Improving Team Performance Through Improved Communication

We all know that effective communication improves relationships among individuals, teams and organizations. But we generally attribute that to a common interpretation of the content of the discussion through feedback, clarification and other communication best practices.

A 2012 study by MIT’s Human Dynamics Laboratory, however, found that the “key to high performance lay not in the content of a team’s discussions, but in the manner in which it [the team] was communicating.” They discovered that patterns of communication – how and when teams communicate – are the most important predictor of a team’s success.

So how do you improve the way your team communicates?

Every team comprises individuals with diverse personality traits that influence how they communicate with each other and as a group. When individuals become aware of their own communication style and learn how that style may impact or be interpreted by others – intra-team communication improves. Team members learn to use alternative ways to get their message across so that it will be better received by others, which ultimately improves team relationships and improves team performance.

Here’s an example of how improving the way team members communicated resulted in higher performance.

A team of deeply experienced professionals at a large airline company needed to improve their ability to influence other key departments and general managers across the airline. Although the team was often required to create virtual teams to work on specific business issues, they didn’t always have official control over those resources. Their ability to influence in a virtual world was essential.

During a 6-month program which included workshops, coaching sessions and an online component, the team worked to better understand themselves and others through use of the Lumina Spark portrait. The team learned techniques that enabled them to quickly create an open team environment where authentic and honest communication was the norm.  They each became aware of any blind spots they had that could undermine the team’s ability to function as a high performing team.  Through Lumina’s simple color framework, team members were able to quickly “speed read” others and adapt their communication accordingly, resulting in greater influence and higher performance. The Lumina “language of color” has now become a key resource for establishing virtual teams and an essential part of the organizational culture.

If you’d like to learn more about how Lumina can help your organization, please contact me for your local Lumina Learning Affiliate.  You can reach me at RebeccaBales@luminalearning.com.

Lead on,

Rebecca