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.

Take a snapshot of your team. Do you share closeness and connection or are teammates guarded and distant? Is your work built on collaborative interdependence or courageous independence? Depending on where your team falls in each of these quadrants, specific team dynamics are activated. This tells you both why you are struggling and what to work on. Let’s look at each quadrant.

Trust is the secret sauce that enables teams to thrive. Once it is anchored in a relationship, growth and innovation become possible. Without it, much of the team’s energy is spent managing interpersonal chaos. This is the value proposition for most teams. The less time and resources consumed by office politics, the more time and resources focused on the organization’s mission. As elusive as group trust may seem, there is a proven path.

Change takes many forms. You can grow or shrink. You can give or take. You can fight or flee. You can accept or reject. You can attract or repel. You can be honest or lie. You can feed or starve. You can keep trying or give up. You can engage or resist. You can take a risk or play it safe. Each choice unfolds into a different future. What’s the role of your values?

Often, the task of blending cultures begins after the merger/acquisition has been consummated. The integration decision is made upon the faith that both sides can blend their similarities and differences like mature adults. Unfortunately, the human dynamics that fuel struggle are usually beneath the surface when potential partners size each other up for marriage. Imagine how the new relationship might get off the ground if both sides could see what was hidden.

Our contribution to our teams includes a history of bias. We each see the world through a unique lens filtered by a blend of past experiences and learning style. Often, innovation is hampered by bias. We believe we are considering every possible angle yet we’re limited by the boundaries of our own perspective. Alternate views are alien and cause discomfort if they don’t fit the tidy little universe we’ve created. What might happen if we turned it upside-down? Reflect on these two examples:

What’s the secret sauce? On paper, it’s easy to assemble the right mix of talent to predict team success. Just stock the team with leadership, deep skills in the specialization area of the project, a diligent group of worker bees, and reliable administrative support. The rest will take care of itself, right? Unfortunately, not. Once you blend in the human element, most teams find ways to struggle as conflict, mistrust, fear, and resistance to change impact the group’s direction. So, where does positive team “chemistry” come from?

Strategic plans age quickly. Conditions often shift within months of consensus and clarity. There are many drivers of changing priorities: talent, technology, financial pressure, acquisition, and loss to name a few. Any change opens a window of opportunity to rethink direction. Consider these 5 key places to invest energy following a disruption on the team.

Most of our waking hours are spent with professional colleagues. Family and friends own the biggest portion of our hearts but work teammates win the quantity contest. While the setting and the stakes might be different, the recipe for building strong connections is the same whether at home or at the office. Let’s look at the ingredients.