What creates vibrant team culture?

I Iove the energy in the room, Matt says in our first Executive Presence group session. What is that? And how is ‘energy’ created, you might ask?

Energy can be stored and transformed, but what is the form of energy among people?

Energy among people is the interpersonal connections that create movement among people – either drawing them closer together or pushing them apart from one another. When the flow of feeling among people is positive, warm and those there accept one another, foibles and all, trust increases.

Negative flows of feeling are apparent when there are ‘emotional’ divisions among people. Cliques form and small groups gel, then move away from others. You could cut the atmosphere with a knife is a familiar description.

Distance among people is created by differences in values, philosophy, ways of communicating which have come to the fore, and common ground or shared experiences that are unknown, or are in the background of people’s relationships.

Similarly, in the moments where the collective breath is held, people are anxious. There is an elephant in the room, untamed. The anxiety is if the elephant is identified, and bought forward, will the elephant tamers in the group identify themselves and help the conversations to flow?

What leaders can do regardless of circumstances is shape the emotional environment. Leaders create team culture through their behaviour and the subsequent flow of feeling they bring to every interaction. Teams and peers tune into a leader’s flow of feeling. Skillful leaders generate interactions among team members by asking questions that everyone relates to.

Eva asked her group of leaders, ‘What was your most satisfying experience in leading remotely? What was your most frustrating experience, and what might we do as a team to alleviate that in the future?’ The quality of the discussion and interactions created a vibrant, ‘energetic’ team atmosphere as the group shared, experienced and decided two ways to dramatically improve how they worked together.

Be a leader who creates relationship connections. To learn more, contact Diana Jones.

© Diana Jones