Team Habits

1. Team habits are the invisible forces shaping workplace culture and performance

Every team has them—including yours. It's probably why you picked up this book.

Team habits are ubiquitous. They are the unspoken rules and behaviors that govern how a team works together, often invisible until they cause problems. These habits can be as simple as how meetings are run or as complex as how decisions are made. They shape the team's culture, productivity, and overall performance.

Broken habits create ripple effects. Just like a broken printer that everyone knows about but no one fixes, dysfunctional team habits can lead to wasted time, frustrated employees, and missed opportunities. These small inefficiencies compound over time, significantly impacting the team's ability to perform at its best.

Changing habits requires awareness and effort. Recognizing and addressing broken team habits is the first step towards improvement. It's not about individual performance, but about how the team functions as a whole. By focusing on habits, teams can create sustainable changes that enhance their work environment and outcomes.

2. Belonging is the foundation for high-performing teams

Belonging is what turns a group of people into a team.

Belonging creates psychological safety. When team members feel they belong, they are more likely to take risks, share ideas, and contribute fully. This sense of safety allows for honest communication, including the ability to have difficult conversations without fear of repercussion.

High belonging leads to better outcomes. Teams with a strong sense of belonging:

• Meet goals more consistently
• Have higher retention rates
• Can navigate challenges more effectively
• Experience increased creativity and innovation

Foster belonging through intentional practices. To build belonging:

• Encourage sharing of personal experiences and interests
• Celebrate diverse perspectives and contributions
• Create opportunities for informal interactions
• Ensure everyone's voice is heard and valued
• Align team actions with stated values

3. Effective decision-making requires clear processes and empowerment

Intent-based decision-making puts the onus of going through the pros and cons of the decision on the shoulders of the person who's doing the work rather than their supervisor.

Clarify decision-making levels. Establish a framework for different types of decisions:

1. Decisions that can be made without informing management
2. Decisions that require informing management after the fact
3. Decisions that need management approval

Empower team members to make decisions. Encourage intent-based decision-making, where individuals state their intentions and rationale before taking action. This approach:

• Builds decision-making skills at all levels
• Increases autonomy and ownership
• Reduces bottlenecks in the decision-making process

Document and learn from decisions. Keep a decision log that captures not just what was decided, but why. This practice:

• Provides context for future reference
• Helps identify patterns in decision-making
• Facilitates learning and improvement over time

4. Goal-setting and prioritization drive team alignment and success

Belonging allows team members to say, "I don't feel ready for this, I don't think that we as a team are ready for this."

Set pull goals over push goals. Pull goals are intrinsically motivating and aligned with team values, while push goals rely on external pressures. To create pull goals:

• Connect goals to team members' personal motivations
• Frame goals in terms of positive outcomes rather than avoidance of negatives
• Ensure goals are challenging yet achievable

Prioritize using the TEAM framework. For each goal, consider:

• Time: How much time will it take?
• Energy: How much effort is required?
• Attention: What level of focus is needed?
• Money: What resources are necessary?

Create space for failure. Encourage calculated risk-taking by:

• Removing penalties for well-intentioned failures
• Celebrating learning from mistakes
• Balancing conservative and ambitious goals

5. Planning is everyone's responsibility and requires continuous adaptation

Plans are made to be changed; when you plan to adapt, you'll be more prepared to handle the inevitable challenges that will arise.

Distribute planning responsibilities. Encourage all team members to develop planning skills by:

• Involving everyone in the planning process
• Teaching planning techniques and best practices
• Assigning ownership of different aspects of plans

Create flexible, adaptable plans. Recognize that plans will change and build in mechanisms for adaptation:

• Use the One-Third–Two-Thirds Rule: Spend one-third of the time planning and two-thirds executing
• Apply the 85 Percent Rule: Only fill team capacity to 85% to allow for unexpected work
• Regularly review and update plans based on new information

Balance different planning horizons. Consider multiple time frames when planning:

• Leaders: Focus on quarterly, yearly, and multi-year plans
• Managers: Concentrate on monthly and quarterly plans
• Individual contributors: Plan weekly and daily

6. Clear communication is proactive, preemptive, and concise

Clarity requires courage.

Practice proactive communication. Anticipate information needs and share updates before being asked. This approach:

• Reduces anxiety and uncertainty
• Prevents bottlenecks caused by waiting for information
• Demonstrates responsibility and initiative

Be preemptive in addressing questions. Think through potential questions or concerns and address them upfront. This habit:

• Saves time by reducing back-and-forth
• Shows consideration for others' perspectives
• Increases overall clarity and understanding

Strive for brevity and clarity. Communicate concisely while ensuring all necessary information is conveyed:

• Use the Five-Sentences Rule for email responses
• Employ bullet points and subheadings for easy scanning
• Choose simpler words over complex ones when possible

Develop team-specific shortcodes. Create a shared language for common situations or requests to increase communication efficiency.

7. Collaboration thrives on defined roles and open information sharing

Open the black boxes around where work happens and how work is assigned helps reduce the cognitive overload, emotional anxiety, and general stress associated with a team's collaboration efforts.

Define clear roles and responsibilities. Use the doer-reviewer-coordinator triad to ensure all essential functions are covered:

• Doer: Executes the primary work
• Reviewer: Provides quality control and feedback
• Coordinator: Manages internal and external communication

Identify and utilize "Wolfs". Recognize team members with specialized skills or knowledge and call on them when needed:

• Encourage team members to develop and share their unique expertise
• Create a system for easily identifying and accessing these specialists

Promote transparency in work processes. Make work visible to reduce duplication and increase collaboration:

• Use shared project management tools
• Encourage regular status updates
• Create a culture of "showing your work"

8. Meetings can be force multipliers when structured intentionally

Meetings can be either a powerful force multiplier or a powerful force diminisher.

Understand the true cost of meetings. Calculate the TEAM cost (Time, Energy, Attention, Money) for each meeting to ensure they provide value.

Use meeting blocks strategically. Structure meetings using six key blocks:

1. Decision-making
2. Planning
3. Brainstorming
4. Bonding
5. Review
6. Update

Implement effective meeting practices:

• Always have a clear agenda and designated facilitator
• Make the default "no invite" unless attendance is necessary
• Leave time at the end to capture next steps and assign responsibilities
• Regularly audit and improve meeting structures

9. Core team habits enable individual and collective excellence

To work best in a team, individuals need to practice certain core skills.

Show your work. Make your process and progress visible to teammates by:

• Sharing how you arrived at solutions
• Presenting early drafts and prototypes
• Demonstrating tangible results regularly

Use focus blocks effectively. Schedule and protect dedicated time for deep work:

• Aim for 90-minute to 2-hour uninterrupted sessions
• Honor teammates' focus blocks as you would meetings
• Use focus blocks as a unit of measurement for project planning

Practice "Shoot, Move, Communicate". When addressing problems:

• Shoot: Take initiative to solve the immediate issue
• Move: Look for systemic solutions to prevent recurrence
• Communicate: Share actions taken and plans for long-term fixes

Embrace vulnerability and support. Create a culture where team members can:

• Openly share their weaknesses (Achilles heels)
• Ask for and offer help without judgment
• Give and receive direct, constructive feedback

10. Changing team habits requires political savvy and alignment

Team habit change is about alignment, not power.

Identify key players in the change process:

• Champion: Drives enthusiasm and momentum for the change
• Project Manager: Oversees the operational aspects of implementation
• Potential Resistors: Those who may feel threatened by or resistant to the change

Build empathy and understanding. Approach change with curiosity and respect for existing practices:

• Investigate why current habits exist
• Acknowledge the path that led to present circumstances
• Frame changes in terms of shared goals and values

Enroll teammates in the change process. Create buy-in by:

• Involving team members in shaping the new habit
• Addressing concerns and potential losses
• Finding ways for everyone to contribute to and benefit from the change

Start small and build momentum. Begin with manageable changes that demonstrate quick wins:

• Choose a specific habit within a broader category
• Set clear, achievable milestones
• Celebrate successes and learn from setbacks

Last updated: April 10, 2025