Onboarding new team members to a team that is performing well can have a detrimental effect on the workplace balance and team feel.
To develop a thriving team, all the workers need to trust and respect each other as individuals and as teammates. A new employee can disrupt the team as each person develops a new relationship with that person and consequently the team dynamics can be impacted.
The Tuckman Model (developed by Bruce Tuckman in 1965) recognises the stages of team growth and development and illustrates how a team goes from being a group of strangers to a high performing team.
Each phase calls on different skills in the leader:
Forming – Clear Guidance and Direction. Providing a Common Purpose aligned with the business objectives.
Storming – Coaching and Conflict Resolution skills.
Norming – Trust and Facilitation skills. Team Consolidation.
Performing – Further Trust, Delegation and Recognition.
Adjourning – Recognition, Feedback and Motivation to move on to new work.
Achieving the Performing phase is a great feeling, and it’s when your team is working as a real team.
Working together, achieving great results and enjoying their work. The culture is one of camaraderie and from a safety perspective, your team members are looking after each other in, as per the Bradley Model, an interdependent culture. Incidents and injuries are rare, and if they happen, improvements are implemented quickly to ensure that the risk of recurrence is low.
However, this phase is always under threat as soon as a new member of the team arrives. No matter how big the team is, a single addition can impact the culture and effectively move the team from Performing, to Forming again.
Accepting this as an inevitable consequence, a leader must use their skills to fast track the team back to performing.
To do this effectively, it’s important to ensure that Communication is clear, and the Behavioural Expectations are understood by everyone.
Communication
- Introduce the new member of the team and ensure everyone has a chance to introduce themselves to the new person.
- Facilitate a special Team Meeting to ensure people can have a voice and discuss what they like about this workplace.
- Choose appropriate Language/Wording to ensure that you demonstrate the acceptable way to communicate in the team.
- Provide regular Feedback (Positive and Negative). Invite the team to give feedback to you, the leader, and to each other.
- Demonstrate excellent Listening skills (give the team a voice) in order to recognise when there is an issue and act decisively to rectify things.
- Ask Open Questions to everyone to gauge potential issues, as well as knowing what is working well.
- Use Conflict Resolution skills quickly and decisively, to ensure a clear understanding across team members.
Behavioural Expectations
- Provide the common purpose and the Why
- Ensure that everyone knows why the culture is currently good. What are the “Above the Line” behaviours, and what are “Below the Line”. Discuss this with the new team member on day 1 in a 1:1 meeting.
- Link these behaviours to the Risks and Hazards in the workplace. Get the team members to share their thoughts.
- Connect the team results with the big, organisational, picture.
- Develop engagement across the team. Start with a “Getting to know you BBQ”.
- Carry out a short Team Building event or a DISC exercise across the team.
- Walk the talk. Demonstrate the “Above the Line” behaviours at all times.
Helping understanding across the Team
Every worker has a reason for being at work. Money is obviously a factor, but other things influence their decisions as to why they choose to work at a specific workplace and not any other. It could be location, rosters, the culture, the leader’s behaviour, the workplace conditions, promotion opportunities, training and development or any other reason. Knowing the specific reason for each person enables you, as the leader, to maximise their attitude to the work and their wellbeing.
Treating each person as an individual ensures that they feel respected, trusted, appreciated and valued. With this, they will help you deliver great results.
DISC and how to use it.
While everyone is unique, there has been studies to categorise people into 4 types. Knowing these types and how to interact with each will enable you to optimise your team’s performance. Everyone tends to have one, or two prevailing characteristics that can affect the way they behave. Knowing these, and acting accordingly, can ensure that they optimise their performance.
The DISC (or DOPE) study has developed the following 4 categories:
– Dominance.
– Influence.
– Steadiness.
– Conscientious.
Knowing how these types of people work can help you consider how you communicate with them.
