Effective teamwork is more critical than ever due to growing pressures on businesses to perform. However, many companies struggle to align their teams because of differing communication styles, decision-making processes, and work methods. Research shows that nearly two-thirds of managers fail to understand their team’s behaviors fully. This gap can lead to inefficiencies and frustration within teams. Better collaboration might mean simplifying things with a transparent system to understand team behaviors.
The Four Dimensions of Teamwork
Teams can generally be evaluated across four key dimensions that define how members work together. These dimensions are critical in understanding not just individual behavior but how the team as a whole interacts and performs:
- Communicating: This dimension categorizes teams as either ordered or informal. Ordered teams follow strict processes for sharing information, relying on well-documented internal systems. On the other hand, informal teams are more casual in their communication, relying on spontaneous interactions rather than structured meetings.
- Processing: Teams interpret information logically or relationally. Logical teams rely heavily on data and rigorous analysis, while relational teams value individual relationships and trust key members for insight.
- Deciding: Teams are either authoritative or concordant in their decision-making. Authoritative teams look to leaders for final decisions, while concordant teams operate on a consensus-based model, where all members contribute before a course of action is chosen.
- Executing: This dimension contrasts deliberate teams, which create detailed plans and follow them closely, with spontaneous teams that prefer flexibility and adaptability in their work style.
Christopher Morrison, CEO of TeamDynamics, states, “Each of these dimensions captures an important aspect of how teams interact and work together. By understanding where your team falls on each of these scales, you can better manage and improve team collaboration.”
A Growing Need for Team Understanding
Understanding these dynamics is becoming increasingly essential with the rise of remote work and cross-functional teams. A significant finding from TeamDynamics’ research reveals that only 9% of individuals naturally align with their team across all four dimensions. This means that the majority of team members must adapt their behaviors to work effectively within their teams.
For many managers, the inability to fully understand their team’s working style can be detrimental. Nearly 70% of individuals prefer deliberate planning, yet only 27% of teams operate this way, creating a disconnect between how people like to work and the reality of team collaboration.
Refining Collaboration in the Workplace
The tool is designed for teams of all sizes, but it’s particularly effective for teams consisting of five to 12 members, the ideal size for meaningful collaboration. Larger companies such as Meta, Splunk, and Hilton have already adopted TeamDynamics as part of their team-building and leadership development processes. By providing a shared language and framework for team interactions, companies can reduce friction and improve the quality of cross-functional work.
A key benefit of a workplace dynamics test is its ability to pinpoint areas of tension within teams. For example, a finance team at a luxury auto manufacturer used the tool to understand better the different working styles of its legal and marketing departments. By identifying friction points, they implemented strategies to improve collaboration across departments.
The Future of Team Collaboration
As organizations continue to navigate hybrid work environments, tools like workplace dynamics tests are becoming invaluable. These will help teams improve communication and efficiency and offer leaders the insights they need to better coach their employees. By aligning team behaviors with individual preferences, companies can create more harmonious and productive teams.
Ultimately, workplace tests’ value lies in their simplicity and applicability across industries. By offering easy-to-use tools that quantify team behavior, companies can better understand and manage the often elusive concept of teamwork.
