Teams & Codes of Conduct

Context

Ever found yourself in a new working group, expected to collaborate with a bunch of other people to achieve a common goal, despite the existence of a whole range of factors that will clearly interfere not only with your group’s ability to work efficiently, but with its ability to deliver at all!?

From the beginning, you can see that differences in your team members’ foundational belief systems, values and goals are unlikely to be mean that you will all start as ‘naturally aligned’ with each other.

Then there are the differences in members’ attitudes to the work, and their motivations for being involved in the group in the first place.  For some, that motivation may be as mundane as ‘to pay my rent’. For others, it may border on the esoteric, seeing their engagement as a deep personal calling, as a professional mission. For some, it may be a mere resume-builder.  Each different attitude will engender a different level of energy and commitment to the task at hand, and level of contribution to the team.

It is almost certain that there will be a diversity, too, of skills, knowledge, experience and perspective across members, and of levels of mastery or maturity within each of those parameters.

Then there will likely be variations across some fundamental factors such as physical, emotional and mental health; fitness, stamina, strength and energy; the full gamut of intelligences ranging from emotion to logic; and of gender, age, ethnicity, mores, culture, language and height.

And yet, the assumption on the part of whomever formed the group, is likely to have been that assembling the group and assigning it mission, will somehow magically form its members into a highly efficient and effective team! 

That’s just plain unlikely to happen!  Except perhaps under threat of mutual destruction where the realization that, “Alone I will die, together we might survive!” kicks in and drives collaboration and some semblance of teamwork. And yet, even then, the result will/must be sub-optimal compared to what could have been achieved by applying even basic team-building processes to the situation.

So, short of threatening ‘assured mutual destruction’, how do you facilitate team formation?

Well, part of the answer to that question is going to lie in defining, for a start, what a team is! 

What Is a Team?

Starting with a group of people, become a team when they:

1. Accept and show their interdependence on each other
2. Differentiate themselves from non-members by symbols (eg, uniforms, tattoos), behaviour (rituals, practices), and language
3. Communicate regularly in ways that raise morale, coordinate resources, and refresh and refine alignment with goals and each other
4. Exhibit stability over time sufficient to establish trust, shared norms, mutual acceptance and respect
5. Share a compelling direction comprised of challenges, agreement on what success looks like, and consequences (of success or failure)
6. Have a degree of complementary diversity and interdependence (they need and cover each other) and mutual accountability.

For more detail on these factors, see Thoughts on Building Teams.

Team Building – Foundational Concepts

The following concepts form the foundations of all successful teams, and are listed in their descent from the esoteric to the mundane:

1. Belief Systems  (What Is)
2. Values (What matters; ‘The Rules about the Rules’)
3. Goals (What is desired)
4. Purpose (Why we do this)
5. Mission (What we do to realise our Why)
6. Strategic Goals (How Much by When)
7. Code of Conduct (Examples of our Beliefs, Values & Purpose at work)

For more detail on points 1-6, see Solving the People Puzzle.

Here, we take a deeper look at point 7.

Code of Conduct

A Code of Conduct is essentially a translation of broad foundational concepts into narrower practical scenarios for the guidance of those subject to the concepts.  Think of them as ‘teaching instances’ about the Values that underlie them.

As such, it is critical that all parties understand that the Code can only ever be a set of narrow interpretations of how the broader (underlying and overriding) Concepts apply to everything. Ideally the Code should, by providing concrete examples of their application,  serve to deepen understanding of those abstract Concepts.

In the context of any team, it is imperative that all members understand that the letter of the law shall always be subject to the spirit of it, that Values trump Codes, as in:

The seeing-eye dog accompanying the immaculately turned-out young man stood quietly by his side, waiting for the lift.  As the elevator arrived there was a ‘ding’ and a soft ‘whoosh’ as its doors opened and several others took an instinctive step forward – before balking – the elevator car was fully 200 mm below foyer level!

In the same instant, the dog had stepped sideways across her master’s path, flank touching his shins. Her master did not move, did not yet understand what the problem was, but did not question his companion’s ‘disobedience’  in that moment to his will to proceed. The dog understood her Code of Conduct well enough (‘always take my master where he indicates he wishes to go – safely’), but stepped in to disobey her Code and block his progress because she understood her overriding Value in that moment. 

All I Ever Needed to know, I Learned in Kindergarten

Some years back, Robert Fulghum wrote,

“Most of what I really need to know about how to live, and what to do, and how to be, I learned in kindergarten. Wisdom was not at the top of the graduate school mountain, but there in the sand box at nursery school.

“These are the things I learned. Share everything. Play fair. Don’t hit people. Put things back where you found them. Clean up your own mess. Don’t take things that aren’t yours. Say you are sorry when you hurt somebody. Wash your hands before you eat. Flush. Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you. Live a balanced life. Learn some and think some and draw some and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day.

“Take a nap every afternoon. When you go out in the world, watch for traffic, hold hands, and stick together. Be aware of wonder. Remember the little seed in the plastic cup? The roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody really knows how or why. We are like that.

“And then remember that book about Dick and Jane and the first word you learned, the biggest word of all: LOOK! Everything you need to know is there somewhere. The Golden Rule and love and basic sanitation, ecology, and politics and the sane living.

“Think of what a better world it would be if we all, the whole world, had cookies and milk about 3 o’clock every afternoon and then lay down with our blankets for a nap. Or we had a basic policy in our nation and other nations to always put things back where we found them and clean up our own messes. And it is still true, no matter how old you are, when you go out in the world, it is best to hold hands and stick together.“

In penning those words, Fulghum offered a Code of Conduct based on Values – of caring, sharing, respect and more – and laid it out in simple, practical examples.

Many years ago, when working with a Client (John) to develop a Code of Conduct with his team of young diesel fitters, we started with Robert Fulghum’s example.  Apparently its simple and ingenuous nature resonated with his team sufficiently that they came back to me with something that reflected their youth, their regional upbringing and their own uncomplicated view of things:

Our Code of Conduct

As professionals technicians:

• • We turn up at work 10 minutes before our start time to discuss & plan the day ahead
  • We dress in our uniforms every day to look neat & tidy
  • We respect each other’s property & when we borrow tools we return them clean & undamaged. This includes John’s & Company tools and vehicles
  • We clean up our own mess & help others to do the same to keep the place neat & tidy.
  • We are honesty & fair with each other & everyone that we associate with.
  • We own up to our mistakes, learn from them & help to fix them.
  • We don’t bring our pets to work.
  • We treat our customers with respect & offer them as much help as possible, and we strive always to be seen by them as true professionals.
  • We do excellent work & look after our customers’ equipment in the way that we would want others to look after our own.
  • We don’t operate equipment unless we are licensed.
  • We don’t mess around in working hours. We don’t throw or spit or yell or hit people like school kids. We are professionals & act as such.
  • If we hurt someone we say sorry & help them out – and we report any injuries so that everyone is protected.
  • We finish what we start.  If we can’t, we arrange for one of our workmates to complete the job, after telling them where we are up to.
  • We look out for our mates.
  • We enjoy what we do.
  • We stamp our work with Excellence!  (Because it rubs off on us!)

The Jobs We Do When It’s Quiet

• • Spray weeds in yard (we protect ourself, others and the environment when we do)
  • Service our vehicles including our forklift
  • Check our consumable supplies including oil levels
  • Service air tools
  • Wash workshop floor & pit
  • Make things that are needed in the workshop
  • Wash vehicles
  • Clean wash bay
  • Clean office windows
  • Mow lawns
  • Empty rubbish bins
  • Drain air compressor receiver, check oil, air cleaner
  • Replace leaking air fittings
  • Weed garden
  • Clean wheel trolleys, jacks, transmission jacks, oil trays etc
  • Lubricate gate hinges
  • Maintain lawn mower
  • Check oil levels in jacks

The effect on John’s team was immediate, and profound, with the change in behaviour driving a very obvious and on-going change in the way that they saw themselves as a team, and as ‘different’ from others working in their trade.

That self-perception then began to manifest in a host of ways that were not articulated in their Code, but were certainly extensions of it.

Bottom Line

If you’ve not yet developed your Code of Conduct, what might that be costing you?

And your team?