What is the Most Overlooked Dimension of Teamwork?
The most overlooked dimension of teamwork is team culture rooted in emotional intelligence, psychological safety, and trust. While individual contributions are essential, itโs the collective emotional unity that turns talented groups into extraordinary, championship-winning teams.
As we explored in Article 1: "What is the Foundation for Good Teamwork?" personal ownership set the foundation. Now we turn to the glue holding it all together: unified team culture.
A strong, unified culture is the secret ingredient behind the consistent success of championship teams.
Consider the legendary All Blacks, New Zealandโs national rugby team.
Case Study: The all-black new zealand rugby team
The All Blacks, New Zealand's iconic rugby team, are celebrated not only for their sporting dominance but also for their transformative team culture. Following disappointing performances in the early 2000s, including a poor showing at the 2007 Rugby World Cup, the team embarked on a cultural reset.
Core values like humility, accountability, and legacy became the foundation of their transformation, encapsulated in mantras such as "leave the jersey in a better place."
This shift was spearheaded by leaders who emphasised personal growth and collective responsibility, fostering a team-first mentality. Players were empowered to take ownership, creating a culture of leadership at every level. Challenges, including breaking old habits and managing egos, were met with resilience and a focus on continuous improvement.
The All Blacksโ journey highlights key lessons: the importance of humility and legacy, the power of prioritising team over individual, and the role of adaptability in sustaining success. Their transformation not only restored their legacy but also set a benchmark for team culture across the world.
This cultural transformation led to one of the most dominant eras in sports historyโwith the All Blacks winning back-to-back World Cups in 2011 and 2015 and maintaining a world-best win ratio.
In in-person as well as geographically dispersed teams, the same principle applies: your culture shapes your results.
โCulture eats strategy for breakfast.โ โ Peter Drucker
Why Unified Culture Drives Team Success
A thriving team culture combines emotional intelligence (EQ), trust, empathy, psychological safety, and clear communication. Emotional intelligenceโthe ability to understand and manage one's own emotions and recognise and influence others' emotionsโis often the hidden factor behind peak performance.
At Netflix, for example, employees embody transparency and responsibility, creating trust and fueling innovation.
Empathy & Connection: Lessons from the U.S. Womenโs Soccer Team
The 2019 U.S. Womenโs Soccer Team intentionally fostered a culture of inclusion and mutual respect. Under head coach Jill Ellis, each player felt valued, and collaboration was embedded into their strategic decisions, leading to their celebrated World Cup victory.
Their legacy is a testament to empathyโs power in teamwork.
According to DDI research, as highlighted in their Leadership 480 Podcast, empathy is the number-one leadership skill driving effectiveness and engagement.
For the claim about teams with strong emotional connections outperforming others, Gallup's research on employee engagement and team performance provides relevant insights.
For example, Gallup has found that highly engaged teams show 21% greater profitability, emphasising the impact of emotional connections on performance.
Psychological Safety: Google's Secret Ingredient
Googleโs Project Aristotle research identified psychological safetyโthe environment where team members freely speak, risk mistakes, and innovateโas the critical differentiator between average and top-performing teams.
When team members feel psychologically safe, they engage fully, contributing creative ideas without fear of rejection or ridicule.
โGreat things in business are never done by one person; they're done by a team of people.โ โ Steve Jobs
Corporate Success Story: Unilever's Cultural Transformation
Unilever, with operations across Europe and Africa, prioritised emotional intelligence and psychological safety during a major cultural shift.
Leaders intentionally built a more inclusive and open communication culture, significantly reducing hierarchical barriers. Employees were encouraged to speak openly, experiment, and innovate without fear.
This transformation increased employee engagement, productivity, and positioned Unilever as a global leader in sustainable business practices.
Applying Championship Culture in Corporate Teams
Building your teamโs unified culture involves actionable, intentional steps:
- Establish Psychological Safety: Encourage open dialogue without judgement; celebrate attempts, not just successes.
- Practice Empathy Daily: Regularly check-in with your team personally and professionally, showing genuine care beyond transactional interactions.
- Prioritise Clear Communication: Foster transparency around team goals and decisions, ensuring everyoneโs voice is heard.
- Celebrate Collective Wins: Recognise group achievements, reinforcing a shared identity and team-first mentality.
- Address Conflicts Constructively: Approach conflicts as growth opportunities, focusing on resolution rather than blame.
Real-World Example: Woodside Energy's Transformation
Woodside Energyโs Cultural Shift: Woodside Energy, a leader in Australiaโs oil and gas industry, faced increasing pressure to improve operational efficiency, innovate faster, and adapt to a rapidly changing energy landscape.
Amid this shift, the organisation underwent a significant digital transformationโbut leadership knew that technology alone wouldnโt solve the challenge.
What had to change was the culture: how people worked, collaborated, and solved problems.
Enter the IBM Garage methodology.
This approach brought together cross-functional teams from across the businessโengineers, developers, HR, legal, and operationsโinto collaborative sprint-based workshops.
Rather than relying on top-down instructions, team members were empowered to explore, test, and prototype solutions together.
Leaders shifted from directive to facilitative styles, focusing on trust, inclusion, and fast learning.
One breakthrough included the redesign of the HR onboarding experience, which reduced setup time from days to hours and significantly improved the employee experience.
The result? A marked increase in employee engagement, higher cross-functional collaboration, and faster delivery of digital solutions that mattered. Perhaps more importantly, the company learned that when culture supports innovation, the whole organisation moves fasterโwith clarity, confidence, and energy.
This shift highlighted the importance of intentional culture-building to drive business success.
Reflective Questions:
- How consistently do your actions reflect your teamโs stated values?
- In what ways can you strengthen empathy and psychological safety within your team?
- What steps can you take today to foster a more emotionally unified team culture?
Quick Tips to Try:
- Daily Culture Check: Reflect daily on your interactions and how they align with your team's values.
- Encourage Inclusion: Explicitly invite quieter team members to share during discussions.
- Set Innovation Time: Schedule regular innovation sessions outside routine tasks.
NEXT STEPS
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Conclusion
Creating a unified, high-performance culture requires intentional leadership committed to emotional intelligence, psychological safety, and empathy. Like championship teams, when every team member actively cultivates this culture, extraordinary achievements become attainable.
Want to revisit how your leadership fits into this?
Go back to Article 1: What is the Foundation for Good Teamwork: 3 Essential Qualities
Final Thought:
Remember, the culture you create today shapes the team you become tomorrow. Embrace your role in building an environment where everyone can perform at their best and succeed together.
Until next time,
Be brilliant, be dangerous,
Kerry Anne
high performance teams series: achieving the impossible
Faq's: what is the most overlooked dimension of teamwork?
Emotional intelligence allows team members to understand, communicate, and connect more deeply, reducing misunderstandings and increasing collaboration.
Empathy helps team members feel valued and understood, boosting morale and engagement, leading directly to improved team cohesion and performance.
Absolutely. Research repeatedly shows unified, emotionally intelligent teams have higher productivity, innovation, and retention rates.
Conflicts should be addressed openly and respectfully, focusing on resolving the underlying issue constructively, emphasising mutual understanding and learning.
Leaders can actively model empathy by engaging team members in meaningful conversations about their well-being, challenges, and successes, showing genuine interest beyond tasks.
Optimal team size encourages deeper emotional connections and effective communication. Smaller, tight-knit teams typically foster stronger unity, while overly large teams may struggle with maintaining cohesion.
Leaders often underestimate the importance of emotional factors, neglect regular communication, or fail to consistently model the values they advocate, leading to misalignment and disengagement.
While cultural transformation takes time, immediate changes can begin with intentional actions such as transparent communication, frequent team engagement activities, and leadership demonstrating emotional intelligence daily.
Sources I referenced in the Article and Extra Reading:
- All Blacks: The cultural principles of the All Blacks, including their mantra "leave the jersey in a better place," are discussed in Lessons In Culture From The All Blacks and Win Like the All-Blacks โ How to Turn Around Team Culture. Their cultural reset and dominance in sports history are highlighted in A Core Value of Pride in Winning: The All Blacksโ Team Culture and Legacy.
- 2019 U.S. Womenโs Soccer Team: The team's culture of inclusion and mutual respect under Jill Ellis is explored in Meet the USA's 2019 FIFA Womenโs World Cup Team and 3 Leadership Lessons from the Women's World Cup 2019 Champions.
- DDIโs research: https://www.inspiring-workplaces.com/content/5-reasons-empathy-is-becoming-the-number-one-leadership-skill
- Gallupโs studies: https://www.gallup.com/topic/employee-engagement.aspx and https://www.forbes.com/sites/nazbeheshti/2019/01/16/10-timely-statistics-about-the-connection-between-employee-engagement-and-wellness/
- Googleโs Project Aristotle: The research identifying psychological safety as a key factor for team success is detailed in Google's Project Aristotle - Psych Safety and Google Project Aristotle - 5 Keys to Team Success.
- Unilever: The company's cultural shift prioritising emotional intelligence and psychological safety is discussed in Unilever and the future of work and Nine ways we're making Unilever a more gender-balanced business.
- Woodside Energy: Their adoption of IBM's Garage methodology and its impact on innovation and engagement is covered in Woodside Energy | IBM and MAINTENANCE PLANNING INNOVATION.
- Netflix: The company's culture emphasising transparency, responsibility, and innovation is outlined in Netflix Culture โ The Best Work of Our Lives and Sharing Our Latest Culture Memo.
