Using Adaptable Strategies to Achieve High-Performance Teamwork

I recently came across the work of Russell Ackoff, and one of his quotes perfectly describes a sentiment that I strongly believe in the context of how my team works together: 

“No problem stays solved in a dynamic environment.”

There is no such thing as the “right” team process, practice or technique. It’s certainly possible to find something that works well right now, but the projects and humans that are working on them are always changing. This means that the way you collaborate needs to evolve and adapt accordingly. 

I use several signals and metrics to help me recognize when something that my team is doing might need re-imagining to become (or return to being) more effective. 

Enjoying the Process Matters 

Perhaps the most obvious sign that a process isn’t working well is how people feel about it. If no one likes doing it, it’s usually because the effort required does not feel proportional to the value achieved. Similarly, do people willingly follow the process or participate actively in it? If following the process requires a lot of convincing or reminding, what you’re asking them to do might not actually meet their needs or help accomplish their goals. 

Keep a Pulse on Output Quality 

Another category of metrics involves analyzing the work that is done using a particular process. Quantitatively, how efficiently and effectively can work be accomplished using this technique, perhaps compared to other approaches used in the past? How much re-work or re-visiting of decisions occurs after the process is supposedly completed? How are these measurements trending over time? 

Identifying and Acting on Process Changes 

Once you’ve identified something that needs to change about how your team works together, the next step is to come up with an experiment to try. A new iteration does not have to be big or overly significant; often it’s the small things that have the most meaningful impact. It’s also important to frame the iterations as temporary, or reversible—if the change doesn’t actually make things better, don’t feel obligated to stick with it. For example, in one year my team slightly changed our approach to preparing our software development tickets more than ten times!  

Changes also don’t necessarily need to follow established patterns, “best practices” or norms. My team does not have daily standup meetings, despite this being an extremely common practice in software development. We have different ways of accomplishing the same goals that feel more natural to us. 

Putting In the Effort Pays Off 

Designing and maintaining effective team processes is hard, but it’s important. Doing it poorly puts the health of both your team and your business at risk. Fortunately, if you build a culture where collaboration and work practices are always evolving based on observation, analysis and team members’ feedback, you’re never more than a small iteration away from making a significant improvement to employee morale and business success.