While ‘teams’ and ‘team cultures’ are small pieces in the puzzle of wider organisations, and are influenced by the overarching organisational culture, it would be shortsighted to pretend that all teams replicate that higher level culture within their teams (or sometimes, that they replicate it at all!).

Team culture, put simply, is ‘what it feels like around here’ or ‘how we are together’. And there are two main contributors to that – the stuff we see, and the stuff we don’t.

The stuff we see in team cultures:

Behaviours – As a fly on the wall watching a team interact and work together, we will quickly be able to name the behaviours that we see; people asking for help, people protecting their knowledge, people coaching each other or blaming each other.
Processes and Systems – We will also be able to see how they contract to work together. When they come together for meetings what happens, how they prioritise their time, how they monitor or measure each other, workload or productivity.

The stuff we don’t see:

Shared values and direction – Watching the team may hint at some of their shared values but it will be through hearing from them and how it feels that we can start to notice and name what is shared; a sense of direction, pride and success, a shared hunger for innovation or a lack of shared values or identity.
Personal mindsets and beliefs – Perhaps the trickiest of the contributors to team culture because it is the hardest to see, and often the most powerful drivers are what they believe about themselves, about each other, about the work or the organisation as a whole.

These elements form the personality of the team, shaping how they interact, make decisions, manage change and handle challenges. A strong and positive team culture can inspire motivation, creativity, and collaboration, attracting people to it and helping them to be at their best – thus making it easier for people to work well together and feel connected to the group.

Great team culture is one of those things organisations often think they should have, but in practice often don’t know where to start in measuring or improving. And it’s no wonder why – people are complex, and culture is a constantly moving beast, so getting your arms around it can often be an overwhelming task.

But it doesn’t have to be. Burst the bubble of overwhelm by just starting to talk about it, and we LOVE talking about it – so just get in touch!