The Rules of Team Engagement

On every team, there is potential conflict and, hopefully not too often, actual conflict. Some conflict is necessary for team growth and effectiveness, but no one wants to see more of it than they need to.

To help teams minimize unnecessary conflict, it’s important to lay some ground rules for interactions between team members.

To help teams navigate this, in my work with GiANT Worldwide, we’ve developed Rules of Engagement for teams. We base these on the 5 Voices and give each Voice their own Rules of Engagement.

The Rules consist of two categories for each Voice, what the team wants from you and what they promise in return.

These rules for engagement help team members with different Voices, even naturally antagonistic ones, work well together and understand each other better.

Let’s dive into each Voice’s Rules of Engagement:

Nurturer

For Nurturers, the team wants to hear their honest opinion and what they really think. Because Nurturers are generally conflict-averse, they can sometimes hold back even when they have valuable insight for the team.

What the team promises in return for that openness and honesty is that they’ll be considerate when they critique or challenge the Nurturer’s ideas.

Creative

Teams need Creatives to dream big, share ideas, and remember that it’s okay to be wrong sometimes.

Because Creatives can be visionaries, they can be personally offended if the team doesn’t accept their ideas. But the team needs them to think outside the box.

In return, the team promises to ask clarifying question to ensure they really understand the Creative’s ideas. This keeps the team from shooting down a good idea just because they don’t understand it well enough.

Guardian

For the Guardian, the team needs them to do their due diligence. They’re great at zoning in on details and asking difficult questions, and the team needs these skills to succeed.

The team should, in turn, work to stay engaged with a Guardian’s questions for as long as they can.

Connector

Teams need Connectors to sell their ideas as passionately as they can. Connectors can sometimes seek unity over their own ideas, so they need to focus on sharing their great ideas of connecting people’s abilities together.

The team promises in return to challenge those ideas when necessary but with the understanding that it’s not personal. The Connector and the team need to all be on the same page and everyone wants to see the team succeed.

Pioneer

Finally, the team needs the Pioneer to provide their strategic insights. But they need this with the caveat that the Pioneer be aware of the strength of their critique.

It can be helpful if they listen to everyone else’s view first before sharing theirs. This will help others feel more able to offer a differing opinion.

In return, the team promises to put on “body armor” to withstand the Pioneer’s critique without taking it personally. They’ll also genuinely challenge the Pioneer, which can be lacking sometimes due to the forcefulness of the Pioneer’s opinions.

Following these Rules of Engagement will help your team and organization run smoothly.

It’s important for a team to remember the differences between the Voices but in a positive light, looking at what each Voice brings to the team instead of focusing on the difficulties they sometimes bring to the table.

This fosters understanding and helps everyone seek the effectiveness of the team above their personal difficulties with certain personalities.