When teams work well with one another, it is always noticeable that there is some presence of structure. It may not always be visible first-hand by outsiders, but those within the team will know it and highlight it to newcomers. It’ll be one of the first things newcomers will be taught. To some extent, it will be an element of the team’s culture.
One such structure is the way time is used by the team. It can be the way meetings are structured and facilitated, it can be the types of meetings or activities the team has, it can be the conversations teams have, just as much as it can be processes linked to being or becoming a member of the team.
Such structure establishes a rhythm similar to having day and night follow one another or seasons. We’ve learned to give each of them a shared meaning. When it comes to the rhythm proposed by nature, we’ll easily connect it with cycles related to our biology.
Such cycles brought into the time structuring used by teams will assist our well-being by becoming second nature to us, and the way we work together. Naturally, such structure needs to support the work that is being done together and thus needs to be aligned with it. But it is more than that. The fact that these activities become second nature to the members of the team, creates a practice that allows to practice the different tasks a team has to execute.
In a recent HBR article, “The surprising power of rituals,” the authors describe these tasks as rituals to emphasize how such activities need to be specific, come with some kind of protocol describing how they are done, and have a well-known connection with their purpose. But also because everybody knows them, participates in them, and becomes more proficient at contributing to them. It’s the logical result of repetitive activities.
The more people become used to such activities, the more mental space they develop to contribute to the content of these activities, and the more familiarity they’ll experience in being connected with the other team members.
Having such mental space available is a tribute to the ease that exists in the team.
