There is an unmatched potential within a cohesive team that communicates and interacts in a positive, effective manner. It’s true that everyone strives to achieve this united front in the workplace, yet there are so many methods to follow that the overarching message can get easily lost. We’re here to make it simple for you, by introducing The Five Behaviors Of A Cohesive Team.
The Basics
For over twenty years, The Five Behaviors Model has proved to be an effective framework in helping teams build strong, meaningful connections. This model combines Patrick Leoni’s teamwork model with individualized insights to create personalized solutions unique to each team’s culture, values, and goals. In case you haven’t already gathered, the five behaviors model is made up of five distinct behaviors including:
From the Bottom Up
At the first level of this behavior pyramid lies trust. Trusting your team members is an absolutely critical aspect of building a cohesive team. As team members remain open and honest with each other, they create an environment where everyone feels confident to be transparent and vulnerable in the workplace.
When team members have established a sense of trust in one another, they open the door to conflict. Despite its typical negative connotation, conflict plays an extremely important role in forming a strong team. While trusting each other, team members can engage in debates and unfiltered discussions around various ideas and topics.
The Familial Aspect
As important as trust is to a typical business or team, it may be even more important to establish and maintain this in a family business. Because family business team members already share a personal connection, it’s crucial for these individuals to have the ability to speak openly and truthfully about thoughts, ideas, and differences across their company.
As trust and conflict go hand in hand, building trust in a family business leads to productive discussions of conflict where all team members feel respected and valued in a simultaneous professional and familial setting. With just the first two pillars of the five behaviors model pyramid, family businesses and companies alike can completely transform their teams into an engaging and successful partnership.
Commitment & Accountability
Moving up the ladder, commitment, and accountability are the next two imperative behaviors fundamental to any team. After honestly discussing their ideas and opinions, team members often feel heard and well-respected by their peers. This sense of esteem influences individuals to commit to decisions and play a leadership role in the workplace, honing in on their notions.
When a clear plan with guidelines and roles assigned is established in a company, team members feel more inclined to hold each other accountable. With team member accountability comes company success, as team members may be more motivated to complete their tasks and achieve their goals.
Reaching the Peak
In case you haven’t noticed the theme of the five behaviors thus far, each behavior pools into the next. Establishing trust leads to conflict, which leads to commitment, creates increased accountability, and eventually leads to the final behavior and the ultimate end goal: results. Within the first four pillars of this model, team members will have established all the necessary building blocks that lead to increased productivity, communication, and engagement across their company.
Relative Results
These final few steps of the model are also incredibly helpful in enhancing teamwork in family businesses. While in this specific company format, team members are not just coworkers, but relatives, which can sometimes get complicated. When these individuals feel confident enough to commit to their ideas and make their own decisions, workplace productivity can skyrocket. In turn, this confidence may motivate family business members to hold their relatives/co-workers accountable in their distinct roles, creating important guidelines for each team member to follow. Forming this relationship in a family business is imperative in achieving long-term success with each team member remaining professional and dedicated to their craft.
The Five Behaviors of a Cohesive Team framework is a simple yet incredibly effective method for improving teamwork dynamics. From enhancing productivity, performance, communication, confidence, and more, each step in this model plays a fundamental role in establishing a cohesive team of any kind. At Positively People, we’re experts at amplifying teamwork via the five behaviors of a cohesive team. Contact us today to strengthen your team!
