Detrimental teams are the norm in business everywhere. The practices of most teams contradict basic human nature by denying individual team members’ emotional needs and disregarding the fundamental wiring of their brains, according to a new book. Our expert debunks a few huge myths in an article originally published on HR.BLR.com®.
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“There’s a better way,” says Jackie Barretta, author of the book Primal Teams: Harnessing the Power of Emotions to Fuel Extraordinary Performance (American Management Association (AMACOM), 2015). “It is better to build teams that nurture the human spirit and thereby spark the sharpness and creativity that lead to unprecedented levels of performance.”
Barretta is the founder of Nura Group and has a 25-year history as a successful Fortune 500 C-level executive and Big Four consultant in the information technology industry. She has led large organizations with hundreds of employees through challenging times and major transformations.
She explains ways these primal teams literally defy the myths of modern business leadership.
Myth 1—Always Be Positive
Business environments are often rife with stress and anxiety. Most team members think they need to look cool, calm, and collected, even in the most trying situations. However, facial expressions, body language, and other physiological signals reveal negative emotions, no matter how hard a teammate tries to hide them. When others see those signals insufficiently masked by feigned positivity, they lose a bit of trust in the authenticity of their teammate.
Reality: Expressing negative emotion is beneficial.
People can learn to express negative emotion in ways that help them process and work through the negativity. This keeps them engaged and can spark the entire team from lifelessness to alertness. It also helps engender trust on the team.
Action: Let people express their true emotions. Channel this energy in ways that help rather than hinder the team.
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Myth 2—Relationships Should Be Kept Professional
Most teams believe it’s best to keep relationships at a surface level, where members are cordial and collegial, yet they can make tough business decisions without being hindered by personal attachments.
Reality: People have a primal need to personally bond with each other.
When teammates relate to each other with genuine feelings of care and emotional concern, they satisfy a basic human need. In fact, when people interact regularly with others with whom they don’t feel a strong sense of belonging, they often end up with potent and even “toxic” negative feelings, including fear, anxiety, and depression.
Action: Help people in teams build emotional bonds. They can personally relate to each other while learning to avoid the pitfalls of close bonds in a rough and tough business environment.
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Myth 3—Leaders Should Set the Rules
Many leaders believe they need to establish extensive rules for their teams, to ensure that everyone works hard, takes care of customers, and is a good team player.
Reality: When people are given the latitude to do the right things they act more trustworthy.
When people feel trusted, the chemical oxytocin surges in their brains. They naturally become more confident, more cooperative, more generous, and more conscientious. Performance, collaboration, creativity, and productivity all increase.
Action: Empower your people. Resist the urge to impose restrictive rules. Trust your team to do the right thing.
In tomorrow’s Advisor, we’ll share three more of Barretta’s leadership myths.