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| What's Going On |
| This Issue Welcome to Issue 17 of Getting Teamwork Right. This edition kicks off a six-part series on breaking down silos, and I'm also sharing the new, free Team Pulse assessment. I'm always talking about the importance of stepping back and looking at your team with fresh eyes. It is very hard to do from inside your own head. Team Pulse gives you 36 short statements about your team as it is today, and a report by email. You get something to look at other than your own opinion, and seeing things differently, with a little data behind it, can change the conversation. It also ties in neatly with the series. Silos are one of the most common things leaders ask me to help with. Nobody builds them on purpose. They drift in, one sensible decision at a time, until two teams that should be partners barely speak. Over the coming weeks we will look at why they form, how to spot them and how to replace them with genuine collaboration. This fortnight I have also written about psychological safety, because people only reach across boundaries when they feel safe enough to speak up. As always, if something here sparks a thought, just reply and tell me about your team. |
| Free Team Pulse Assessment | |
| Free See Your Team With Fresh Eyes It is hard to see your own team clearly from the inside. Team Pulse gives you 36 short statements about your team as it is today, covering 12 areas including purpose, roles, feedback, conflict and accountability. Your report arrives by email with your scores, a short reflection and ideas for talking the results through with your team. It is free, and a good place to start before the silos series gets going.
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| One Idea |
| Try This Stop Asking "Any Questions?" At the end of your next meeting, skip "Any questions?" It almost always produces silence, and silence is easy to mistake for agreement. People hold back when speaking up feels risky, and a closed question makes it feel riskier still. Try one of these instead: • "What are we missing?" Then wait. Count to ten if you have to. The pause is where the real answers come from. And when someone does speak up, say thank you before you say anything else. How you respond the first time decides whether they speak up again. This is the heart of psychological safety, and the article below has four more ways to build it. |
| From the Blog | |
| Article Silos Are Killing Your Organisation – Here's Why They Form Silos rarely start with bad intentions. They form quietly, one sensible decision at a time. This first article in the series looks at why they appear, and gives you a simple exercise to see them clearly.
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| Also From the Blog | |
| Article How to Build a Team Where People Aren't Afraid to Speak Up Most teams have good ideas sitting unspoken in the room. Here is what psychological safety is, why it matters, and five practical ways to build it, starting at your next meeting.
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| Watch | |
| Video Breaking Down Silos, Tip 1: Is Your Team a Team, or a Group? The first in a series of short videos on breaking down silos: is your team really a team, or just a group of people who share a manager?
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| Around the World of Teamwork | ||||||
Links Worth Your Time
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| Top Team Tip of the Fortnight |
| Tip Try This With Your Team This Week Draw your team map. Write down your team and every other team it depends on, then mark each connection as strong, occasional or almost non-existent. Any two teams that rarely speak but rely on each other are a silo waiting to happen. Bring the map to your next team meeting and ask: where could one conversation make our work easier? |
| Got a Question? | |
| Q&A Ask Andy Do you have a question that I can help you with? Send it to me on the link below and I will answer it. I'd like to publish one answer every fortnight – so that any readers with a similar concern can benefit. I will ask if you are OK for me to use your question, and I will make you and your situation anonymous before I share it.
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| Work With Andy | |
| Get in Touch Book a Call If you want to find out more about how we could help your team or organisation, I'd love to hear from you. You can book a Microsoft Teams call with me here:
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