Great Cultures are Like a Fire

Every coach searches for ways to build that special chemistry that all great teams have. In The Culture Playbook, Daniel Coyle calls the warm sense of cohesion, the shared willingness to speak up, and the team thinking and feeling as one entity, psychological safety - being able to be yourself without fear of negative consequences of self-image, status, or career.

Team chemistry, or psychological safety, is built through the exchange of belonging cues - small, meaningful, and impactful, behaviors that say: "You belong here, you are valued here, you are safe here, we share a future together, we care about you, you have a voice, and you matter."

Our brains are wired to search for both danger and safety. When we join a group, we scan for potential dangers. This keeps us from locking in and performing at our best. If we have to waste our time and energy trying to belong, we won't have enough left to do our job at a high level.

Amy Edmondson of Harvard says, "When people believe they can speak up at work, the learning, innovation, and performance of their organizations is greater."

The best coaches and leaders flood their teams with belonging cues, creating an environment where people aren't afraid to mess up, and where everybody is encouraged to play free and be the best they can be.

They do that by having a zero-tolerance policy for jerks, sharing vulnerability, and by establishing a shared purpose for the group. This starts on day-1 and continues as long as the group is together.

A simple way to do this is by embracing smart Icebreakers. As Coyle writes, Icebreakers can be supremely corny and cringe-worthy, but understand and embrace that the cringe is the point. The cringe is what creates the mutual vulnerability that brings people together.

Our school district uses a process called Circles to bring people together. At least once a month, we shut down learning in the class and ask Icebreaker type questions. This is an opportunity for the teacher to get to know more about their students, their students to get to know more about their teacher, and for everyone to get to know more about each other.

As a coach, I try to Circle with my team at least once a week, or once every other week. We might ask something simple like, "What is one show you are watching?" or, "What is your favorite color." We might say, "Give me a thumbs-up, down, or to the side to describe how we are playing." Anytime someone new comes, we Circle Up and have everyone tell their name and what school they go to.

This process can be corny and cringe-worthy at first, but over time, we have seen learning, achievement, and behavior improve through our Circle process, and I have seen my teams growing closer together.

My number 1 goal for creating team chemistry, psychological safety, and a great culture through Circles is to create an environment where everybody feels safe and comfortable enough to be honest and real. When we get everyone in our Circle to share their truth without passing and without holding back, we know that we are on the right path. For some teams, this happens quicker than others, but if you Circle with fidelity, if you make sure that every interaction is positive, and if you immediately address negative interactions appropriately, you can get there.

Creating and sustaining a great culture and psychological safety is like starting and maintaining a fire. It takes some work, in the beginning, to get it going, and it requires constant work and maintenance to keep it going. If you don't tend to it and take care of it, the fire goes out. But like a fire, if the relationship does die down, you can always put the work in to fix and repair it and bring it back to life.