The pandemic has forced musicians into two places. You either find a large room with adequate ventilation and mask/distance/bubble for a live jam session or you record your part in the safety of your home studio and blend your track with your fellow collaborators. Perhaps the same musical notes come forth but a far different creative buzz is produced. Both teams provide valuable lessons.

Team engagement is more challenging when interacting through a laptop screen or a smartphone. It’s easier than ever to get away with multitasking. When the group gets larger, distractions are more tempting. What keeps teammates tuned in? Beyond the drug of charisma when a compelling speaker has the floor, the most effective fuel for sustained engagement is connection. And connection is not about you or your needs. It’s about the other people on the team.

Some motivations come from external sources. Power and money are quick examples. They drive decisions and behaviors with enticing promises. Other motivations come from within. Attachment, for instance, provides intrinsic fuel to engage with others. Connection is the most reliable glue that holds teams together. If you are looking for a strategy to strengthen your team, start with an honest appraisal of the quality of each relationship. Here’s a quick 5-step method to enhance what is working and repair what’s not.

Teams always move through cycles. For reasons coming from both within and outside the team, sometimes they get stuck. Getting unstuck is much easier when you know what has disrupted the cycle and what will get things moving again. Usually, the culprit is one of four issues. A few questions in each category will shine a light on what to do next. Let’s explore.

The vast majority of coaching and training sessions at the Center for Team Excellence have taken place on a virtual platform over the past ten months. Our consultant team reports feeling depleted. We’re not alone. ‘Zoom fatigue’ reportedly affects more than 300 million daily users. The current research tells us that viewing a video screen doesn’t light up the same neurological pathways that face-to-face contact ignites. The cost-reward ratio simply doesn’t pay off since the effort to connect doesn’t generate the same dopamine buzz we get around the water cooler in the breakroom. How do we bring the buzz back?

Like human relationships, music composition is created by moving from dissonance to harmony. Composers know exactly how to take listeners on an emotional journey by establishing tension and then bringing the discomfort to resolution. Sometimes, a ‘wrong’ note is written into the piece with intention. Once the unexpected obstacle is introduced, it forces the listener to anticipate more harmonious interplay between the notes. Just like the problem solving that follows team conflict, it’s not about the wrong note. The way forward is about how we adapt to it.

Pre-Traumatic Stress. At one time or another, almost everyone suffers from this behavioral health condition. The better-known Post Traumatic Stress is the mind’s way of coping with the aftermath of trauma. The lesser-known P (Pre) is the psyche’s way of anticipating adversity. It’s the form of anxiety that tells you there’s danger ahead. It is the insidious wearing down of the immune system that comes from prolonged stress. Bracing for a loss can consume more energy than enduring one. If this feels familiar, read on.

A year ago, a typical work day included face-to-face conversations, small groups seated around conference tables, and larger gatherings in auditoriums. While the geography of interaction has become socially distant, the volume of exchange has grown for many working professionals. Many spend their days in back-to-back virtual meetings in front of a screen. Change of this magnitude is best managed when something tangible is staying the same. What hasn’t changed is the fundamental principle of teamwork. Let’s take a closer look at the infrastructure that anchors teams during periods of disruption.

Most of the choices we exercise throughout the day are inconsequential. Sometimes, there are days or decisions that have the power to pivot lives. Whether to have Wheaties or Cheerios for breakfast doesn’t alter the universe. Voting does.

We now have to challenge the assumption that team culture requires teammates to be in the same space. We have to question whether the Zoom screen barrier prevents true connection. We have to decide whether working from home means we have to wait until ‘things get back to normal’ before, well, things get back to normal. In the classic denial stage of grief, it somehow feels better to believe that conference rooms, auditoriums and shared workspaces will someday fill back up with teammates. When that miracle happens, we can get back to life as we knew it before the loss. Think again.

Teams often evolve like the arc of a crescendo in music. There’s a specific time in the team’s lifespan where the tension is supposed to build and, eventually, give way to resolution. In most songs, it happens near the end. In teams, the buildup is experienced as dissonance. When differences get worked out, it feels like harmony. The tension is the work and the resolution is the play.

When teams struggle, the camera zooms in on the problem and forces an up-close perspective. Like anything you place under a microscope, you sacrifice the big picture in favor of the tiny details. Teams under duress tend to look at the dynamics playing out between teammates, often ignoring the overall wellness of the larger group. We pay attention to the symptoms rather than the causes. Let’s widen the lens.