People thrive out of being part of a community — whether that’s their family, their friends, their neighbours, a football or quiz team they’re part of, a mutual support group for diabetics, or a campaign. It gives them a sense of purpose within a wider collective of people, be as a sister or brother, as a confidante, a makeshift plumber or as an expert on craft beer. They’re neither out on their own having to make things happen, nor are they there just to make up the numbers.
In a team, it’s the same. You need more roles than just a manager. I’ve shared what I’ve learnt during this pandemic:
- Pivot your team around missions and root your work in relationships
- Encourage the team to be open and vulnerable so they feel supported
- Continuously share what you’ve learnt to respond to a changing situation
- Distinguish work and home to create a sense of work-life balance
- Take time to reflect while still responding to the crisis
As well as how to renew your team’s purpose and help them continually develop.
But I want to dwell on the need for different roles. You can have:
- Thematic leads individuals who lead on behalf of the team in developing its skills & knowledge on a specific issue — i.e. environment, economy, etc. or a portfolio of issues, like sustainable homes & places — and manages the relationship with the professional lead on that issue in your organisation.
- Functional leads: individuals who lead on a specific function the team wants to develop — i.e. research, design, partnerships, etc.
- Development leads individuals who lead in developing one of the capabilities the team wants to improve in — i.e. facilitation, negotiation, socials, etc. In my previous teams, we’ve had people lead on developing skills top trumps, others on quizzes and others on the coaching
Ideally, each person would lead on at least one theme and one development area so that everyone gets to lead in the team. To avoid creating silos, pair people up so that one person leading on one area is supported by another. In that case, everyone leads both at least one area and also supports someone else in one area. This helps the pairs feel supported can learn from each other. It also helps people individually have a sense of purpose and be able to master a specific issue or skill.
But other roles are just as important to help develop a team. The peer to peer learning accelerator @enrolyourself I took part in has developed a set of these below. As part of the London Policy & Strategy Network, I hosted them to share what they’ve learnt from developing peer to peer groups and cross-cutting teams.
What roles have you developed in your teams?
What informal roles do you play for your team? Are you the underfloor heater or the pacemaker?
What roles should we invest more effort and time into developing?
