[mid-week slump bump] Share a moment when it occurred to you that you were on a healthy team

[Christine P. Dela Rosa]

Sometimes I don't realize how well-functioning a team is until I'm on another team or project that isn't going as well. I'd love to celebrate the times when we acknowledge a good team in-the-moment,

Please share your stories. Hoping to also use this collection as a reminder that we may have great teams and not stop to recognize it.

[Christine P. Dela Rosa]

I remember first getting on Slack several years ago. Upon making some team composition changes and better defining swimlanes for each teammate, we started messaging each other without tagging individuals.

I knew we were in our groove because people jumped in proactively, offering solutions or suggestions unprompted. 

I love when this happens because it makes me feel like the team cares about each other's success as opposed to only caring about the things they're respectively working on.

[Dave Liao]

I've noticed this too!

When I worked for a company that had an internal discussion board (not Confluence Questions, alas), it was cool seeing folks organically interact and make connections with one another. Better together, like peanut butter and jelly! 😂

[Dave Liao]

I've worked at several companies that offered services* to recognize teammates for exhibiting positive behaviors.

These services made you more aware of these behaviors and provided a structured way to call out and celebrate those behaviors. 

* the exact services itself aren't as important as their purpose

[Christine P. Dela Rosa]

I think celebrating your teammates only happens when your team works well together. So it makes total sense that "services" that positively affirm good teammate behavior would indicate a team that gels.

[Bill Sheboy]

For one of my prior teams, it occurred to me I was on a healthier team when people actively tried to join us. 

Others saw we collaborated and taught each another, had "spirited discussions" that led to better ideas, demonstrated accountability and vulnerability, enjoyed working together, and our leader focused on their primary task: creating an environment within which people could grow, deliver, play, trust, and feel proud of the value they delivered.

[Christine P. Dela Rosa]

Teamwork FOMO is real! I remember at one company I worked for how much there were coveted teams to be on. Even though the motivation to join those teams may have been the work focus, I don't think anyone wanted to join the unicorn teams who didn't also value the team culture and comaraderie. 

[Jenny Kim]

When people show up for "optional meetings," they show each other they value time spend and ideas shared together.

[Christine P. Dela Rosa]

That's so true! There's a twice-monthly meeting that happens among our Creative team members here at Atlassian. It's easy to not join because the attendance list is so big and each meeting spotlights a team member (to learn about their life or a how-to they want to share). If you don't go, it probably won't slow down your work, but most of the team does go because (I think) they support and care about each other.

[Fadoua]

Honestly guys, first time ever when team members are done with their stories they make themselves available to the ones whose stories are in jeopardy.

They share their knowledge, and always volunteer to help. It is amazing!

It is so easy for us to spot new members who don't follow the "rule" and only care about themselves.  I feel so lucky to work with people who have such confidence and are considerate.

[Christine P. Dela Rosa]

:vigorousnodding:

I've worked with people who treat information as a commodity, where they hoard info or try to stay at the top of the story leaderboard to make themselves more important. To share knowledge is to prioritize growth as a team over individual accolades. 

[Fadoua]

I also had the bad experience of dealing with those people who take credit for all your ideas and hard work 🥺

[Bill Sheboy]

I sometimes find hoarding of information is based in fear: job security, not being the smartest person in the room, lack of work, imposter syndrome, etc.  Leaders helping teams uncover and address that fear is one path toward healthier.

[Christine P. Dela Rosa]

Agree, @Bill Sheboy . Providing value doesn't have to translate into being the keeper of information, but for those who don't know what value they bring to the group, the keeper of X is sometimes their defense. 

If folks see this happening, it might be helpful to unpacking everyone's role to surface value for everyone AND to let everyone else know what each teammate brings to the table.

[Bill Sheboy]

At team liftoffs, I like exercises where people share: what can I help with, where do I need help, what am I curious about learning/helping with.

[Fabienne Gerhard]

When I joined my new company I found out that I actually never worked in a team before - just for a team as an individual *please play 'All by myself here' here*

Had my overwhelming team moment when one colleague called me during the day and asked how the project was going and 5 minutes later a 4 person Slack (with 2 people a didn't even know yet) call was going where all my problems were flying away (that kept me awake the night before) and one of them said: 'Hey no problem - that's super easy let's do it that way, we have done it like this before, you could not know that! We are your team to help you here!'

[Christine P. Dela Rosa]

I'm hearing two things here: 

1. Your team saw you and acknowledged how you were feeling.

2. They took it upon themselves to do something about it.

#wholesome

[Anita Kalmane]

I just finished Hackathon with people I have never worked with before. We were all new to each other, most of us new to the topic. It felt very refreshing and positive - everybody was happy to help, when we discussed challenges, people jumped to offer help each other even without being asked. That feels like a healthy team!

[Christine P. Dela Rosa]

I love to see it, unprompted engagement! Especially from teammates who are so new to each other!

[Suvradip Paul]

I think a well performing team requires recognitions and acknowledgements from every team member. A very small achievement should be recognised and not missed. I think as a team you can give your best when you don't have the fear of getting punished.

From memory, I can recall that I have worked with many teams and there were different issues like team members had the fear of getting punished and it actually had impacts on deliverables. Once, we started discussing and collectively tried to sort out those issues and tried to recognise and appreciate small contributions and achievements which actually boosted the confidence of entire team. 

[Christine P. Dela Rosa]

Appreciating each other (nods head profusely). It's the small stuff that regularly reinforces positive vibes between teammates. 

[Suvradip Paul]

Absolutely @Christine P. Dela Rosa . I think this was one of the points you and @Mahreen Khan were discussing in your last AMA. I went for vacation but I watched the recorded one and thoroughly enjoyed it. I would love to see similar sessions to unleash team potentials in future.

[Jenn Velázquez]

There are several moments when I can see I'm part of a healthy team, to list a few:

• People are not afraid to speak their minds and everyone's ideas are valued.

• People know when to say no or "I don't have time for this at the moment"

• Time and skills are valued and there's room for feedback and improvement 

These are a few that come to mind but I think the one that I value the most is being part of a team that speaks their mind when something doesn't feel right. For me, that's how teams can get the most out of each other and keep learning and growing instead of just agreeing on everything. 

[Christine P. Dela Rosa]

The price for admission for honest feedback is psychological safety. So if you're getting direct boundaries and feedback from your team, then it probably has at least one healthy dimension. Nice one, @Jenn Velázquez

[Jenn Velázquez]

Exactly! I would love to hear more from the other dimensions that construct a healthy team :) 

[Andy Gladstone]

OMG, right on the money. This one actually hits home from an Atlassian angle as well! 

Our Agile Teams use Jira as the source of truth for all development. We are currently working with a number of partners and consultants running may projects in parallel. Some experiences have been better, some worse. One of the recent project failures led an external team to have to reevaluate and reorganize over 700 user stories and epics! My VP of Development turned to me one afternoon and said 'now don't you appreciate how much work OUR team has put in to learning Agile and Jira to properly manage development and projects'? 

YES!

I appreciate our teams and people so much more now, and hope not to need the power of comparison to keep that recognition alive and kicking!

[Christine P. Dela Rosa]

It's so nice when other teams recognize the value of your team, because it's like a third party validating your team's importance.

[Gaurav]

That moment for me was when teammates have a healthy and spirited discussion on how to solve a problem, pouring in their experiences and trying to solve it in the best possible manner. On top of it, no one walks away with bruised egos but rather thinks they have gained something from the discussion.

[Christine P. Dela Rosa]

The level of psychological safety needed for that to happen is enormous, but if your team has that, that's such an incredible indicator of a healthy team.