36 Summary concepts: Teams. How you show up. Life pictures. Patterns of behaviours. Situational awareness. Change one thing. Clearing the air

Teams are sets of people, behaviours, cultures, emotions and patterns. There are many types of teams within the Army, and we have suggested to you that teams exist in many colours and shapes. We have noted that The Army functions as a ‘a team of teams’, which means that it is important to explore our roles as individuals and as team members. As General McChrystal says, all the pieces need to fit. (McChrystal et al., 2015)

“How do you and your teams ‘show up’” was an ongoing theme throughout the unit. This is something for all of to consider. As we learned, our behaviours make a difference in so many ways in the context of our work. We explored the concept of a High Reliability Organisation (HRO), It became clear that in such organisations, of which you are a member, that it is especially important that we are extremely aware of ourselves, our role, and those of our teams.

There are many ways that we can use to suitable aware of ourselves and our teams, in the context of specific projects and our work overall. Below is a reminder of some of those we explored in the unit.

We used the Life Pictures exercise to begin to explore the foundation of some of our patterns of behaviours in our lives. The idea is that for most of us, our patterns are consistent across the various pieces of our lives. So these are likely to also show up in our work roles.

We introduced the concept of ‘patterns’ of behaviours and how they impact outcomes. We explored three specific types of habits we tend, as humans, to ‘imitate’: those of The Close, The Many and The Powerful. This exercise reminded us both of the contradictions that exist in our behavioural patterns, as well as the power of using cues to build and enhance beneficial patterns.

Situational awareness is a necessary characteristic of successful HROs. There are 5 principles that Karl Weick and his team have identified as core: Preoccupation with failure; Reluctance to simplify; Sensitivity to Operations; Commitment to operations; and Deference to Expertise. The point of explored these principles was to highlight the importance in HROs to become ‘adept at managing the unexpected’.

To enhance your abilities of awareness, you completed an action sequencing exercise. This is an important activity that reminds us of the various roles that are necessary for successful teams. The four action stances are: Move, Follow, Oppose, Bystand. All have a place in the communication styles of healthy teams and teamwork.

Susan Goldsworthy suggested a ‘change one thing’ exercise, which you can use to embed new habits in your own behaviours and also in your teams. This links to the practice of ‘noticing’ that we encouraged.

Next we moved to practices that teams can use to ‘clear the air’ and move towards learning and achieving outcomes. These three techniques, The Elephant, Error-friendly learning, and Small wins, fit into a process that builds around avoiding failure and find success.

Patrick Lencioni and Karl Weick both focus on mindsets within teams that can really help to develop an overall excellence in terms of cohesion, performance, and outcomes. These are based on the concepts of Addressing conflict, Trust in the team, Commitment, Accountability, Team mindfulness, Errors, and Resilience.

Before you set off to complete your @Work activity, you briefly explored the language of projects, and project management and leadership.