Team interaction strategies
1. Members of my team approach the work we have to do with a solutions-focused attitude.
There are many reasons why your team may not have a can-do, solutions-focused attitude. It may be that they do not have the resources, time, equipment or skills to do their jobs effectively. If this is the case, it may help to review Performance managementopens a new window techniques to understand what is required to address these issues. It may be that some people on your team don’t have healthy coping strategies. The resources in Employee workload stressopens a new window can also provide you with strategies that could help.
Having a shared positive intentionopens a new window for a meeting, project or season can help your team better envision success.
There may be issues in terms of how conflict is resolvedopens a new window or it may be that your employees need help with Managing stressopens a new window overall. Using Plan for resilienceopens a new window with all team members can be a good starting point to build healthier coping strategies to deal with stress and challenges. There are resources such as slides and a facilitator guide that can help you host a workshop to build resilienceopens a new window.
If the issues are more complex, you may want to use the Team agreement processopens a new window to develop a way of working together that supports everyone.
If this is an area you want to address, consider following up with your team members for more insight, adapting the suggested wording below:
“I want everyone to feel supported to do their job effectively, even when challenges arise or mistakes are made. To do this, I’d like each of you to complete this workload reflection toolopens a new window (PDF) so I can learn what could help make your job easier. I will arrange to meet one-on-one with each of you in the coming months to discuss what you shared with me.”
2. My team celebrates our successes together.
In a busy work environment, we may go from one project or task to the next without ever stopping to reflect on the efforts and contribution that each employee made. Debrief questionsopens a new window can help the team gain insight from their effort, success and even failure.
Celebrating successes can help boost team morale, prevent burnout and share knowledge. Some activities that can help each team member support the celebration of success of every other team member include Acknowledge our accomplishmentsopens a new window, Specific active acknowledgmentopens a new window, Hero exerciseopens a new window and Recognize strengthsopens a new window.
If this is an area you want to address, consider following up with your team members for more insight, adapting the suggested wording below:
“Please use [this anonymous method*] to share ideas on ways we can celebrate team successes. Think about ways it can be done that are inclusive and cost-effective. All ideas are welcome.”
3. My team adheres to boundaries that support a work-life balance.
Because every team is unique, the best approach is to have a discussion about what would support work-life balance. The Balanceopens a new window workshop materials can help you facilitate this discussion while managing any unreasonable or impractical expectations. You could also share these Work-life balance tipsopens a new window or use them for discussion about how people can best manage and achieve balance in their lives. Although work-life balance may look different for each employee, you may want to have a discussion about the expectation that each team member will find what works for them. If you have specific employees who struggle with managing their own boundaries, you can share Setting healthy boundariesopens a new window with them, or explore it as part of a team discussion.
If this is an area you want to address, consider following up with your team members for more insight, adapting the suggested wording below:
“Some of you shared that work-life balance can be an issue. I’ll be sharing tips each week to help with that. I also want to know how work can be changed to provide more balance while still meeting our goals. Please use [this anonymous method*] to share your ideas for changes at work. All ideas are welcome, and I’ll share those that are practical for our team.”
Or
“Work-life balance looks different for each of us. Some want a known routine while others appreciate flexibility. Please use [this anonymous method*] to share ideas on ways your work-life balance can be supported. I will share all of the ideas that are practical for our team and then we can discuss the pros and cons of each. For example, an idea that might help your work-life balance could place more of a burden on your co-workers, where another idea might have positive benefits for everyone.”
4. My team interacts respectfully.
There are many approaches to improving respect on a team. The most comprehensive would be using the Team agreement processopens a new window to create a shared understanding of what respectful interactions are for your specific team. This process requires about 1.5 hours multiplied by the number of people on your team. If you don’t have the time to create a team agreement, each of the following ideas will take less than half a day and still contribute to improvement.
The Psychologically safe interactionsopens a new window workshop can help show how behaviours might be interpreted as disrespectful, regardless of intent.
One reason team members might feel disrespected is because of the unintentional or implicit bias of other members. Explore Implicit biasopens a new window with workshop materials, team building activities and other information to help you address this issue.
The Civility and respectopens a new window workshop brings your team together to develop a shared understanding of what civility and respect means to them and what changes they’d like to make to the ways they interact.
The Being a mindful employeeopens a new window online course speaks to each of your team members’ responsibility to be respectful and protect the psychological safety of every other member. You could assign them to complete the course, then use each of the modules to discuss how people should be interacting in the workplace.
There are many other Team building activitiesopens a new window that can help your team ensure they can work together in a respectful way.
If this is an area you want to address, consider following up with your team members for more insight, adapting the suggested wording below:
“Some of you shared that not all team interactions are respectful. Because respect can mean different things to different people, we will come together to define civility and respect for our team. This 2.5-hour workshop will happen on [date/time/location]. Please come prepared to make a positive contribution. This session will not focus on specific individuals or situations. It will focus on how we want to interact as a team in the future.”
5. My team is supportive when one of our members is upset.
Sometimes people are not supportive because of the assumption they make about behaviours when someone is upset. Some people may become angryopens a new window, others may be on the verge of tears, and some may become anxious. When we learn to look beyond the behaviours to become curious about what might be motivating them, we’re Practicing non-judgmental interpretationsopens a new window. This team activity can help all of your team members to be more supportive when someone is upset.
If a co-worker is going through a stressful time, including dealing with a mental health issue, the information in Helping troubled co-workersopens a new window can help your team members learn how to help while protecting their own well-being.
Another reason team members may not be supportive is if your workplace or team culture is one of personal competitiveness. To help reconsider the approach, you can help reset by using the team activity Improve team cultureopens a new window. For more ideas on building team resilience, review Protect your team against psychological injuryopens a new window.
If this is an area you want to address, consider following up with your team members for more insight, adapting the suggested wording below:
“Some of you shared that our team could be more supportive when one of our members is upset. Of course, some of us like to be left alone, while for others that would feel isolating. Some would like to talk about what they’re experiencing and others would prefer not to. Please use [this anonymous method*] to share ideas on how you feel about this approach:
- We refrain from making judgments or assumptions about the behaviours of others, as we never know what someone is going through.
- If the person appears to be in extreme distress, we identify only what we see, without adding our interpretation, for example “You seem to be shaking” or “I see that you’re crying” instead of “You’re angry” or “You’re upset.”
- Ask if there is anything you could do to be supportive and trust the person to respond in the way that works for them. If they say “nothing” or “I just need some time for myself” then respect their wishes.
- If you’re concerned for the safety of that individual or others, share this concern with someone in management so that appropriate support can be provided to the individual and any others as needed.
Once I have your feedback about this, I will craft another version for us to consider.”
6. When project timelines change, my team works together to re-examine our priorities.
When teams work together to re-examine priorities during times of change, they’re more likely to be committed to a successful outcome than when a change is simply put upon them. You can use the team activity Identify and overcome obstaclesopens a new window at any time of change to help re-establish what success or the desired outcome will be now.
Having a shared positive intentionopens a new window for how you will deal with project changes helps to create a clearer pathway while acknowledging and addressing potential stress.
If this is an area you want to address, consider following up with your team members for more insight, adapting the suggested wording below:
“Some of you shared that our team could do better at re-examining our priorities when project timelines change. We will come together to complete a team exercise that will help us come up with a process to do this more effectively.”
[For a more complete explanation of what the team will be asked to do, and share questions with them in advance, see Identify and overcome obstaclesopens a new window.]
7. My team approaches setbacks or failures as learning opportunities.
If your team does not learn from setbacks or failures, you can help change that by how you give feedbackopens a new window. You could also engage your team in activities like Mistake meetingsopens a new window, Identify and overcome obstaclesopens a new window, Identify workplace risksopens a new window or Learning from the pastopens a new window to help change the way they think about and learn from challenges. Leveraging team wisdomopens a new window is a workshop you can facilitate that walks your team through three activities.
If this is an area you want to address, consider following up with your team members for more insight, adapting the suggested wording below:
“Some of you shared that our team doesn’t always see the learning opportunities in our setbacks or failures. On any team where continual improvement and innovation are expected, we’ll make mistakes. The goal is to learn from our mistakes. One way we can do this is by sharing our experiences and either sharing how we corrected the mistake or asking the team for help to solve the problem.
I’m going to go first [insert when and where] and at later meetings, you’ll each be asked to bring something to the meeting that you can share about a challenge you’ve encountered or a mistake you’ve made.”
Or
“Some of you shared that our team doesn’t always see the learning opportunities in our setbacks or failures. While nobody enjoys failing, if we don’t learn from it, we’re much more likely to repeat it. I would like us to consider a way to make it safe to share our challenges for the benefit of the entire team. Please use [this anonymous method*] to share your ideas for what would make it safe or comfortable for you to share your mistakes or failures. All ideas are welcome and I will share those that are practical for our team.”
8. My team resolves differences of opinion respectfully.
Teaching each member of the team how to resolve interpersonal conflict themselves can greatly reduce your need to intervene. You can share Resolving personal conflictopens a new window with your team and engage them in role-playing using these strategies.
Developing a Team agreementopens a new window can also help your team resolve differences of opinion more respectfully.
In cases where you need to intervene, Conflict response for leadersopens a new window can help.
If this is an area you want to address, consider following up with your team members for more insight, adapting the suggested wording below:
“Thank you for your feedback in the Psychologically Safe Team Assessment. As part of our continual improvement, we’ll now engage in a team agreement process. This will allow you to tell me what kind of team environment is ideal for us and how we can better consider differences of opinion and resolve conflict more respectfully and effectively.”
9. All team members are held accountable for their behaviour.
There could be many reasons why an employee’s behaviour is problematic. Whether it's related to a mental health issue, a life stressor or conflict in the workplace, it’s important that you address the behaviour in such a way that it no longer has a negative impact on others. Developing employee plans for leadersopens a new window provides you with a step-by-step guide to developing solutions to work-related behavioural issues.
It is also helpful if team members respectfully hold each other accountable. The Team accountability processopens a new window can help you engage your members to develop their own strategy.
If this is an area you want to address, consider following up with your team members for more insight, adapting the suggested wording below:
“Some of you shared that not all team members are held accountable for their behaviour. I need some more information to be able to help set up a process that is more equitable for everyone. I’m not looking for you to complain about your co-workers, I am asking that you use [this anonymous method*] to share your ideas for what a respectful and effective accountability process might be, as well as those behaviours that should not be acceptable on our team.”
10. My team members share supportive feedback with one another.
Every team is a little bit different in terms of how they interact. To develop a shared understanding of how your team members will support each other, you can use team discussion workshops such as Psychologically safe interactionsopens a new window or Civility and respectopens a new window. Other activities that could help are Improve team cultureopens a new window and Specific active acknowledgmentopens a new window.
If this is an area you want to address, consider following up with your team members for more insight, adapting the suggested wording below:
“Although I have the primary responsibility for providing feedback, the responses to the Psychologically Safe Team Assessment indicate that feedback from your team members can also have an impact. To support effective feedback between and among all team members, we’ll be engaging in an activity on [date/time/location] where we will learn an approach to provide specific and active feedback. We will then hold each other, myself included, accountable to use this approach as often as we can.”
11. My team members support each other’s successes.
Teaching your team members why, when and how to provide Specific active acknowledgmentopens a new window is important. This can become part of team meetings where people give shout outs to others, or you can have a gratitude or appreciation board where people can post these expressions, but most important is to encourage people to acknowledge the efforts of others in the moment.
Once you have taught this skillset, you can create a regular opportunity for your team to use this by facilitating the team activity Acknowledge our accomplishmentsopens a new window.
If this is an area you want to address, consider following up with your team members for more insight, adapting the suggested wording below:
“Although I have a responsibility to support your work, the responses to the Psychologically Safe Team Assessment indicate that support from your team members can also have an impact. To help us improve on this, we’ll be engaging in an activity on [date/time/location] where we will learn an approach to provide support between and among team members. We will then hold each other, myself included, accountable to use this approach as often as we can.”
12. I can influence important team decisions.
Influencing decisions isn’t the same as making the decisions. It’s important to be clear about what can be influenced or changed before discussion begins. Facilitating the workshop on Involvement and influenceopens a new window can help establish opportunities and boundaries related to decision-making.
For more ideas, check out Evidence-based actions for involvement and influenceopens a new window.
Even when decisions about what needs to get done are not open for discussion, you can bring the team together to create a shared positive intentionopens a new window about how the tasks will be accomplished.
If this is an area you want to address, consider following up with your team members for more insight, adapting the suggested wording below:
“Some of you shared that you don’t feel you have any influence on team decisions. Please use [this anonymous method*] to share the types of decisions where you would like to have more influence. While some decisions are outside of my control, I do want everyone to know that your opinions and ideas matter.”
Or
“Some of you shared that you don’t feel you have any influence on team decisions. While some decisions are outside of my control, I do want everyone to know that your opinions and ideas matter. Because this can mean different things to different people, we’ll come together to define involvement and influence for our team. This 2.5-hour workshop will happen on [date/time/location]. Please come prepared to make a positive contribution by thinking of creative ideas related to how your voice is heard and how your opinions are considered in decision-making that impacts your job.”
13. The stressors at work are manageable.
If you’re aware of the stressors affecting your team members, you can address them directly. For example, if the issue is psychological demandsopens a new window, work-life balanceopens a new window, bullyingopens a new window or mental health issuesopens a new window including stress, there are resources that can help.
If you believe workload is the biggest stressor, you can find strategies in Employee workload stressopens a new window or you can facilitate the Workload management workshopopens a new window to engage your team in a discussion about potential solutions.
If you’re unsure of what the challenges are, you can look at the strategies in Resilience for teamsopens a new window.
If this is an area you want to address, consider following up with your team members for more insight, adapting the suggested wording below:
“Some of you shared that the stressors at work are sometimes overwhelming. I want to understand what that means so that I can take action. Please use [this anonymous method*] to share all of the stressors that you encounter at work, even those that may seem minor, because if we can eliminate some of those, it might make it easier to deal with the stressors we can’t eliminate.”
14. My work matters to my team.
Ensuring employees feel their work matters can be as simple as regularly pointing out how each person’s contribution makes a difference to the team. You might recognize or point out a couple of examples each week with just a few sentences in a meeting or newsletter. For example, saying, “Because Paul delivered the mail so promptly on Thursday, I was able to have the answer to the client immediately.” It’s important to do this in front of the other team members so that everyone learns to appreciate the contributions of the other members.
Some team activities that may be relevant include:
- Acknowledge our accomplishmentsopens a new window. Try this team-building activity to help recognize team members’ contributions.
- Improve team cultureopens a new window. This team-building activity helps you ask the right questions and pay close attention to the answers.
- Recognize strengthsopens a new window. This team-building activity helps team members think about and articulate the strengths that others bring to the team.
- Team huddleopens a new window. Celebrating each other's wins and supporting one another's challenges can help build team and organizational resilience.
If the majority of your team feels their work doesn’t matter, it may not be an individual issue. Working together to create a Team purpose statementopens a new window, may help to improve clarity and a sense of pride about the impact your team has in the organization.
If this is an area you want to address, consider following up with your team members for more insight, adapting the suggested wording below:
“Some of you shared that acknowledgment by team members about your contributions matters to you. I agree it’s important that everyone recognizes and values the work of everyone else. To do this, I’d like to ask each of you to write at least 3 bullet points about the work you contribute and how it impacts the team, our products or services, and the organization. I’ll collect these and remove the names, then as a team, we’ll read them out and guess who they belong to. I will take the liberty of enhancing or modifying if I feel that you haven’t adequately stated your contribution. Please have these to me by [date].”
15. I am committed to the success of my team.
This is a fundamental question related to the level of engagement of your team members. Facilitating the Engagementopens a new window workshop explores what it would take for your employees to be fully committed to the success of the team.
One way to improve commitment for the team is to bring them together to create a shared positive intentionopens a new window about the team, a project or an event.
Working together to create a Team purpose statementopens a new window may help to increase commitment to the success of the team by improving clarity about the positive impact your team makes in the organization.
If this is an area you want to address, consider following up with your team members for more insight, adapting the suggested wording below:
“Some of you shared that you don’t feel engaged with the team. We’re going to come together to consider ways to support engagement for every team member. This 2.5-hour workshop will happen on [date/time/location]. Please come prepared to make a positive contribution by thinking about what does or could make you feel committed to the success of your team at work. This session won’t focus on specific individuals or situations. It will focus on how we want to interact as a team in the future.”
16. People on my team recognize one another’s efforts.
Facilitating and encouraging team members to recognize the successes and contributions of their co-workers helps promote team cohesion. Team activities like Recognize strengthsopens a new window, Acknowledge our accomplishmentsopens a new window or Specific active acknowledgmentopens a new window can help you to begin or improve this approach.
If this is an area you want to address, consider following up with your team members for more insight, adapting the suggested wording below:
“Although I have the primary responsibility for providing recognition for your work efforts, the responses to the Psychologically Safe Team Assessment indicate that recognition from your team members can also have an impact. To help us improve on this, we’ll be engaging in an activity on [date/time/location] where we’ll learn an approach to provide recognition between and among team members. We will then hold each other, myself included, accountable to use this approach as often as we can.”
17. My team is respected within our organization.
It’s likely that you, as the leader, often receive accolades for the work of your team. Ensure that each time this happens, you share it with all team members. If your team isn’t receiving accolades or respect, begin to advocate for them or promote the contributions they’re making in order to change the impression of others.
Working together to create a Team purpose statementopens a new window that you can share with the rest of the organization can not only clarify the contribution your team makes, it can also improve team morale.
If this is an area you want to address, consider following up with your team members for more insight, adapting the suggested wording below:
“Please use [this anonymous method*] to share ideas on ways we can improve respect for our team within this organization. Please share how you feel respect from those outside our team is or can be demonstrated. For example, respect might be demonstrated by someone seeking the opinion of our team related to planning or development. If this doesn’t happen now, we may need to be more proactive in sharing our ideas for innovation and improvement. All ideas are welcome.”
18. I feel like a valued member of my team.
Part of feeling valued is putting value on our own efforts. Ask your team members to recognize their own daily contributions and accomplishments. This could be used in a follow-up discussion with each team member, it could be something that becomes part of an ongoing process or you could choose some of the best highlights of the week or month to share in team meetings. Be sure to include both small and large accomplishments.
Team activities like Recognize strengthsopens a new window, Acknowledge our accomplishmentsopens a new window or Specific active acknowledgmentopens a new window can help each member of your team feel valued.
If they don’t feel their work is valued, there are several strategies to consider in Recognition strategies for leadersopens a new window.
If this is an area you want to address, consider following up with your team members for more insight, adapting the suggested wording below:
“In the busy day-to-day, we may not be aware of the efforts or contributions our own team members are making. It’s equally important for you to be able to recognize your own achievements. Every day for the next two weeks, I want you to record one positive contribution of any size and one accomplishment that you made at work that day. I’d like you to email these to me at the end of each day.”
19. I enjoy being part of my team.
If team members don’t enjoy being part of their team, it could be due to ongoing conflicts. Conflict response for leadersopens a new window provides an approach to managing conflict between workers that focuses on solutions rather than the disagreement.
Team building activitiesopens a new window can also help support team cohesion, communication and effectiveness. These are especially helpful as they directly engage team members in improving the way they manage workplace stress and interactions with others.
For those who would normally enjoy being part of their team, the fact that this has changed could potentially be a sign or symptom of feeling burnt out. Burnout response for leadersopens a new window provides information to help identify, prevent and respond to burnout at work. These strategies can help protect overachievers and those recovering from burnout.
If this is an area you want to address, consider following up with your team members for more insight, adapting the suggested wording below:
“Some of you shared how much you enjoy being part of this team. It is my goal that everyone enjoys being part of our team, at least most of the time. Please use [this anonymous method*] to share all of the ways you already enjoy being part of this team or ways in which your enjoyment on this team could be increased. I will take these into consideration as I create a plan for continual improvement.”
20. I feel proud of the work I do.
There are at least three perspectives on this statement. One is whether the person feels that the work they do is adequately done. If this is not the case, they may need more training to feel competent to accomplish the task at hand. You could use the Supportive performance management approachopens a new window to help with this.
Another perspective is whether they feel their work is valued by their team. This can come from the way they are recognized for their efforts by you the leader, and by their peers. If they don’t feel their work is valued, there are several strategies to consider in Recognition strategies for leadersopens a new window.
It could also be that the work they’re doing clashes with their personal values or does not take advantage of their strengths. In these situations, you may want to have a conversation with the employee to understand what they need to be different to allow them to be proud of their work.
If this is an area you want to address, consider following up with your team members for more insight, adapting the suggested wording below:
“Some of you shared how proud you are of the work you do. It is my goal that everyone be proud of their work, at least most of the time. Please use [this anonymous method*] to share all of the ways you feel proud of the work you do, and what is needed to increase your pride in your work. I will take these into consideration as I create my plan for continual improvement.”
21. When I make mistakes at work, I am able to learn from them and move on.
When your team members are afraid of making a mistake, or beat themselves up afterwards if they do make one, it can be hard for them to see mistakes as inevitable, part of learning and something that should be shared to help others. In addition, honesty about mistakes means that they’re less likely to be hidden until a time they become a crisis. Some of the team activities that can help you change this behaviour include Mistake meetingsopens a new window and Interpret negative feedback accuratelyopens a new window. The activity Learning from the pastopens a new window can help more senior employees share some of the mistakes or challenges they’ve had, and how they learned or grew from them.
On the other hand, one reason people may not feel comfortable sharing their mistakes could be that they’re not sure how you as their leader would react. In Building trust for leadersopens a new window you can explore the core competencies of trust and ways you can improve their comfort level with you.
If this is an area you want to address, consider following up with your team members for more insight, adapting the suggested wording below:
“In any organization where continual improvement and innovation are expected, we’ll make mistakes. The goal is to learn from our mistakes. One way we can do this is by sharing our experiences and either sharing how we corrected the mistake or asking the team for help to solve the problem.
I’m going to go first, and at subsequent meetings, you’ll each be expected to bring something to the meeting that you can share about a challenge you’ve encountered or a mistake you’ve made.”
*Note: The term "anonymous method" refers to a specific approach the leader has in place to gather feedback without any identifying information. Some approaches include an online platform, suggestion box, online survey, or a dedicated team email address that will not identify the sender. Be sure to replace “[this anonymous method*]” in the “Explore further” suggested wording with clear instructions on how they can provide their feedback anonymously.