CHAPTER 2

The Harmonics of Team Spirit Organizations lack…faith, faith that they can accomplish Their purposes in various ways And that they do best when they focus on direction and vision, letting transient forms emerge and disappear. We seem fixated on structures; and we build them strong and complex Because we must, we believe, hold back the dark forces that are out to destroy us… The things we fear most in organizations-fluctuations, disturbances, Imbalances-need not be signs of an impending disorder that will destroy us. Instead, fluctuations are the primary source of creativity.
Margaret Wheatley

This chapter explores storytelling as a means of sharing the values and spirit of the team. It also describes the harmonics, consonant and dissonant pairs, operating within each phase of the Spiral.

CREATING SPIRIT IN TEAMS THROUGH STORYTELLING

Storytelling is a powerful tool. Many of the learning activities in this volume are designed so that team members can tell their stories. In telling their stories, team members and the team reveal their spirit. We coach those we work with not only to tell their stories but to listen attentively to the stories that the team tells, to the deep currents within the stories.

Great teams do not forget the stories that reveal their soul, their traditions, their spirit and mystery of everyday experiences. In the following pages I relate stories of spirited, high-performing teams I have led or worked with and of persons who give us clues about each phase identified in the Team Spirit Spiral.

Service

Service is at the heart of the spiral. The team exists to serve its customers.
Nineteen years ago I led a spirited team working in an urban college to create alternative programs for adults. The team's passion was to create new modes of teaching and learning that would attract new learners to the campus. In challenging the status quo, the team often found itself in conflict with faculty members who were reluctant to part with traditional ideas about teaching and learning. That team's passion to serve adults changed the college's notion of service, as the team provided adult learners with more flexible teaching and learning approaches centered around the learners' lives and career pursuits.

Initiating

Theologian David Steindl-Rast suggests that spirit is ultimately about belonging and connectedness. The Initiating phase of the spiral captures the importance of relationships.

I asked members of a mature team to "tell their story" by creating personal mandalas (see Chapter 3, Personal Mandala). Mandala is the Sanskrit word for circle. A mandala, particularly common in Asia, visually symbolizes the heartfelt values of a family or group.

These technically skilled people groaned aloud when I asked them to create their mandala without using words. I asked for images and visual representations symbolizing the following statements that were written in the four quadrants of a circle:

A gift I bring to the team.

A source of personal pride.

My frustration with the team.

My team spirit goal.

They worked slowly and intently using red, blue, green, pink, and yellow markers to create their images. Energy peaked when team member began to present their mandalas. One commented, "I've worked with this team for over ten years but never really knew what my colleagues were proud of in their lives."

Initiating, the initial rite of passage for a team, supports the development of belonging and trust. Stories of initiating say: "This is who I am. This is who we are." These stories ease and transform feelings of tentativeness, imbalance, awkwardness, and disconnectedness that a new team may experience.

Visioning

Music, especially jazz, brings me congruence, awareness, and an experience of life that other forms of expression-poetry, cooking, painting, gardening, etc.-do not. Among jazz artists, Miles Davis is one of my favorites. Davis' playing, especially in the 60s, was characterized by a certain sparseness. He used notes and phrases sparingly, in contrast to the rapid-fire barrages of notes played by his contemporaries. Critics in the jazz world observed that Davis' uniqueness appeared in the spaces between his notes.

Most teams focus on the notes themselves-on form, organization charts, computer systems, project plans, and role descriptions. With this focus they miss the =essence that generates extraordinary results. Davis admonished his band, "Don't play what's there. Play what's not there. Don't play what you know. Play what you don't know." Like jazz groups, teams grow by exploring the unknown and unleashing their possibilities. As Davis believed, we limit our contribution by playing what we know; we expand our contribution by playing music we have never heard.

Stories of Visioning clarify purpose, core values, and beliefs and point to a future of better service. The spirit of Visioning lies in remembering, being present to, and establishing what the team is capable of contributing to others.

Claiming

Claiming gives power to the vision. Through Claiming, a team takes ownership of its goals as members and as a group. Claiming establishes the team's path on the journey to extraordinary Service.

Claiming pulls together the needed resources to fulfill the Vision. Spirit is expressed through the commitment, resolve, and solidarity accomplished in the Claiming phase.

A product development organization that I worked with was reorganized into self-directed teams. The level of autonomy created anxiety. A key member of the team, Peter, asked, "How will we be able to formulate goals without a leader to point the way?"

Rosemary shared, "I feel uneasy. At times, I want to express my support for a particular idea, but I don't want my colleagues to think I'm pushy." Jose declared, " I have been doing data gathering for ten years without a hitch. Now I am expected to understand everything about product development."

The organization supported this team during the transition period. Initiating and Visioning learning activities helped team members to appreciate their uniqueness and opened possibilities. After an initial period of uncertainty and disarray team members started to "claim" how they wanted to contribute to the team.

Peter observed, "If we can incorporate Rosemary's comments on the difficulties she faces with her role, I think we can improve our whole process." Jonathan acknowledged, "While I feel unsure about performing more varied roles, I enjoy the greater breadth of responsibility with the new team orientation." Rosemary said, "I am working harder than I ever have, but I enjoy the greater range of our new roles."

From these new work patterns, greater team interdependency emerged. Results followed: first, an increase in product innovations; later, an increase in customer satisfaction. The group had successfully begun the job of transforming their work together as a team.

Through stories of claiming, individuals take ownership of their team roles. Claiming stories create affinity between the individual and the group. Celebrating

In the mid 1980's I watched a video teleconference on coaching as a management skill. Participants included a half-dozen professional athletes, paired with the coaches with whom they had worked. UCLA's Johnny Wooden was matched with Kareem Abdul Jabbar and Bill Russell of the Boston Celtics was paired with his coach, Red Auerbach, among other pairs of coaches and players.

I was taken by the infectious level of recognition that was communicated between players and players, coaches and coaches, and coaches and players. Johnny Wooden acknowledged Red Auerbach for a play Auerbach initiated in the 1950's that changed the way he thought about basketball; Kareem acknowledged Bill Russell for his great moves as a center. Auerbach recognized Bill's commitment to the game, etc., etc.

One could argue that with great players and great coaches it is easy to find much to acknowledge. But which came first? The acknowledgment, or the greatness? Or are they mutually reinforcing?

Stories of celebrating create an experience of aliveness and vibrancy in teams. Celebration stories make apparent the spirit operating in a team, through energy, awe, and wonder about the team and what the team is accomplishing.

Letting Go

Recently I watched two teams debrief after a long, arduous project. They seemed lifeless and uninterested as they talked about what worked. There was a tone of dispiritedness, of resignation.

Then one team member spoke of the resentment prompted by long hours and unclear expectations. Another expressed irritation that at key points the team failed to lay claim to its work. A third member said the team's mutual support had broken down at times, once, in a way that was very embarrassing to her. Others joined in. It was like hearing fragmented and un spoken sentences complete themselves. As the unspoken was spoken, the room became more alive.

Letting go is accepting and acting upon the permission to tell the truth. Stories of Letting Go affirm that feedback is not only acceptable, it is safe and welcomed. Letting go stories drop the facade and provide a safe space for what needs to be said, no matter how difficult.

The stories that teams tell arouse curiosity, evoke emotions, and clarify aspirations. The stories teams tell trace rites of passage, trials, initiation, wonder, and the underlying meaning of the team's work together. The stories of the team and organization create order and wholeness out or randomness and enhance movement through the phases of the spiral generating trust and respect among team members.

VALUES UNDERLYING TEAM SPIRIT: CONSONANCES AND DISSONANCES

Using music as a metaphor for building team spirit provides a way to understand group values and dynamics. Each phase of the Team spirit Spiral has its own unique harmonics combining both consonant factors and dissonant factors. Just as in great music, teams are animated and enlivened by drawing on both consonances and dissonances.

Most teams welcome the consonant-for example, the sense of security that comes from working with long-term associates, agreement about a key role to be performed, or the alignment of team energies in accomplishing shared vision and goals.

Most teams avoid the dissonant-dissonant voices say: "We're not doing this right." "That doesn't work for me." "I'm not happy with this." "I am disappointed that we did not produce the result we anticipated."

In music, dissonance leads to resolution. In teams, embracing the dissonance can move the team to a position of strength, ultimately leading to a more spirited team and to heightened service.

The dynamic of team growth can be seen as a continual ebb and flow, as the team embraces and builds upon consonances while acknowledging and working through dissonances at each phase of the Spiral.

Team Spirit Harmonics

CONSONANCES (a combination of musical tones that have resolved-that is they are in agreement) Service -contribution: generously and freely giving to another -aligned execution: fulfilling, in a unified way, customer and team needs -mutual support: providing reciprocal assistance Initiating -orientation: becoming familiarized and aware -belonging: feeling allied with and a part of the team -trust: feeling reliant and secure about team members Visioning -shared vision/values: agreeing on what is possible and its underlying worth and merit -compassion: experiencing empathy and concern for another Claiming -goal/role alignment: agreeing on the outcome and the means for achieving it -organization support: securing the necessary resources from the organization -competence: developing skills and awareness needed to perform team roles Celebrating -appreciation: feeling recognized and acknowledged -energy: experiencing vitality and aliveness -wonder: experiencing an unbounded sense of possibility Letting Go -disclosure: revealing previously suppressed attitudes and opinions -constructive feedback: providing forthright responses that encourage growth -completion: feeling a sense of freedom when everything has been said

DISSONANCES (a combination of unresolved musical tones) Service -depletion: feeling used up, unable to freely give to another -uncoordinated action: incompletely fulfilling customer and team needs -unsupportiveness: acting without concern for others Initiating -disorientation: experiencing disequilibrium and fear -alienation: feeling like a misfit, not a part of the team -mistrust: feeling insecure and cautious about team members Visioning -ambiguous vision/values: experiencing uncertainty about what is possible-let alone its underlying worth and merit -callousness: being insensitive and harsh -aridness: feeling barren and empty, without a sense of purpose Claiming -nonalignment: disagreeing about the outcome and means for achieving it -nonsupport: being unable to secure the necessary resources from the organization -deficiency: not having the skills and awareness needed to perform team roles Celebrating -nonappreciation: not feeling recognized and acknowledged -burnout: feeling used up and ineffective in the team -disenchantment: feeling repelled and put out Letting Go -withheld communication: concealing attitudes and opinions from others -criticism: offering unsupportive critical feedback -incompletion: feeling regretful about withholding communications

EXPLORING THE PHASES OF THE TEAM SPIRIT SPIRAL

Team Spirit weaves the common threads running through organizational, scientific, and spiritual thought into a dynamic model for creating "high-performance" teams. At the core of the Team spirit Spiral is Service, acknowledging that the team exists to serve its customers. The Team Spirit model is built on the premise that a high-performance team has at its heart a spirit that is felt, shared and honored by al team members. This spirit manifests itself in the sense of pride experienced by the team as it discovers its power to provide extraordinary service.

In order to achieve high performance, the team needs to function as a harmonious unit. Such harmony is a result recognizing, celebrating, and drawing energy from the concordant aspects of the team, such as the excitement of sharing a vision or the feeling of comfort and security derived from working with long-time friends or coworkers. Harmony is refined by recognizing, confronting, and transforming discordant aspects of the team, such as feelings of powerlessness in the face of a seemingly impossible dilemma or a breakdown in group trust or communication.

The interplay of harmonics (i.e., consonances and dissonances in the team) at each phase of Team Spirit Spiral is briefly explained in the following paragraphs. The existence of dissonance in a phase is an indication that the facilitator should place emphasis on assisting the team's work on that phase. For example, a team struggling with the Initiating or new formation phase will benefit greatly from the activities in Chapter 3.

Service
Service is at the core of the Team Spirit Spiral. Delighting customers and contributing to others is essential to high-performing teams. Extraordinary Service arises out of the successful work the team has done in the Initiating, Visioning, and claiming phases of the Spiral. Service includes making products or services that enrich the worlds of other individuals, internal departments, or organizations. Consonant factors associated with Service include committed action that leads to significant contribution to customers, and joy, passion, and delight in ministering to those served by the team. Successful Service reflects a splendid realization of visions and an experience of mutual support and contribution by team members and customers.

Dissonant signs that indicate the need for team development include feelings of lack of support, depletion of energy among team members, or uncoordinated action in the delivery of Service.

Initiating
Individuals called together in teams often feel shaken during team formation. This dissonant quality is to be expected. It is healthy. It can sensitize team members to individual needs and the needs of the team as a whole. These needs include understanding the purpose of the team and the contribution each team member might make to the realization of that purpose.

When a team successfully engages in Initiating work, members of the team achieve the consonant qualities of belonging, positive orientation, and mutual trust. These feelings permeate the team, empowering it to define and accomplish its work effectively.

Signs of dissonance in the form of mistrust, fear, or disorientation among team members indicate a need for the team to work through some of the learning activities on Initiating.

Visioning
Visioning and Initiating are highly interdependent phases of the Spiral, and for some teams Visioning may precede the work of Initiating. The solid base of relationship that Initiating provides allows a powerful basis for Visioning, but the reverse is also true. Visioning engages the team in consideration of the essence of its work. The team distinguishes current reality from the ideal reality (i.e., vision) it holds for the future. Visioning results in consonance as the team clarifies its purpose, core values, and beliefs, and develops a most extraordinary future sense of how customers might be served. As a result of successful Visioning the team is excited about the possibilities of their work together.

When vision and values are unclear, dissonance occurs within teams. Such dissonant factors as callousness regarding those the team serves and ambiguous vision or values suggest the need to revisit the Visioning phase. The dissonant experience of emptiness or aridness within the team conveys that the team is not "present" to its possibility to serve generously.

Claiming
The development of team relationships and the team vision experienced in the first two phases of the Spiral lead to Claiming. Claiming involves the team's taking ownership of goals and roles for its work together, based upon shared vision and values.

Consonant factors associated with Claiming include: alignment of team members with the goals of the team, commitment to the growth and development of team members, ownership of team roles, and the team's capacity to secure needed organizational support.

When the team's work in Claiming is dissonant, typical signs include invalidation of the team or the work it undertakes, feelings of inadequacy, and lack of agreement regarding goals or roles.

Celebrating
Successful Service Results in Celebrating. The spirit of the team is ignited and nurtured in Celebrating. This phase of the Spiral is life giving and nurtures the further work of the team. It provides a sense of unity and spirit.

Consonant factors operating within the Celebrating phase include feelings of being appreciated and acknowledged within the team and a sense of unbounded energy, the capacity to "move mountains." Celebrating is characterized by a sense of wonder that pervades the team, generating a desire to "do it again."

When team members feel unappreciated, disenchanted, or burned out, it is important that teams recognize the resulting "dis-ease" and respond to the dissonance, creating the missing sense of appreciation and spirit within the team. Such transformations may arise through work in the final phase of the Spiral, Letting Go.

Letting Go
The consonant factors characteristic of a successful Letting Go phase are forth-rightness, disclosure, and constructive feedback, freely given and received. These characteristics are not only acceptable in the team, but safely practiced and welcomed.

When the team experiences dissonance in the form of withheld communication or tension and disintegration in relationships, it is a signal to the team to find ways to begin Letting go. Letting Go allows for new beginnings, for initiation, for a future not based in the past.

Breakdowns occur in the best teams. An array of dissonances can develop within the team. Team members experience disappointment when the intended service is not provided. Team members can become frustrated with the performance of other team members or others in the organization. Conflict can occur as a result of committed team members having honest differences of opinion about how best to serve the customer. In short, there is a dark side even in quite successful teams. Although our experience of it may be agitation, anxiety, sadness, or anger, this dark side offers creative opportunities.

If we value embracing and confronting the problems in a constructive way, rather than withholding feelings or repressing difference, Letting Go can be powerfully transforming. The key is to provide the space, time, safety, and opportunity for "truth telling" within the team.

Significant forces work against spirit in teams. Years of conditioning elevate and enshrine individualism. Organizations exalt form and structure, relegating the unseen, the spirit of the team, to unconsciousness. Organizations ignore or respond ineptly to the needs of the spirit. Intolerant of problems and ambiguity, organizations rely on aggressive individuals or on form and structure to find their healing and purpose. It isn't there.

We believe that embracing team spirit, in all of its various manifestations-both its light and its shadow-is critical to significant team and organization renewal.

The Team Spirit Spiral provides guidance for developing inspired, high-performing individuals, as well as teams and organizations. The phases of the Team Spirit spiral identify the paths that individuals can take to enhance consonances and identify and work through personal dissonances (see Chapter 3, Personal Spiral). As teams work through the activities in this book, they will become more sensitive to the consonances and dissonances in their own lives as well as the team's life.