Leaders form healthy team norms

Leaders uncover the norms of their teams and of individuals.

The combination of individual values, personality, and the surrounding culture influences the team’s norms from their first day together. Some norms have a positive influence on the team, but not all. One of the leader’s roles is to read the team’s norms, to expose the negative norms that impact everyone and to strengthen the positive norms through repetition and awareness. Norms encompass the habits of the team, such as the “angel’s advocate” to protect new ideas (Goleman, pg. 181), but can also include shared emotions such as a perpetually negative team. A leader with emotional intelligence will notice the norms of the team and shape them into a driving force for the team’s good.

An entrepreneur who launches into their exciting and risky venture will benefit from the conscious development of positive and productive norms. When these are clear to him and made aware to the team, everyone helps to keep the norms going. This can have a powerful effect on the entire organization where everyone works to keep the positive norms going and to correct departures. kCura has done a fantastic job of this by codifying their core values and repeating them often. The result has been a set of norms which have withstood the many changes from a dozen people on the team to over seven hundred in the company. It has proven the importance of norms to a business and the truth that “when core values and norms are clear to people, a leader does not even need to be physically present for the team to run effectively (Goleman, pg. 181).”

Goleman notes that “very often it is an emotionally intelligent team member-not just the leader-who is able to…raise the self-awareness of the group (Goleman, pg. 179).” While Mark is the leader of our team, I notice norms which are hurting our team and give voice to them without being the de-facto leader. I can do this by speaking up when I notice the emotional state of the room has shifted, but even better if I can identify the underlying norms which influence our team towards positive and productive teamwork and those which undermine our collaboration.

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