Last week, we discussed key learnings for leaders to lead through restructuring. This week, we offer a field guide for enabling strong and sustainable team integration. Organisations must approach integration in a strategic way, establishing a foundation of trust from which practical steps to working together can develop.   

We have supported many clients through this strategic change, and from this experience, identified five steps to give newly integrated teams the best chance to build positive relationships and shared culture to effectively work together into the future.  

#1.  SCOPING AND BUILDING PSYCHOLOGICAL SAFETY

Establish a basis of trust by validating all views and encouraging expression without judgement; contract for confidentiality and make space for honest conversations. These are uncertain times for many and without this assurance progress will be difficult. We recommend workshops as a good opportunity for building trust and transparency by bringing all teams together to talk about what really ‘matters’.

#2.  JOINT DIAGNOSIS AND PLANNING FOR SHARED ACCOUNTABILITY

Gather and share data from teams on what’s working, what’s not, what’s missing and what’s possible. Jointly review what is required from the integrated team by key stakeholders and develop a joint vision and a shared understanding of success. Part of this step is also agreeing on ‘what needs working on together’ and new ways of working to facilitate this. 

#3.  PUTTING JOINT PLANS INTO ACTION AND SHARING SUCCESS

Engage in joint campaigns and projects that bring the teams together. Through ‘doing’ together, teams can better create and embed joint practices, and keep the conversation of ‘how we want to work together’ alive. Share success and build a new joint narrative, reinforcing a one team mentality. Working Groups can be a useful mechanism to follow up on commitments made in the prior workshops.

#4.  RESHAPING AND ADAPTING

Regularly review progress through check-ins with teams and individuals to ask ‘How is it going?’, ‘What’s working now?’ and ‘What’s not working yet?’. Take this as an opportunity to remove identified obstacles, course correct, identify unexpected outcomes and seek to fail fast and learn together.

#5.  EMBEDDING AND INTEGRATION 

This time of change is a prime learning opportunity for the organisation. Share stories of success with other teams and ensure that success is celebrated. The management narrative also needs to focus on highlighting where collaboration and integration has been working. For the long-term success of team integration, senior leaders need to continue to reinforce the integration mandate.

Ultimately, successful integration is about providing the framework for positive relationships between people to form, and to co-create a new working world together where everyone has equal accountability for and investment in the success of the team.

If you missed last week’s blog on leading through a restructuring, read on! For an in-depth discussion of establishing psychological safety, check out this insight from consultant Aoife Keane.