Shared Understanding: Finding the "why" behind the "what" - Atlassian Work Life (2023)

There was no "golden age" when running a team was easy. However, as more teams turn to remote or hybrid work models, creating and maintaining a sense of connection and common purpose among team members becomes increasingly challenging. Recent Atlassian research confirms that developing a "shared understanding" is critical to building a high-performing team that can handle uncertainty, communicate effectively, and achieve its goals. There is no such thing as the perfect team or the perfect leader, but we are here to help you get closer to that ideal.

In essence, shared understanding means that the knowledge of each team member is integrated in three key ways: what the team is trying to achieve, why the strategy it chooses has the best chance of success, and what is the role and the responsibilities of each person in the mutual relationship. journey. This understanding is built through clear communication, active listening, and regular feedback and matching sessions.

With the ever-changing job landscape and economy, successful companies and teams will be able to quickly change direction and adapt to new demands. To do this, teams need practical ways to get that "strategic buy-in" from their leaders: understanding the underlying "why" behind the work, not just going through the motions of the "what." When team members engage regularly, they can take control of results and stay connected to changes as work progresses.

Specifically, team members with a strong shared understanding are more likely to:

• Meeting stakeholder expectations
• Use resources efficiently
• develop new ideas
• Take pride in and find a sense of purpose in your work.
• Feel the surge of motivation, energy and enthusiasm.

In the fourth wave of the State of Teams study, conducted in January 2023 with thousands of knowledge workers, 52% of whom identify as team leaders, in Australia, Europe, the US and India, we found that around than 75% of people reported common understanding in their groups. Of course, another way of looking at it is that a quarter of the people had no common sense. and the results are not pretty.

Common understanding with management is key

The data seems to tell a story of teams disconnected from their leaders: Many respondents seem to know what they personally need to work on, but it's not clear why. 82.9% believe that the roles in their team are clear and well defined, but only 65.9% believe that their team adequately develops an overall strategy to guide team activities. Transparency among leaders was low, with only 60% believing that they could see how decisions were made.

Most alarmingly, only 55% of those surveyed felt that their team wanted timely feedback from stakeholders on how well they were achieving their goals. They operate in the dark, and as a result, these leaders fail to achieve the expected business results.

Atlassian, of course, is not immune to these challenges. An initial analysis of internal research shows a clear correlation between clarity of goals and alignment with productivity. Check here for more information on this project!

Laying the foundation for team unity

Healthy and communicative teams are based on an open, flexible and adaptable culture. Before tackling common sense tactics, make sure the foundation is in place.

Support a culture of mental safety

When psychological safety is ensured, team members feel safe to speak up and take risks. If this is not the case, it is a serious obstacle to common understanding. For example, if team members aren't clear about their goals or strategy, they should feel comfortable talking to get that clarity. Without mental security, your team risks working in quiet chaos.

Take time for everyone to feel connected and encourage team members to speak up and share their opinions. Make sure that mistakes are treated as an opportunity to learn and not as a cause for punishment.

Communicate openly and transparently

Encourage team members to share their views, ask questions, and provide feedback. Use tools like chat, video calls, or shared documents to stay connected and up to date. When decisions are made, make sure they are made openly so that the entire team can quickly familiarize themselves with the change in direction and thinking. This will help your team integrate key concepts more smoothly into their work and get the results they want more efficiently.

To help collaborative teams build a common understanding, we have developedpractical team building course. To get your team on the same page, follow a series of stepsPoradnik AtlassianGames: Free workshop resources to solve common team challenges, to create and reinforce the building blocks of shared understanding. All of these games come with templates so you can get started right away.

1. Define the purpose and goals of your team

Make sure everyone on the team understands what you're trying to achieve and why it's important. Heband posterit's a visual representation of your team's goal, metrics, and objectives that helps align everyone with a common understanding.

Next, you'll add logistics: introduce your team members, answer frequently asked questions, and share contact information. You now have a full page that you can share with your team's stakeholders and networks to clearly communicate what your team wants to achieve and how you plan to do it.

2. Be absolutely clear about who is responsible for what

RunPlay to be clear who is responsible for what in your team. There is nothing worse than tension among team members over responsibility for a decision or discovering that work has been duplicated. Doing everything by consensus is no better and can lead to decision fatigue and ineffective teams. Setting expectations as a team gives team members the autonomy to make decisions on the fly and direct their work toward achieving team goals.

3. Learn to work better together

People are unpredictable. We all have different values, work styles, and personal preferences. Add to that the complications of distributed work and things get really complicated. compositionEmployment contractsFor your team, define how the team works together and set standards for effective collaboration – enjoy clarity on which communication channels to use, when, and for what purpose. discuss your individual needs and preferences as a group. and organize your working model. Finally, as a leader, you'll set clear expectations about how to step forward when a critical decision must be made, and how you'll communicate those results and reasoning to team members so they can get back to focusing on doing their best work.

4. Check alignment

Hegroup networkThe game helps you identify the teams that are critical to the success of your goals. Take the time to understand the strength of your relationships, establish relationship owners, and begin to significantly improve your match. These steps will ensure that your team is connected to the right teams and that everyone is working toward the same goals in the most efficient way possible.

Also, don't forget to keep the side of the road clean. Schedule regular updates as a team to ensure everyone is on the same page and working towards the same goals. Use tools likeEquipment Status TrackingAssess team fit and identify areas for improvement.

5. Celebrate successes and learn from failures

It is good practice to recognize and celebrate your team's achievements and use failures as opportunities to learn and improve mutual understanding. run a monthlywith retroactive effectto collect this information with your team. Remember that change takes time and active management. We recommend making a deliberate plan for how you want to approach it.Change managementwith your team

Developing a shared understanding is critical to building an effective team in the rapidly changing, dynamic, and distributed work environment. By fostering open communication, alignment, and a sense of shared purpose, you'll build a team that's resilient, innovative, and motivated to achieve your goals.

And just as software development is an iterative process, our practices are constantly being reviewed and improved. We see our customers as part of our extended team, and we know that no company can handle these challenges alone. we actively invite youfeedback and collaborationto help us learn, iterate and improve together.