Team Cohesion Strategies

Helping your team identify their core values is essential for building a strong, cohesive, and aligned group. Here's how I've done it based on my experience: 1. Open Discussions: Start by having open and honest conversations with your team. Ask questions like: "What matters most to us as a team?" and "What principles should guide our actions?" 2. List Common Themes: Encourage your team to share their thoughts and ideas. As they speak, jot down common themes or recurring words that come up. This helps identify potential core values. 3. Prioritize Values: Once you have a list, ask your team to prioritize the values they believe are most important. You can use a voting system or a ranking exercise to do this. 4. Discuss Scenarios: To make values more tangible, discuss real-life scenarios where these values come into play. For example, if "Integrity" is a potential value, talk about situations that require ethical decisions. 5. Craft Statements: Work together to craft clear and concise statements for each core value. These statements should describe what the value means to your team. 6. Feedback and Refinement: Share the draft core values with your team for feedback. Be open to refining and clarifying the statements based on their input. 7. Finalize and Communicate: Once everyone is on the same page, finalize your team's core values. Make sure they are easy to understand and remember. Communicate them to the entire team. 8. Incorporate into Daily Work: Integrate these core values into your team's daily work. Discuss how they can guide decision-making and behavior. 9. Lead by Example: As a leader, embody these core values in your actions. Your behavior sets the tone for the team. 10. Regularly Revisit: Core values may evolve over time. Schedule periodic check-ins to ensure they still resonate with your team's identity and objectives. 11. Celebrate Values in Action: Recognize and celebrate when team members exemplify these core values. It reinforces their importance. 12. Address Misalignment: If conflicts arise or behavior doesn't align with your core values, address it promptly and use the values as a guide for resolution. Identifying core values is a collaborative process that requires ongoing commitment. By involving your team and consistently integrating these values into your work, you'll foster a culture that reflects your shared beliefs and principles. This can lead to better teamwork, decision-making, and overall team satisfaction.

Recently a colleague asked me, “Laura, how are you able to get a group of complete strangers to bond so quickly?” It made me pause and reflect on my approach. Creating a strong bond among individuals is rooted in fostering psychological safety, shared experiences, and vulnerability. Here are some strategies I employ: 1. Establish a Shared Purpose Early On: - Define the group's purpose clearly. - Focus on the intention behind the gathering, promoting authenticity over perfection. 2. Initiate Vulnerability-Based Icebreakers: - Dive beyond surface-level introductions by asking meaningful questions: - "What's a personal achievement you're proud of but haven't shared with the group?" - "What challenge are you currently facing, big or small?" - "What truly motivated you to join us today?" These questions encourage genuine connections by fostering openness and humanity. 3. Engage in Unconventional Activities Together: - Bond through unique experiences such as: - Light physical activities (get outside and take a walk) or team challenges. - Creative endeavors like collaborative projects or improvisation. - Reflective exercises such as guided meditations followed by group reflections. 4. Facilitate "Small Circle" Conversations: - Encourage deeper discussions in smaller groups before sharing insights with the larger group. - Smaller settings often lead to increased comfort, paving the way for more profound interactions in larger settings. 5. Normalize Authentic Communication: - Lead by example as a facilitator or leader by sharing genuine and unexpected thoughts. - Setting the tone for open dialogue encourages others to follow suit. 6. Highlight Common Ground: - Acknowledge shared themes and experiences after individual shares. - Recognize patterns like shared pressures, transitions, or identity struggles to unify the group. 7. Incorporate Group Rituals: - Commence or conclude sessions with grounding rituals like breathwork, gratitude circles, one on one share. In what ways have you been able to create cohesion quickly amongst a group of individuals in a training session? #fasttracktotrust #humanconnection #facilitatedconnection

Here’s what most companies miss: Teams are driven by invisible dynamics that aren’t on any performance dashboard. 👉 Unspoken assumptions 👉 Hidden tensions 👉 Unwritten rules These shape behavior far more than new processes or clearer KPIs ever will. The biggest blocker? ❗ A lack of psychological safety—not capability—keeps the smartest people in the room silent when it matters most. Trust and team cohesion aren’t soft skills. They are business-critical assets, and without them, even high-potential teams will underperform. So, what’s the solution? Stop managing symptoms. Start diagnosing the deeper dynamics of your team. Here’s how I do it: 1️⃣ Measure psychological safety I start by assessing the team’s current state. Psychological safety is the most accurate predictor of team success, yet it’s often overlooked. The scan data reveals where your team thrives—and where it’s holding back. 2️⃣ Debrief results honestly Together, we answer real questions: “Where are we holding back?” “What’s being avoided?” This honest reflection is where true transformation begins. 3️⃣ Build new norms & rituals We co-create practical, actionable ways to shift behaviors—introducing deliberate norms and rituals based on my D.U.N.R Team Method that encourage open dialogue, learning from failure, and courageous conversations. 👆 You can hire the best talent, create the sharpest strategy, and invest in every cutting-edge tool — but without psychological safety, your team will always operate at half its potential. What invisible barriers do you think hold teams back the most? 🔔 Follow me for more insights on inclusive, high-performing teams. ___________________________________________________ 🌟 New here? Hi! I’m Susanna. I help companies create inclusive cultures and high-performing teams grounded in psychological safety and trust. Let’s unlock your team’s full potential together!

I watched two teammates almost quit ...over an email. One thought it was rude. The other thought it was efficient. Neither was wrong. They just had different operating systems. As a coach coaching teams globally, I see this every week. Most conflicts at work are not about competence. They’re about communication mismatch. The cheat code I used in this week’s team cohesion workshop: We all run on one of 4 systems. Most people never know which one so they spend years confused why certain people drive them insane. 🔴 RED  "Just tell me the result. Skip the small talk." 🟡 YELLOW  "Let's brainstorm! What if we tried something totally different?" 🟢 GREEN  "I just want everyone to feel good about this decision." 🔵 BLUE  "Can we look at the data before we decide anything?" Put a Red and a Green in the same meeting? The Red thinks the Green is slow.  The Green thinks the Red is a bulldozer. Both go home frustrated. Nothing changes. Here's what actually helps (use this Monday morning): If you're talking to a 🔴 Red:  → Be brief. Lead with the outcome. Skip the backstory. If you're talking to a 🟡 Yellow:  → Get excited with them first. Then get to the point. If you're talking to a 🟢 Green:  → Ask how they feel about it before pushing your idea. If you're talking to a 🔵 Blue:  → Bring receipts. No data = no trust. The shift isn't about changing who you are. It's about speaking their language for 5 minutes instead of expecting them to speak yours. I've seen this one reframe fix relationships that had been broken for years. I ran a workshop on this with a team of 12 this week. By the end, people were laughing at conflicts that had stressed them out for months. "So THAT'S why Sarah always asks for more time before deciding anything." Yes. She's a Green. She's not being difficult. She's being herself. Quick test: which one are you? 👇 Which one are you? 👇 🔴 Already in the comments 🟡 About to tag someone 🟢 Hoping this won't start drama 🔵 Questioning my methodology I'm 🟡. (Want the free 5-min assessment? Comment PROFILE. Save this. Send it to the colleague you’ve never quite clicked with.)

A common misperception is that the military is all about traditional, top-down org structures. Not true. A great example is Stan McChrystal’s “Team of Teams” model. Time and time again — as a leader in both military and corporate settings — I’ve seen how powerful this approach is. “Team of teams” reimagines organizational structure to succeed in dynamic and fast-changing environments. The goal? To break down silos and create a more adaptable, connected system. Core aspects of this framework include: 1) Shared consciousness Everyone in the organization should have access to the information and context they need to understand the larger mission. This transparency ensures that teams can align their actions and make decisions based on the bigger picture. We call it a common operating picture at Coherent. 2) Common purpose When everyone understands how their work contributes to the organization’s mission, it fosters engagement and drives people to consistently deliver their best. A clear purpose unites teams across functions. 3) Empowered execution Decentralized decision-making gives frontline teams the authority to act quickly and effectively without waiting for approval from higher-ups. This autonomy allows organizations to respond to challenges in real time. 4) Trust Trust is the glue that holds the “Team of Teams” model together. It enables openness, autonomy, and adaptability. Without trust, the connections and collaboration necessary for this model to succeed would break down. By adopting these principles, organizations can unlock the ability and cohesion needed to navigate our increasingly complex world. What do you think is the most important factor for creating a truly adaptable organization?

Team and leadership performance is not defined by isolated moments. It is shaped by patterns. Aristotle wrote, “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” The same applies to teams. So the real question is: How are team habits formed — and reshaped? Edgar Schein and Bill Pasmore’s Team Dynamics Model offers a useful lens. It highlights five observable dimensions: 🔹 How teams communicate 🔹 How decisions are made 🔹 How energy is managed 🔹 How members support one another 🔹 How emotional climate is held These are lived patterns. And when pressure rises, teams don’t suddenly malfunction — they revert to habit. Teams rarely break down because people “can’t get along.” They break down because unexamined habits surface under stress. In many organizations, teams look structurally sound: 🔹 Roles are clear 🔹 Meetings are full 🔹 Everyone is busy Yet alignment remains fragile. Effort increases, but focus disperses. Activity rises, while shared direction weakens. This is where leadership performance is often misunderstood. Many leaders assume cohesion comes from: 🔹 Clear instructions 🔹 Measurable KPIs 🔹 Leading from the front Important, yes. But not sufficient. Team effectiveness is not sustained by individual heroics. It is shaped by recurring interaction patterns: 🔹 Who speaks — and who stays silent. 🔹 How decisions are truly reached — or quietly assumed. 🔹 Whether energy is renewed — or depleted. 🔹 Whether tension is surfaced — or avoided. This is why team coaching matters. Team coaching doesn’t begin by fixing people or redesigning structure. It begins by helping teams see their own patterns — and their impact on performance. It asks: 🔹 Are we aligned on what truly matters? 🔹 Do our efforts converge — or compete? 🔹 Are we building shared outcomes, or working in parallel? When teams develop this collective awareness, something shifts. Decisions become clearer. Ownership is shared. Performance becomes more sustainable. Coming together may be the beginning. Staying together may be progress. But working together — deliberately and skillfully — requires practice. If this resonates, we’ll explore these foundations in our upcoming session. Intro to Team Coaching 📅 Wed, 11 March 2026 🕑 6:30–8:00 PM SGT 👉 Register: https://buff.ly/Mlg8K51 For leaders, coaches, and HR partners who want to work with teams — not just individuals. #TeamCoaching #HighPerformanceTeams #CoachingMindset #TheCoachingVillage #EmergePerformance

Applying Cummings & Worley Group Diagnostic Model #OrganizationalDevelopment #TeamDynamics #PharmaIndustry #Leadership #ChangeManagement Scenario Background: A mid-sized pharmaceutical company has been experiencing declining productivity and increasing conflict within its research and development (R&D) teams. The leadership suspects that ineffective team dynamics and poor alignment of goals might be contributing factors. To address these issues, How L & D professional can utilize the Group Level Diagnostic Model, which focuses on diagnosing and improving group effectiveness within an organization. Step 1: Entry and Contracting: Objective: Establish a clear understanding of the project scope, objectives, and mutual expectations with the R&D teams. Actions: Conduct initial meetings with team leaders to discuss the perceived issues and desired outcomes. Step 2: Data Collection Objective: Gather information to understand current team dynamics, processes, and challenges. Actions: Distribute surveys and conduct interviews to collect data on team communication, collaboration, role clarity, and decision-making processes. Observe team meetings and workflows to identify misalignments and potential areas of conflict. Use assessment tools to measure team cohesion, trust levels, and satisfaction among team members. Step 3: Data Analysis Objective: Analyze the collected data to identify patterns, root causes of dysfunction, and areas for intervention. Actions: Compile and analyze survey results and interview transcripts to identify common themes and discrepancies. Map out communication flows and decision-making processes that highlight bottlenecks or conflict points. Assess the alignment between team goals and organizational objectives. Step 4: Feedback and Planning Objective: Share findings with the teams and plan interventions to address the identified issues. Actions: Conduct feedback sessions with each team to discuss the findings and implications. Facilitate workshops where teams can engage in problem-solving and planning to improve their processes and interactions. Develop action plans that include specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) objectives to enhance team performance. Step 5: Intervention Objective: Implement interventions aimed at improving team dynamics and effectiveness. Actions: Initiate team-building activities that focus on trust-building and role clarification. Provide training sessions on conflict resolution, effective communication, and collaborative problem-solving. Realign team goals with organizational objectives through strategic planning sessions. Step 6: Evaluation and Sustaining Change Objective: Assess the effectiveness of interventions and ensure sustainable improvements. Actions:Conduct follow-up assessments to measure changes in team performance and dynamics. Hold regular meetings to discuss progress and any ongoing issues. Adjust interventions as necessary based on feedback and new data.

If you want to enhance your team’s dynamics and foster a productive work environment, investigate the core beliefs of your team members – and your own. Beliefs are the subconscious patterns that underpin our values, beliefs, decisions and actions.  When beliefs are aligned, collaboration flourishes, creativity thrives, and challenges become opportunities for growth. The best way to solve a problem is to investigate its cause. If you treat the symptom, your change efforts will most likely not stick. Take any topic, and explore its roots. There you will find  beliefs. Take any person, and explore the reasons for their behavior. Go deep enough, and you will find their beliefs.   All change begins with self-awareness.  When you ask, “What are my beliefs about that?”, you are beginning an important journey of expanded consciousness. Consider a problem you have now, and the solutions you’ve tried to solve it. Ask, “What do I believe about the problem?  What do I believe about the people involved?  What do I believe about my own role?  What do the other people believe about themselves, each other, and the problem?”  This reflection will open up your understanding of the true causes involved underneath the surface-level problem.  Those beliefs are driving everyone’s perceptions, decisions and reactions. There could be scores of conflicting and limiting beliefs at play.  Seeing them clearly will put you in the best position to solve the problem at its origin. It’s an inside-out approach rather than an outside-in solution (which rarely shifts the cause of the problem, so it reappears later in another guise).   When you understand that our beliefs create our perception of reality, you can investigate them with curiosity rather than judgement or blame. The next step is to encourage an open dialogue with your team, a shared exploration of everyone’s beliefs. [It’s a good idea to engage a neutral party, such as a trained facilitator.]  When you create a safe space for people to share their beliefs without fear, understanding deepens and compassion emerges. This practice uncovers diverse perspectives that will enrich team discussions, and builds trust among team members. Additionally, consider integrating regular check-ins focused on belief alignment. This could be a simple question during team meetings: "How do our personal beliefs align with this goal? Where do they interfere?" Such inquiries can keep everyone on the same page, and it reinforces a shared vision of what’s possible. By understanding and addressing core beliefs, you can significantly enhance team dynamics. I encourage you to reflect on your beliefs and engage your team in this vital conversation. _________________________ If you found this post valuable, please like it and share your thoughts in the comments. What beliefs have you found most impactful in your team dynamics? #TeamDynamics #CoreBeliefs #LeadershipDevelopment

I've watched 47 agencies die in 2025 Survivors all did this one thing Most leaders are building teams wrong. They hire for "positions" instead of building championship systems. I learned this the hard way after watching countless agencies collapse under their own growth. Here's what separates elite teams from everyone else: 💥 They Don't Fill Positions -- They Orchestrate Systems Championship teams aren't built by matching resumes to job descriptions. They're built by understanding what each person actually brings to the table. Then designing roles that amplify those strengths within a winning system. I've seen "perfect on paper" hires destroy team chemistry. And I've watched "unconventional" placements create breakthrough results. The difference: ➣ Elite leaders focus on CONTEXTUAL fit over resume fit ➣ They adapt roles to maximize the talent they have ➣ They treat team building like dynamic game planning 🔍 The Championship Team Framework Here's how the best organizations actually build unstoppable teams: Phase 1: Talent Mapping (Not Role Filling) ↳ Identify each person's natural operating system ↳ Understand their peak performance conditions ↳ Map their energy patterns and decision-making styles ↳ Discover their hidden competitive advantages Phase 2: System Design ↳ Create roles that leverage natural strengths ↳ Build complementary skill combinations ↳ Design workflows that maximize team chemistry ↳ Establish clear accountability without micromanagement Phase 3: Dynamic Optimization ↳ Adjust roles based on project demands ↳ Rotate responsibilities to prevent burnout ↳ Continuously evolve the system as people grow ↳ Maintain flexibility while preserving core structure 🛑 The Fatal Mistake Most Leaders Make They treat organizational charts like concrete instead of clay. Championship teams require SYSTEMIZED FLEXIBILITY. You need structure that bends without breaking. Roles that evolve with the people in them. Systems that adapt to market conditions while maintaining team cohesion. ❇️ Why This Matters Now More Than Ever The old "hire for the role" approach is dead. In today's market: ➣ Talent is scarce and expensive ➣ Skills evolve faster than job descriptions ➣ Remote work demands different team dynamics ➣ AI is changing what humans need to focus on The organizations that survive are those that maximize the talent they have. Not the ones still chasing perfect resume matches. The bottom line: Championship teams aren't about having the best players. They're about creating the best SYSTEM for the players you have. Most leaders are still playing checkers. While championship builders are playing chess. P.S. How are you designing roles in your organization -- around positions or around people?

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.