Teams that work well together find a rhythm that shapes the movement and coordination of the team’s efforts. An intuition develops and gaps are closed by teammates helping to cover each other. It’s a beautiful process to watch unfold and we celebrate such teams with pennants and trophies.
A key element of effective teamwork is Helping. Helping happens when team members cover needs outside of their direct responsibility. Helping closes the gap between intention and capacity. Helping is about expanding your attention to scan the broader field, like a zone, and directing your efforts in a fluid, adaptable manner to meet the needs presented. In complex or expansive fields, helping allows coverage of responsibility while pursuing multiple goals. You want to build a Helping Culture.
Step 1: Declare your Intention
The first step is to raise awareness of what your goal and expectation is. Your goal is to build a helping culture that will facilitate the core value of Teamwork and uphold excellence in service. Your expectation is that everyone on your team is going to make “helping” a priority focus of messaging and reinforcement. Start rolling this simple message into your normal coordination flow – at the start of meetings, as a part of the weekly e-mail overview, in one-on-ones.
Step 2: Put into Practice
Here’s where the legwork kicks in. The goal here is to begin seeing helping behavior in action. Begin seeding action in the following ways:
- Use language. Language is one of the most important aspects of culture and helps provide shared meaning. Incorporate the language of helping through modeling (e.g. “How can I help you achieve the goal?”) and accountability (e.g. “Tell me one way you helped a team member today?”). Use helping-related language as a normal part of coordination (e.g. “Let’s get this done together. Let’s look out for one another. Cover each other. Help each other”, etc.) Simple, repeated use of helping imagery and language will reinforce the importance of helping each other.
- Use visual reinforcements. Posters, buttons, swag – all are great avenues for visual and slogan messaging. Use these as an opportunity to reinforce your goal and expectations. Make it fun. Solicit input from your team and staff. Go all-in on helping.
- Play with your team. Role-play and case studies are a great way to analyze and imagine. Think about a recent scenario applicable to your team. Present a short, few sentence overview. Then ask, “If you were on the scene, how would you help?” Discuss and explore. Talk about the challenges of helping and share success stories. This can be done via email, virtual, or in-person.
- Train your team. Discuss the roles of each member specifically and expand their scanning range based upon their capabilities. Make sure core fundamentals are trained and reinforced. Equip your team to look for gaps in the zone. Helping occurs when the member possesses the awareness, capability, and confidence to close the gap. Incorporate Helping norms into ongoing training and new employee orientations. Helping is an attitude that is amplified by skill.
Step 3: Reinforce what you Like
After consistent application of legwork above, you will begin to see examples of helping behavior. Let your team know you like what you see! Reinforcing these behaviors causes behaviors to continue. Over time, your culture will begin to adopt the norms and values of helping in an ongoing fashion. From there, maintenance will help sustain the culture.
- Provide positive feedback and reinforcement when examples of helping emerge. Look for both private and public opportunities. Seek the behaviors, asking for examples and looking for helping in areas that may not have jumped out right away. Where’s your helping at?!
- Evaluate helping as an item in performance evaluations. This can be encompassed within “Teamwork” or added as a line item. Apply the same standard to everyone on the team – top down. People engage in behaviors that they are held accountable for.
- Celebrate helping by creating unique ways to acknowledge helping specifically, for example as an MVP (Most Valued Player). Be sure to focus on helping as opposed to individual accomplishments. Make the concept of helping the “hero” and all team members are expected to rotate into that MVP acknowledgement at some point. It’s a requirement of the team – only Helping Heroes here! When observing transitions, such as promotions and members leaving the team, frame acknowledgements to include helping as a part of their impact we recognize.
Follow the above playbook, and you’ll be on your way to building and reinforcing a helping culture in no time. Consistent application of techniques over time will build momentum. Be sure to enlist allies to help amplify your efforts. Know that the science has your back.
M. Milner, PhD