The pressure is on and your team is down by seven. It’s time to make a choice. Do you fight to win or give up hope? Is your team resilient? Before you think this doesn’t apply to you, let’s explore what I mean by “team.”
What is a Team?
Team: A Group of People Organized to Accomplish a Specific Goal
Chances are that you are part of many different teams right now. Most of us belong to a family. We work with other people on almost all jobs in today’s society. Some of us even play on sports teams or have athletic children.
If you think about all of the connections in your life, you will likely find that your days are filled with teams of people. Your successes and failures are supported or hindered by the performance of the various teams that make up your life.
Resilience: Bouncing Back
The ability to bounce back from a challenging situation is a necessary life skill. In psychology, we have been studying individual resilience for decades. People who are more resilient tend to be more satisfied with life and have fewer health concerns.
When we apply individual resilience to teams we get a whole new concept. You can’t simply take the ability of each person and think you have your answer. Team resilience is not like addition; it’s more like multiplication on good days and division on bad days.
There are social interactions at play within teams. Whether we know it or not, our thoughts, emotions, and actions are often influenced by those around us.
Team Mentality
As we become more involved with our team, it gets harder to separate our own emotions from the emotions of the team. When one person is having a bad day, it seems to spread to others. On the ball field, we say that errors are contagious.
The good thing is that positivity is contagious too. Have you ever watched a team and noticed the momentum shift? It’s that moment where you start to feel chill bumps on your skin. The players are in the zone. They are confident and ready to respond to whatever comes next. If you’re close enough, you can even see it in their eyes. They are completely absorbed in the moment.
Sometimes the momentum shifts back the other direction. That’s when you can see how strong your team really is. At that point, it’s not about athletic ability or technical skill. When your team is down it’s about finding the emotional resilience and mental strength to fight back.
Setback or Step Up
I’m not an athlete, but I am the wife and mother of athletes. I don’t have direct experience playing sports (besides one softball season which didn’t go well), but I do have the ability to read research studies and translate them into real-life applications.
So, to help me understand what is happening with teams, I turned to the research. Based on what I could find, resilient teams, those that can bounce back from a setback, have several things in common.
There is no “I” in “team”
Resilient teams are made up of individuals who feel connected to their teammates. They trust that they are all working toward a common goal. When one teammate is struggling, the others pick them up. They remind each other of the ultimate goal. No one person takes responsibility for the wins or losses.
There are group norms and processes. Everyone is expected to uphold the standards established by the group. If one person is expected to do it, then everyone is expected to do it. These shared norms and processes give team members a sense of purpose and belonging, even in difficult times.
Progress, not perfection
Teams that use challenges as an opportunity to improve are better able to bounce back in the future. On every team, there comes a time when what we have been doing isn’t working anymore. At that time, we have the opportunity to adapt and improve. Teams can take a step back and determine any needed changes to their attitudes or activities.
Some resilient teams are even able to structure their workflow to obtain consistent growth outcomes. These teams set goals to overcome previous limitations. Even if the ultimate big picture goal is not achieved, having a sense of progress keeps the team motivated to move forward together.
Shared stories and beliefs
Resilient teams share stories of past victories and defeats. They remind each other of where they have come from and where they are going.
There is a collective vision of the future, which includes more than external trophies. While it’s nice to receive a reward for hard work, resilient teams work for more than that. Their shared vision includes emotional connections that keep the team pulling together rather than growing apart.
For resilient teams, it’s more about the heart than the how. Their primary focus is on their intentions. They intend to finish strong together. They believe that they have what it takes to be successful. Even though they may not see how they still believe that they have what it takes.
What About The Fans?
So, what can you do from outside the fence? That’s where I find myself on many occasions. Whether I’m coaching teachers before a difficult meeting or supporting my favorite sports teams, I’m frequently outside the fence.
Here are a couple of strategies that I’ve found to encourage team resilience from the outside:
- Encourage a positive outlook
- Help them build a positive vision of the future.
- Remind them of times they were successful.
- Sandwich constructive criticism between positive comments.
- If you must assume something (someone’s motives, possible outcomes, etc.) try to assume the most compassionate version of the story. Maybe it really wasn’t about you. Maybe that person was just having a bad day.
- Encourage self-awareness
- Ask for stories about a time when the team was successful.
- Discuss what they were thinking about when specific things happened.
- Help them understand the real reasons behind why they thought, felt, or acted a certain way in a specific situation.
- Ask about how they recently encouraged a teammate or were encouraged by a teammate.
- See the best in everyone
- Cheer for all team members.
- Don’t talk negatively about any member of the team.
- If you have a concern, talk to the person rather than about them.
- Remember that when one person is down, it usually brings down the whole team.
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