I spent the summers between college years working on a bridge construction crew. We built spans that connected land over rivers, roads and railroad tracks. We enabled travel between locations previously separated by chasms. Each job was its own engineering masterpiece. The destination was always clear, but the path always required negotiation and dialogue. Many lessons learned in those years have been resurrected in recent months.

It’s hard to break free of your own perspective. Teammates see the same event and experience different interpretations. Each believes his or her view is the truth. Of course, each truth is correct. There are many truths. The challenge is to get behind the eyes of your teammates and understand their truths. Here’s how.

When the societal mindset is shaken by a crisis, everyone is forced to look inside and answer tough questions. Often, we look to others on our teams for guidance and role modeling. Team leaders are watched carefully as their voices and platforms can have greater reach and impact. In the delicate ecosystem of teams, everything we say and do affects everyone in our circle. What is your voice? What is your platform?

What actually constitutes a team? Two or more people working on a common goal? Not if they are working in silos. It’s entirely possible for coworkers to wear the same uniform, share the same space and toil away at the same objective yet still not function as a team. They aren’t a team until their successes and failures are tied together. They have to put their lives in each other’s hands.

It’s hardest to see the next stage of the cycle when we’re in the middle of some struggle. Energy is fully devoted to the tasks at hand. Despite our desire to be strategic, we’re forced to be operational. Planning is difficult when the future is unknown. Head down, eyes up is the mantra. Keep moving forward regardless of what life throws at us. So, how would today’s choices be different if we knew what tomorrow would bring? Predict the future.

Human Resources departments call it a workforce reduction. Describing the termination of a job as a lay off softens the blow. Getting furloughed suggests there might be a chance to return. Whatever the reason and however it is named, subtracting teammates alters the ecosystem. Because change is a form of loss, times like these move painfully through the classic stages of grief.

Selecting the gallery view setting on Zoom has been the closest thing we’ve had to experiencing teamwork lately. Among countless other consequences, the global pandemic has challenged the notion that collaboration requires sharing the same space. Sharing screens is the new normal. Abrupt and significant change is often the spark for innovation. Our current circumstances have given way to new rules for remote interaction.

Times of crisis separate those who need care from those who provide care. Beyond the obvious healthcare application, anyone delivering professional services is thrust into the role of managing pain of some variety. Teachers, counselors, ministers, attorneys, accountants, advisors and consultants make a living by helping navigate uncharted waters. Each of them carries the weight of the impact of the crisis in their own lives but must stay sufficiently focused to attend to client priorities. So, who takes care of the caregivers?

Virtually every team we measure scores high on the statement, “I have at least one trusted colleague on the team.” Far fewer clients, however, reflect full-group trust in the survey questions designed to evaluate the psychological safety of the entire team. Almost everyone has a trusted teammate as one-to-one interactions are easier to navigate than group dynamics. Without full-team trust, the organization’s energy is misallocated to internal politics. Consider these steps to building or rebuilding a sustainable foundation of trust in the workplace.

The aging Baby Boomer generation is gradually giving way to eager GenXers. The face of leadership has fewer wrinkles despite the weight of responsibility that will someday cause them. Professional service firms are great examples of this transition as attorneys, accountants, engineers and financial planners design their careers with specific retirement dates in mind. Succession planning anticipates these departures and develops new talent accordingly. As long at the outgoing leader is graceful and the incoming replacement is respectful, everything runs smoothly. What happens when grace and respect are subtracted from the recipe?

Diversity is a strength when harnessed for connection, innovation and change. While holding tightly to your own perspective and protecting the status quo brings comfort, growth gets stymied. What would happen to your team if respectful conflict was invited? What if there was more than one right answer? How can we bridge diverse perspectives in our professional interactions? Consider this model.

A decade ago, Seth Godin, inspired by the Team Clock methodology, said, “…think hard – really hard – about what it means to join or lead a group of people.” He was referencing the powerful responsibility we each have to our teammates regardless of our position or role on the team. On most teams, sadly, only a small percentage assumes that level of ownership. The norm is under-engagement or disengagement. Imagine the characteristics of the ideal team. The Center for Team Excellence sees a rare few of these examples but they do, indeed, exist.