How to keep the (team) fire burning

Are things going well for you and your team? Are your projects humming along?

If so, congratulations. Would you like to know how to keep it so?

I recently spoke with a friend who owns a small business about the challenges he faces in leading a team. “Actually, things are going very well for the company,” he said. “My biggest challenge is finding a way to keep the energy and team spirit alive.”

When things are going well, we rarely consider what we can do to keep the good vibes going. Until they’re not.

Team behavior and team spirit are subject to regression to the mean. After experiencing highs and lows, we fall back into familiar ways of perceiving, communicating, and doing. We return to our routine and eventually feel the same way we did before the thrill of victory or the agony of defeat. Or, as Jack Kornfield put it, “after the ecstasy, the laundry.”

Spice it up with punctuation

Adding “punctuation” to your routine can help counter the tendency for things to revert to the way they were. By punctuation, I mean anything other than “business as usual.” It could be an impromptu team event, holding your regular meeting in a new location, or hosting a visitor from outside the team.

Punctuation provides people with shared memories. Something to talk about.

An IT project manager I know came back from the cafeteria with a surprise treat. He tossed an ice cream bar to everyone on the team with a big smile shouting “catch!” The element of surprise made it doubly special.

Bring purpose and shared meaning to the team

Why are we here? Who are we serving? What are their needs? How do we help?

We keep team spirit high by reminding people of the team’s purpose.

A pharmaceutical company I worked with sponsored an annual patient day where all employees had the opportunity to meet patients and learn about the life-changing benefits their products brought to them. There’s no better way to see the impact of your work than to talk directly to the people who have benefited from it.

Cut me some slack

Purpose alone is not enough to keep people motivated. We want to decide for ourselves how best to hone our skills through work that feels meaningful.

A self-directed approach that allows people to decide (or negotiate with each other) when to deliver what results works well on many projects. Let people choose how best to accomplish their tasks.

On the road to mastery

The third motivator is mastery. It is the sense of power that comes from knowing you can do it. The dopamine rush of success. Nothing feeds learning (and mastery) like new situations, new experiences, interactions with new people. Variety and exploration are critical to improving learning and performance.

The dots will connect themselves

Create what Christian Busch calls serendipity triggers—situations that increase the likelihood of beneficial encounters. Bring people together in novel constellations, tour another organization together as a team, or charge cross-functional groups with working on a thorny problem.

Reflection questions

How can I insert “punctuation” into my team’s daily routine?

What shared memories am I helping to create for my team?

How can I refresh the sense of purpose in the team?

What steps can I take to allow people more autonomy?

How can I build variety and serendipity into my work environment?

How do you do it?

Share your own practices for keeping the team fire burning in the comments section.

References

Busch, C. (2020). The Serendipity Mindset: The Art and Science of Creating Good Luck. Penguin Books Limited.

Cattani, G., & Kim, J.-h. (2021). Variety-seeking, learning and performance. PLoS ONE, 16(3), e0247034.

O’Hara, D. (2017, December 18). The intrinsic motivation of Richard Ryan and Edward Deci. American Psychological Association. 

Pink, D. H. (2011). Drive: The surprising truth about what motivates us. Canongate Books.

Image: Firefly