingly shallow. When you have that clarity, the research points to a set of levers that work. All of them, not one or two. People: teams with higher average levels of agreeableness tend to be more cooperative. Hiring and developing for this matters. Leaders who support change and model learning have the power to drive team culture more effectively than almost any structural intervention. Tasks: framing work as genuinely interdependent so that each person can see how their contribution connects to the whole makes cooperative behaviour more likely and attracts more cooperative people over time. Recognition: at the point where bonuses, promotions, and assignments are decided, the behaviours that are rewarded shape the culture more directly than any stated value. If collaboration is not being actively recognised at those moments, the culture will not sustain it. And one finding from the research on multi-team systems that I find particularly important is coordination among leaders across teams matters more than coordination within individual teams for overall system performance. In other words, get the leadership layer aligned on goals and values and then give the operational teams the autonomy to execute. Trying to coordinate directly at the operational level is actually counterproductive. The collaboration challenge is a leadership challenge. It starts, and is sustained, at the top. #Collaboration #TeamPerformance #LeadershipCulture #OrganisationalBehaviour #RandallPeterson

One of the hardest balances to master as a leader is staying informed about your team’s work without crossing the line into micromanaging them. You want to support them, remove roadblocks, and guide outcomes without making them feel like you’re hovering. Here’s a framework I’ve found effective for maintaining that balance: 1. Set the Tone Early Make it clear that your intent is to support, not control. For example: “We’ll need regular updates to discuss progress and so I can effectively champion this work in other forums. My goal is to ensure you have what you need, to help where it’s most valuable, and help others see the value you’re delivering.” 2. Create a Cadence of Check-Ins Establish structured moments for updates to avoid constant interruptions. Weekly or biweekly check-ins with a clear agenda help: • Progress: What’s done? • Challenges: What’s blocking progress? • Next Steps: What’s coming up? This predictability builds trust while keeping everyone aligned. 3. Ask High-Leverage Questions Stay focused on outcomes by asking strategic questions like: • “What’s the biggest risk right now?” • “What decisions need my input?” • “What’s working that we can replicate?” This approach keeps the conversation productive and empowering. 4. Define Metrics and Milestones Collaborate with your team to define success metrics and use shared dashboards to track progress. This allows you to stay updated without manual reporting or extra meetings. 5. Empower Ownership Show your trust by encouraging problem-solving: “If you run into an issue, let me know your proposed solutions, and we’ll work through it together.” When the team owns their work, they’ll take greater pride in the results. 6. Leverage Technology Use tools like Asana, Jira, or Trello to centralize updates. Shared project platforms give you visibility while letting your team focus on execution. 7. Solicit Feedback Ask your team: “Am I giving you enough space, or would you prefer more or less input from me?” This not only fosters trust but also helps you refine your approach as a leader. Final Thought: Growing up playing sports, none of my coaches ever suited up and got in the game with the players on the field. As a leader, you should follow the same discipline. How do you stay informed without micromanaging? What would you add? #leadership #peoplemanagement #projectmanagement #leadershipdevelopment

Communication patterns during work are the most important predictor of team success, more significant than all other factors like individual intelligence, personality, and skills combined. Researchers at MIT's Human Dynamics Laboratory found communication patterns so powerful that they could predict which teams would succeed by analyzing their interaction data. They identified three critical dimensions that determine team performance: 1️⃣ Energy: The Fuel of Great Teams Energy measures the number and nature of exchanges between team members. A single exchange is a comment plus an acknowledgment—like a nod or "yes." The research showed that the most valuable form of communication is face-to-face, with phone and videoconference following (though effectiveness decreases as more people join calls). Most surprising? The data showed that 35% of team performance variations could be predicted just by the number of face-to-face exchanges. When a bank call center adjusted break schedules so team members could interact more informally, productivity jumped by 20% in lower-performing teams. 2️⃣ Engagement: The Distribution of Energy While energy measures total communications, engagement reveals how evenly that energy is distributed across team members. The research found that teams with balanced participation, where everyone contributes roughly equally, consistently outperform those with uneven engagement. Partially engaged teams (where some members dominated while others barely participated) made demonstrably worse decisions than fully engaged teams. This effect was particularly pronounced in teams that communicated primarily by phone. 3️⃣ Exploration: Reaching Beyond the Team The third dimension, exploration, measures how much team members communicate with people outside their immediate group. This creates the vital influx of new information and perspectives that prevents groupthink. Higher-performing teams, especially creative ones, consistently sought more outside connections. What's fascinating is that exploration and engagement exist in tension. Energy spent exploring outside the team isn't available to engage within it. Instead of focusing on who's on the team, we should design how the team communicates. Some of the most effective interventions are surprisingly simple: - Ensuring everyone contributes equally in discussions - Scheduling synchronized breaks to increase cross-team communication - Using visual feedback to help teams see and improve their patterns Quality of interactions during the workday matters more than quantity of social activities. At some point, we leaned on team-building to solve engagement. However, team performance isn't built through forced activities but through meaningful daily communication. -- 💡 Exploring the intersection of #peopleanalytics, #organizationalculture, and #behavioralscience to build thriving workplaces. Follow for insights, research, and ideas.

This took me 5+ years to figure out... The power of compounding in leadership. Successful leaders build: • trust • collaboration • psychological safety • momentum Here's my story: When I first became a manager, I had no idea what I was doing. I had only a few skills to effectively lead the team. And I soon realized that I needed more. So I read books and articles. I asked questions. I took courses to expand my skills and knowledge. And I learned that it's not any one action or idea. Instead, successful leaders understand how to compound their results. → 1% better every day = 37x better in a year Each action builds on other actions. Here are 10 areas on which to focus: 1️⃣ Hold 1:1s 1:1s provide opportunities to set goals, motivate, and give feedback together. ↳ Don't cancel or reschedule. ↳ Do ask questions and listen. 2️⃣ Communicate Teams thrive when there is clear, frequent communication. ↳ Don't hide information. ↳ Do repeat info through several mediums. 3️⃣ Delegate Responsibility Employees are more engaged when given the trust and responsibility to complete tasks. ↳ Don't abdicate responsibility. ↳ Do consider task-relevant maturity. 4️⃣ Set Goals The team should clearly understand what they are working towards, and how they contribute. ↳ Don't dictate goals unilaterally. ↳ Do allow for personal and stretch goals. 5️⃣ Share Knowledge Teams work more efficiently and effectively when accessing collective knowledge. ↳ Don't try to do everything yourself. ↳ Do have the team share best practices. 6️⃣ Ask Questions Questions signal that the team's opinions and insights are valued, promoting collaboration. ↳ Don't ask questions but ignore answers. ↳ Do pose open questions for more insights. 7️⃣ Give Feedback Feedback motivates employees and reinforces the right actions aligned with goals. ↳ Don't use the feedback sandwich. ↳ Do give sincere praise and celebrate wins. 8️⃣ Create Vision and Values Clear vision and values align your team around shared goals and guide actions. ↳ Don't set and forget your MVVs. ↳ Do involve the team when developing. 9️⃣ Promote Continuous Learning Investing in continuous learning leads to high engagement and retention. ↳ Don't be afraid to coach and mentor. ↳ Do view failures as learning opportunities. 🔟 Foster Resilience Resilience helps teams effectively manage challenges, as well as recover from setbacks. ↳ Don't ignore the impact of stress. ↳ Do set an example by taking time off. Although we expect instant results these days, you need patience to build a high-performing team. When you do these actions consistently over time, you let compounding work its magic! PS. Which of these do you find most challenging? ***** 👋 I'm Chris Cotter. 🔔 Follow for more on leadership. ✳️ I help managers level up for success / happiness. DM me!

I spent 4 years as the performance psychologist for the Toronto Raptors. Here are the 8 processes that separate elite teams from everyone else: The research on team performance is conclusive. These processes are the biggest predictors of whether your team succeeds or fails. Most organizations optimize for 2-3 at best. Here's the complete framework: 1. Collectivism: We over me Teams that prioritize collective success over individual achievement consistently outperform those filled with talented individuals who operate independently. When people genuinely care more about the team winning than personal credit, everything else gets easier. 2. Collective Efficacy: Belief that we can win together This is the team's shared confidence in their ability to succeed. It drives buy-in to systems and strategies, enables teams to adjust tactics mid-execution, and activates confidence in individual members. 3. Teamwork Knowledge & Skills: People actually know how to collaborate Most people have never been taught how to work effectively in teams. The research shows this is the second most important predictor after collectivism. You can't assume people know how to be good teammates. 4. Shared Mental Models: We see the game the same way When everyone understands the playbook, the strategy, and their role within it, execution becomes seamless. Shared mental models enable teams to coordinate without constant communication, adapt to changing conditions, and support each other proactively. 5. Interpersonal Relationships: People genuinely trust each other Healthy relationships won't necessarily make your team great, but unhealthy relationships will absolutely break it. Teams need genuine trust and connection to share information freely, resolve conflict quickly, and support each other through adversity. 6. Team Cohesion: The group sticks together under pressure Cohesion is what keeps teams intact when things get difficult. It's built through shared experiences, clear values, and consistent reinforcement of what the team stands for. Teams with high cohesion don't fracture when faced with setbacks. They lean in together. 7. Psychological Safety: You can speak up without fear Google's Project Aristotle found this was the #1 predictor of team effectiveness. Psychological safety enables teams to learn faster because people can acknowledge mistakes without fear of punishment. 8. Diversity of Thought: Different perspectives make us stronger The research follows the Goldilocks principle: too much diversity creates conflict, too little limits creative problem-solving, and moderate diversity optimizes for both innovation and cohesion. If you want sustained success, start by auditing your team against these 8 processes. Where are the gaps?

Your team isn’t overwhelmed because of work. They’re overwhelmed because of confusion. I see this in almost every team I coach: → Everybody's busy and end up working in silos, → Everyone's "running with the ball" but not necessarily towards the same goals → Teams duplicate efforts because no one knows who's handling what → Every request feels urgent because context is missing. Here’s what intentional leaders do differently:👇🏻 1️⃣ Define Goals That Actually Guide Decisions: Not just what we want to achieve - but what we're willing to sacrifice to get there. Clear goals eliminate the guesswork about what matters most right now. 2️⃣ Create a Decision Framework: Who decides what? What needs consensus? What doesn't? Clarity reduces rework. It speeds things up. 3️⃣ Set Bright Focus: Every week, every month, every quarter - name 2–3 things that matter most. Not 10. Not 5. The discipline of saying "not now" is what creates real momentum. 4️⃣ Build Rhythms, Not Just Sprints: Chaos loves irregularity. When you anchor decisions, feedback, and strategy into consistent rituals - chaos has fewer places to hide. 5️⃣ Communicate the "Why" - Not Just the "What"  Without context, people overwork. With context, they align. And alignment is the antidote to chaos. You don’t need to control everything. ❌ You need to architect enough clarity that your team can navigate the unknown with confidence. ✅ Because work doesn't need to feel like chaos - even in a startup. What’s one structure you’ve introduced that made your team calmer and faster? Drop it below - let’s build better together. 👇 Follow Alexandra Erman for more! 🫱🏻🫲🏼

There's a big difference between noise and communication, between organized chaos and coordination. Thriving veterinary teams close the gap. A recent AVMA Journals paper - "Relational Coordination and Team Outcomes in Veterinary Hospitals" (2025) - surveyed nearly 600 team members across 114 Canadian hospitals. It asked: when teams coordinate well, do people experience a healthier workplace, feel more satisfied at work, and want to stay working there? "Yes!" on all three. The authors (veterinary communication scholars, Kirsten Blokland, PhD, Natasha Janke, and Jason B Coe) compared Relational Coordination to perceived workplace climate, job satisfaction, and intention to leave their job. Quick primer. RC = how well we work across roles. It's basically the quality of our communication, handoffs, and the trust underneath them. There are 7 factors of RC: 1️⃣ Frequency: we update each other often. 2️⃣ Timeliness: we share info when it matters. 3️⃣ Accuracy: our messages match reality. 4️⃣ Problem-solving: we talk to fix, not blame. 5️⃣ Shared goals: we row toward the same "why". 6️⃣ Shared knowledge: we grasp each other's workflow & constraints. 7️⃣ Mutual respect: we treat every role as essential. The study findings were compelling: 💖 Higher RC strongly linked to a healthier workplace climate, higher job satisfaction, and lower intention to leave. 📈 Frequency (of communication) highest of 7 factors, but Timeliness and Accuracy lagged (lots of chatter without speed or solutions may feel like noise, eroding climate). 🖥️ Shared knowledge also rated lower. When people don't understand each other's work, shared goals might wobble and respect could fray. BOTTOM LINE: Relational Coordination is a high-leverage bet in veterinary teams. Improving it could meaningfully lift the workplace climate, team satisfaction, and retention. Some evidence-based suggestions for strengthening RC in your practice: 🗺️ Map out thin RC lines. For example, sketch out your admit -> discharge workplow, run a short RC survey by role, pick the 1-2 weakest dimensions to improve & invite those team members to suggest improvements. ♻️ Run an RC-strengthening 3-session mini-cycle. Month 1, teach RC basics. Month 2, map out the RC elements along a fragile handoff in the team's daily processes. Month 3, operationalize tine behaviors to strengthen the handoff, pulse-survey and adjust accordingly. 👯 Embed positive communication practices. Create curiosity-first (eg, "What's your read?") and loop-closing prompts (who, when, and how completion is shared). Ensure each role's critical contributions are mutually understood and visible...encourage and celebrate cross-role praise and recognition. How the people go, so goes the endeavor. More importantly, how the people go together, so goes their professional fulfillment.

90% of leaders think their teams are effective. Only 15% actually are. Where do you fall? If you've been struggling with team performance, I've got a framework that transformed my own leadership approach. The traditional way to build teams focuses on individual performance. We hire for skills, evaluate based on output, and reward personal achievement. But this approach misses something critical: true high-performance comes from how people work together, not just how skilled they are individually. In my experience leading multiple teams across different industries, I've found a simple but powerful approach: 1. Establish Clear Goals  Not just what needs to be done, but why it matters. When team members understand the purpose behind their work, motivation soars. 2. Foster Open Communication Create an environment where everyone feels safe to share ideas, concerns, and feedback. The best solutions often come from unexpected voices. 3. Emphasize Collaboration Set up systems that reward collective achievements over individual heroics. This shifts the focus from "me" to "we." 4. Celebrate Diversity Different perspectives lead to better decisions and more creative solutions. Actively seek out and value varying viewpoints. 5. Lead by Example Show the behaviors you want to see. If you want collaboration, collaborate. If you want open communication, communicate openly. High-performing teams don't happen by accident. They're built intentionally. What's one team-building practice that's worked well for you? ✍️ Your insights can make a difference! ♻️ Share this post if it speaks to you, and follow me for more.

Your best performer just quit to join a competitor. They'll take 5 years to reach that level again. Unless their team comes with them. Then it’s day one. This isn't about loyalty. It's interdependence. We talk about "A players" like they exist in a vacuum. Like talent is portable. Like the right person in the right seat will just... perform. But Adam Grant's research shows what elite sports teams already know: Even NBA rosters stacked with all-stars need 3-4 years to reach peak championship potential. Not because they lack skill. Because they haven't figured out how to be effective together. We get this wrong all the time. We obsess over recruiting, development, retention—individual by individual. While team effectiveness gets quietly tossed to managers. But building an effective team is where the actual ROI lives. Not team-building exercises. Not personality assessments. The actual work happens on the job, under pressure, when real decisions get made. The question isn't "Do we have the right people?" The question is "Have we done the work to make this group of people formidable together?" That work looks like this: → Shared standards, not just shared goals Stop at your next leadership meeting and ask: "What does 'urgent’ actually mean here?" Watch how many different definitions emerge. What assumptions surfaced? Where did people diverge? Use that mess as your curriculum. → Practice decision-making in real time, not just execution Give your team a thorny, high-stakes business problem. Facilitate the debate. Don’t steer them to your answer. Help them sharpen each other's thinking. This is how teams learn to think together, not just work together. → Make conflict productive instead of smoothing it over Every team has tension. High-performing ones know how to use it. When disagreement surfaces, slow down. Ask: "What are we really debating here?" Explore the different mental models in the room. Teams that fight well find better solutions. Most teams skip this work. They assume chemistry will emerge. That talented people will just figure it out. Then wonder why it takes years to hit their stride. — If you’re wondering where your team stands… I've created a diagnostic to help you figure out exactly where your leadership team is out of sync—and what to do about it. Inside the 10-page assessment: → 25-question diagnostic across 5 dimensions of team sync → Scoring framework to identify your biggest gaps → 3 exercises you can run this week (under 2 hours total) → Red flags to watch for in your next meeting Comment SYNC below and I'll send it to you. Run it with your team. See where you actually stand. Then decide if you need help fixing it.

High-performing teams aren't born. They're built through ruthless execution clarity. Here's what I've learned from 20+ years coaching teams: Most performance issues aren't about talent or effort. They're about misaligned execution. I see it every day: A room of brilliant people leaves a meeting with completely different ideas of what needs to happen next. The result? Wasted time, frustrated teams, and missed targets. The real culprit? Seven predictable execution killers that derail even the most capable teams. 🔥 Here's what breaks team performance every single time: 1). Ambiguous Ownership "Engineering will handle the platform rebuild" sounds crystal clear. Until three different teams show up claiming they own it. → Use RACI matrices. One person accountable, others supporting. 2). Success Theater Teams report green status while secretly scrambling behind the scenes. In my experience, 70% of "on-track" projects are actually struggling. → Create safety for yellow and red status. Celebrate early problem identification over fake confidence. 3). Competing Priorities When everything is priority #1, nothing gets the focus it deserves. I've seen biotech teams juggling 15 "critical" initiatives at once. None executed well. → Force rank everything. If you can't kill something, you can't execute anything properly. 4). Non-Decisions The dreaded "we need more data" death spiral. Decisions that should take days stretch into months while competitors move. → Set decision deadlines. Perfect information doesn't exist, good enough information with speed wins. 5). Broken Handoffs Information gets lost like loose change between couch cushions. Each handoff loses 20-30% of critical context. → Document handoff protocols. What gets passed, when, and how success gets measured. 6). Alignment Assumptions "Everyone understands the roadmap." Ask three people to explain it back. Get three different answers. → Test alignment regularly. Make team members explain the strategy in their own words. 7). Obstacle Avoidance Teams hit roadblocks and freeze. Instead of problem-solving, they wait for leadership to magically clear the path. → Build escalation rules. Define what leadership needs versus what teams can resolve. 💡 Here's what I've learned from successful leaders: They spend 80% of their time on execution clarity, and incorporate ethos (credibility), logos (logic), and pathos (emotional appeal) in their execution clarity. ⚡ Which execution roadblock is killing your team's momentum right now? Follow 💡Shirley Braun , Ph.D., PCC 🚀 for sharp insights on scaling leadership and turning strategy into real results in complex environments.