Team Dynamics Blueprint – Me and My Team

• By Ricardo VIP on Apr 2, 2024
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Last month, I had the opportunity to delve into the dynamics of team management through a couple of blog posts I authored, inspired by an unexpected gesture from Charlie, a former client of ours. (You can find those blogs here: Team Dynamics Blueprint – Me and my manager & Team Dynamics Blueprint – Me and the Management Team).

Charlie's journey into a managerial role at Max's organization spurred a significant shift in perspective, prompting Max to suggest participation in our Team Dynamics Blueprint.

In this blueprint, we utilized powerful assessments like the Perceptual Style Assessment and the Recognized Strengths Profile to offer tailored insights to Charlie and his team. Each member received personalized feedback, highlighting their unique perceptual styles and strengths, paving the way for a deeper understanding of group dynamics and communication.

One section of the blueprint, titled "Team Perceptual Style Interaction Highlights," zeroed in on the crucial relationships between Charlie and his direct reports. Initially, Charlie's team perceived him as lacking assertiveness and feared he wouldn't challenge Max's expectations, raising concerns about their group's performance. This perception stemmed from a stark contrast between Charlie's approach and his predecessor Sally's aggressive management style, which often unfairly blamed the team for falling short of unrealistic targets.

For Charlie, the blueprint served as a vital tool to recalibrate expectations and foster a fresh perspective on team dynamics. By uncovering each member's strengths and weaknesses, it enabled a more holistic understanding of their roles and contributions within the team.

Here's an excerpt about team dynamics based on Perceptual Style from Charlie’s blueprint:

Perceptual Style Interactions

Your team members' Perceptual Styles either match yours or are neighbors. This will make communication between you and them smooth, with few “stylistic” issues or conflicts.

The team members will most likely work easily with each other and build a sense of team camaraderie.

The one challenge you may experience is “competition,” when people of the same Perceptual Style compete with each other over how something needs to be done rather than what needs to be done.

You may have to watch out for your two Adjustment team members forming a competitive coalition against you in a same Perceptual Style conflict. The way to avoid this is to ensure that each team member is heard and given an opportunity to have their “how” recognized and complimented.

For the most part, you will relate quickly and easily with the team members who share your Adjustments Perceptual Style. You will understand each other without the need for detailed explanations. This connection with be an advantage when you are working with Stan and Rick, but it may also cause Maria, Carol, and John to occasionally feel left out.

Flow is a Neighbor Perceptual Style for you. The style challenge you will encounter with Maria and John is apparent similarities between you – such as the ability to see complexity – will initially feel like you are on the same page, but in reality there are subtle differences that will catch you off guard. You see the webs of complexity running between people, processes and information. Flow sees the complexities between people.

Methods is also a Neighbor Perceptual Style for you. The challenge of seeming similarities will also occur with Carol. With Methods, you share objectivity and the value of detailed analysis, but you will be caught off guard when the complexity you see is reduced to a more simplistic, step-by-step approach, which is what Carol sees.

Because your team members share your Perceptual Style or Neighbor styles, your approach to leadership will, for the most part, resonate with each person, and they be comfortable with the direction you set.

Their work will be thorough and complete and reflect their complex and detailed perspectives of the world. Because they match or are close to your style, you will generally find that their work meets your standards.

The challenge for you and your team is that by sharing only 3 of the 6 Perceptual Styles, your collective perspective will be narrow and leave out important aspects of situations that other Perceptual Styles would provide.

Specifically, both Adjustments and Flow see the world very complexly. This complex view makes it difficult for them to make quick decisions, shift directions rapidly, or produce work without considering all the implications and consequences.

Methods folks also avoid quick decisions as they require time for research and analysis to determine the best approach to achieve the quality of work they strive for.

This approach to decision-making can be a handicap in urgent, deadline-driven, and fast-moving environments. Situations and requirements can shift and demand responses faster than the members of your team are comfortable providing.

As the manager, you will have to counterbalance this tendency. You may be surprised and feel pressured when things drag out as your team members keep uncovering complexities as they search for more information and refine solutions to account for the complexities they see or the details they need.

You will need to lead your team members out of “analysis paralysis” by providing direction and decisions they can act on.

A key rule for effective management is that it’s your responsibility to relate to your employees; it’s not their responsibility to adjust to you. That being said, good working relationships result in both parties making accommodations for each other, but the bottom line is that the working relationship is your responsibility.

Understanding the dynamics of Perceptual Style Interactions within your team provides valuable insights into communication, collaboration, and potential challenges. Your team members, who share similar or neighboring perceptual styles, are likely to foster smooth communication and build strong camaraderie. However, it's essential to be mindful of potential pitfalls such as competition arising from shared styles, particularly in conflicts over how tasks should be approached.

As a leader, your ability to recognize and appreciate the strengths and differences among your team members is crucial. While alignment in styles may enhance ease of communication, it's important to acknowledge that it also limits the diversity of perspectives within the team. This narrow collective perspective could pose challenges in making quick decisions or adapting to fast-paced environments where agility is required.

I hope you enjoyed this excerpt from Charlie’s blueprint. The Team Dynamics Blueprint is an incredibly valuable leadership tool. The insights it provides help with enhanced team Dynamics, increased employee engagement, and better decision-making – all key success factors for any manager! 

Please share your thoughts on this topic in the comment section below.

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About Ricardo

Ricardo Vega is the Director of Operations at Vega Behavioral Consulting, Ltd. and a certified Perceptual Style Guide. He has over 40 years of experience in technology, product and project delivery, disaster recovery, and team coaching. He specializes in helping entrepreneurs and teams with Product Planning & Delivery, Team Building, and Change Management.  

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