People can put energy into a team or take it out.
The amount of energy available to a team is a sum of the energies of each individual plus a mysterious group factor.
I mentioned in a previous post that an important law of physics is the Law Of Conservation Of Energy, that is, energy cannot be created or destroyed. I wondered about this law when applied to groups of humans. Because – I believe anyway – while it probably holds true in respect of physical energy I’m not that sure if it’s true in respect of the spiritual energy we described earlier.
The reason that I wonder about this is that a well-functioning group of humans (such as, for example, a successful sports team) seems to have, in addition to the sum of the energies and skills of each member, a mysterious little bit extra that is indefinable. That is, once again quoting the old sage Aristotle; the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. They seem to be lucky, and little things that matter seem to go their way [1].
This is what we are aiming for in a team working with families in the Focus Group.
Now, in a team, obviously, on different days, different people will have different energy levels. One could, for instance, have the ‘flu, and have very little to input. Also, one could be suffering emotionally, (perhaps have problems at home), and need others on the team to ease his distress. Taking account of all the ups and downs that affect individual members, I propose that in a healthy, well-functioning team the amount of energy available to do the work will go up and down but it should be relatively constant over a long time frame e.g. a year.
If a person comes into a team, i.e. a new staff member, it is expected that for a certain time they will take energy out of the system as they will be instructed, (and learn for themselves), how the team functions.
Just like a new teenager joining an already established gang, or a new baby being born into a family, there is a period of readjustment as the system gets accustomed to the new team member.
The period of time it takes for the energy to recover to its former level depends on how quickly the new member becomes a part of the team, how well trained she is for the job to be done, how empathic she is with the norms and ethos of the existing staff members, how she understands the essentials of the work, how well functioning, welcoming, generous, and open the existing staff are, and, crucially, how good she is at incidental learning. (I will come back to incidental learning in the next post).
In a well-functioning team it is the case that this will be effected smoothly and the energy level will soon experience a net increase as the new member settles into his role and begins making a contribution.
It is sometimes difficult to break into a team – teams always have people who are close to each other and form friendships. New members will gravitate towards those on the team they find common ground with and these can form cliques.
I propose that there is nothing wrong with close friendships unless they exclude others for mischievous or disingenuous reasons. [2]. In this, I believe that the more dysfunctional a team is the more damaging the cliques may be.
And unwelcoming cliques will certainly drain energy from a team.
[1]. I will describe the Johari Window in the Chapter on Training. In the Johari Window the unknown pane can be considered to be the fount of great creativity, innovation, and even luck as people and organisations become more open, i.e. enabling a larger public space and more willing to accept and work on constructive criticism i.e. feedback. The willingness to do this, is, of course, a function of the emotional wellness of the team. The Johari Window is a very useful tool for building awareness among individuals and teams – so long as members are up for it!
[2]. Though people may be excluded for operational reasons which would be different.