It's something everyone recognizes. Something that happens every day at work. It is driven by human behavior and it can be harmful to yourself but especially to your business.
Curious what that is?
Artificial harmony
Sometimes the moment is over and you are too late to speak your mind, or at least that's what you think at the time. Then, like most of us, after a quick reflection, do you prefer to keep the good peace and keep your thoughts to yourself?
Actually, there is something deeper underlying it. It's like "saying is not always wanting or doing", so saying yes while not taking any action. But also “don't say anything because you think it makes no sense” or “say nothing because you'll be screwed again and get a task while you're already so busy”. It seems like a smooth collaboration, but in fact nothing is being built up constructively. You deprive yourself and your team of the opportunity to progress, to grow. Result: good opinions and good suggestions fade into the background because there is no good basis for speaking freely.
“You have ownership of what you observe. Taking 100% responsibility for your observations and thoughts and taking action on them. Only by pronouncing this to the right person or persons will you help your team. This makes the distinction between a group of people and a team.”
Karin Schijf – Agile coach
Are you a group, or are you a team?
What makes the difference? A group of people is mainly occupied with their own work and they work more in silos than they are jointly responsible for the result to be delivered. A team puts the collective above the individual result and has to really work together to get here. That is why building a team is a joint responsibility in which you must be prepared to support each other and rely on each other's strengths. Trust is the basis of a good team, because without trust you don't dare to speak up when your opinion differs from the rest.A missed opportunity, because when you speak up you challenge each other and don't just take things for granted . For example because it 'always went like this'. Speaking up keeps you and the team sharp, you come up with new ideas and innovations. It is sometimes easier said than done. One thing is certain; with artificial harmony you will always be a group and never team up!
6 Tips to Avoid Artificial Harmony
- Work more often on the soft, emotional human values. This creates trust as the basis for even better results.
- Make sure everyone's role within the team is clear.
- State what needs to be named and ensure that everyone pursues the same goals.
- Make good working agreements, team agreements and have constructive discussions.
- Dare to make decisions, even if that means doing or pursuing something yourself, because what matters is the collective result of the team.
- Learn from mistakes by discussing them and defining responsibility for them as a group result
create teamshonor with the Agile mindset
With an Agile approach, the team is responsible for the end result and you as an individual are not held accountable for this. That is already a safe starting point for working together in true harmony and being able to speak out. The various roles are also clearly defined so that faster, clearer but above all correct decisions can be made. In addition, an external Agile coach can make just that little bit of difference because of the experience in turning groups into teams through different effective working methods.
And finally
Successful organizations understand the power of Agile. It is not a method, but a culture change that should be implemented across the entire organization.
We wish you a lot of real harmony, strong teams and progress!
