Create a positive team atmosphere!

If the team climate is positive, stress is more likely to be perceived as a challenge that can be overcome together with colleagues. This increases performance over time. Many start-up companies have such an inspiring and infectious atmosphere and are known for their long working hours. Employees there often enjoy putting a lot of work and energy into a joint project as a team. A strong sense of community welds the team together.

In a negative team climate, on the other hand, more conflicts arise and there is less collegial support. As a result, upcoming changes tend to be seen as an unmanageable challenge and the performance, creativity and agility of many team members decrease overall.

Encourage the commitment of your employees!

'Commitment' describes the degree of dedication that a person feels for a cause, but typically more for a group, and consequently also the importance they attach to this larger whole. The consequence of commitment can be expressed in terms of the identification and emotional energy that a person is willing to invest in a group, in line with the motto that the French writer Alexandre Dumas put into the mouth of his Three Musketeers: "One for all, all for one!" As numerous recent studies have shown, this ultimately leads to better performance, greater work commitment and higher quality. Commitment takes place on different levels. You can feel committed to your own success or goals, or to colleagues who you don't want to let down. You can feel commitment to your superior or - more abstractly - to the company or brand as such. Many also feel a commitment to a certain topic or activity.

Build trust and support within the team!

Strong teams tend to assume that each other has the best intentions when in doubt. This does not mean that every action or omission by a group member is necessarily approved of, but it is also not seen as a hostile act aimed at damaging one's own reputation or the team as a whole.

This type of trust means that political games and mirror fencing can be avoided as far as possible and instead, personal successes and setbacks can be addressed openly and appreciatively. Moreover, it is not about blame, but about concrete solutions and what can be learned from this experience for the team and each individual. In these groups, trust goes hand in hand with mutual support in the form of collegial advice. Specific problems are considered, scrutinized and discussed together. Alternative solutions and ideas are exchanged, sympathy and recognition are shown and similar cases are presented. This pronounced openness should not be confused with a sheltered, risk-free environment, as the responsibility for the ultimate implementation and solution of an issue always remains with the person who introduced the problem.

Practice conflict resolution within the group!

A strengthened, satisfied team manages to solve a paradox: On the one hand, the group members have built a strong foundation of trust and loyalty among themselves, but on the other hand, this does not lead to unconscious patterns manifesting themselves along the lines of "one crow doesn't peck out another's eye" and conflicts that arise are ignored or trivialized. The solution to this apparent contradiction lies in the relationship to professionalism and to closeness and distance in the group. A group with a pronounced capacity for conflict consists of self-confident, reflective colleagues who want to improve together and individually, and not of friends who have to show their affection for each other. However, it also does not consist of enemies or opponents who simply do not want to work together.

All of this makes it possible to both appreciate the person and challenge their behavior at the same time. The English verb "to challenge", which literally means "to challenge", describes this simultaneity very well. It is comparable to a strong soccer team that sticks together on the pitch to win together, while in the dressing room there are clear words from the coach and teammates, not only about top performance, but also about misconduct.

Create meaning and identity!

Meaning and identity are the energies that hold a group together both internally and externally. Meaning is a group's raison d'être and provides an answer to the question of why people are involved in the group and what the group as a whole is committed to. The purpose of a group can be the achievement of a specific goal or the pursuit of a more abstract mission. The more clearly the purpose is formulated and the more your employees can identify with it, the more satisfaction this can generate among your employees.

On the one hand, identity defines who belongs to the group and who does not, and on the other hand, it defines the qualities or characteristics that the group stands for. The identity of a group is a separate entity that transcends the individual identities of its members. In order for a group to function, the members must subordinate their identity to the group identity, at least in part. This is also known as loyalty. In return, they receive a sense of belonging from the group, which does not necessarily have anything to do with deep sympathy. A strong sense of identity and belonging creates a feeling of security and stability in a group. This is all the more important the more turbulent and stressful the environment in which your team operates. Having a stable emotional home in a group is an important resource for strengthening your team.

The author

© Leadership Choices

Karsten Drath is a coach and Managing Partner at Leadership Choices, an international management consultancy based in Wiesbaden. His work focuses on leadership and organizational development at top management level. The author works with top managers and their teams to improve the efficiency and resilience of leadership. Karsten Drath is also a certified executive coach, book author and lecturer.