Sometimes change happens faster than humans can cope. Despite our best intentions to adapt with maturity, the pace of change surpasses our stress threshold. Most teammates want to be their best selves during transitions. Unfortunately, rapid and unexpected transitions have a way of bringing out the child in some of us. What kind of teammate do you become when the pressure is intense?

Every team has a lifespan. The building blocks of development are constructed during the team’s infancy and tested throughout its childhood and adolescence. Once the team has matured into adulthood, performance is measured and remeasured as teammates manage obstacles, challenges, and changes through many cycles of growth. With each round, a new opportunity to thrive is welcomed. In what stage is your team today?

How much sickness is normal on a healthy team? The Gallup organization has been measuring employee engagement for decades and, until the past year, the numbers haven’t changed much. 30% of your teammates would run through a wall for the company. 50% come to work, go home, and collect their paychecks. 20% are some version of dysfunctional. Have you accepted these ratios as normal on your team?

When Seth Godin endorsed Team Clock: A Guide to Breakthrough Teams in 2009, he stated, “This book made me think hard – really hard – about what it means to join or lead a group of people.” Whether joining or leading, everyone has a role. Often, your role on the team is not defined by your job description. Usually, it’s determined by the way you choose to interact with your teammates during key moments in the team’s lifespan.

As complex as human behavior can be, the problems that get teams stuck are surprisingly simple. Because living things grow in cycles, any team is always at some stage of challenge. Peak performance is one of these stages, but it is usually not considered a problem. Often, performing well is the natural consequence of addressing issues in these other three areas.

Sometimes the influences of team behavior are in the here and now. Teammates are responding directly to each other and managing present day challenges. Other times, teammates behave in reaction to historical patterns and traumas. Colleagues become siblings. Bosses, managers, and supervisors become parents. This can get messy.

Performing in “the zone” is a team endeavor. Most people can nail just about any solo skill with focus, discipline, and repetition. The pressure is largely internal. When you add other humans to the mix, however, the ability to find the zone is more difficult. Sometimes the effort to perform becomes the failure to perform when under pressure.

The easiest way to understand the value of cadence is to think about the steady, calming effect of rhythm. Cadence takes on a different meaning in music. It’s more about movement as notes, intervals, chord progressions, and syncopations transition from a state of tension to a state of resolution. What movement brings cadence to your team?

Another change has been announced. The team is still reeling from the last transition. The new future, while visionary, may not have factored in the view from the ground level. The team will be asked to achieve ambitious goals crafted by colleagues in a boardroom. How do we make it real? Everyone has a role.

Someone on the team needs to stay focused when chaos hits. Once adrenaline is dumped into everyone’s blood streams, the fight-flight-freeze instinct takes over. Our best intentions to remain calm get hijacked by the contagious emotion of the group. The teammate with the best coping skills becomes the leader. Here are some tips.

It’s impossible to see yourself accurately in a mirror. Self-assessment comes with an inherent bias. While most strength and personality tools are self-sorts, the best information comes from outside validation. Those who know you best usually have an angle you haven’t considered.

If you could only choose four, what ingredients would you include in a recipe for a thriving team? Begin with the broadest range of history, experience, and perspective. Add a commitment to a common goal. Sprinkle in the energy of new ideas. Finish with resilience in the face of change. Diversity, cohesion, creativity, and adaptability. Together, they keep the team moving forward.