Why team health matters and practical ways you can measure and improve it
Why does team health matter?
Healthy teams build better products. Period. I have not met anybody who has disagreed with that statement. It’s the why behind my persistent focus on team health. This statement can be translated to just about any team or industry by replacing the word “products” with whatever it is that team is responsible for delivering.
- Zappos or Southwest: Healthy teams deliver better service
- Costco or Trader Joe’s: Healthy teams yield strong customer loyalty
What is team health?
We often think of ‘healthy’ as being a human characteristic. If we take care of ourselves, eat well, and exercise regularly, we consider those to be healthy behaviors…
Techniques for Virtual Workshops — Part 3
In Part 1 of this series, I shared how we use digital tools to run effective virtual workshops in a distributed team environment.
In Part 2, I shared a playbook for a virtual workshop to build personal connections.
In this post, I’ll share how we used the digital tools and techniques to define team norms.
What are Team Norms?
HBR defines team norms as a set of agreements about how members will work with each other and how the group will work overall. These agreed-upon behaviors allow the team to increase its collective performance through healthy debate and clarity of purpose and roles. …
Techniques for Virtual Workshops — Part 2
In my previous post, I shared how to replicate the essential ingredients of an in-person workshop in the digital world. In this post, I’ll share a step-by-step playbook for a virtual workshop we used to strengthen personal connections in a distributed team.
When I worked in a typical office setting, it was a lot easier to bump into a coworker and strike up conversation in the halls or on the elevator. …
Techniques for Virtual Workshops — Part 1
Many find themselves working from home and are struggling to find ways to accomplish what may often feel easy in the traditional office environment. How do you get to know your colleagues on a personal level? How do you run an effective brainstorming session? Is it possible to run a design sprint from home?
These are all things we have experience with here at the Samsung NEXT Product Team where we’re distributed across 15 timezones, 5 global offices, and over 40% of us don’t sit in an actual “office seat.” …
Danny Carvajal
Head of Product Enablement @ Samsung NEXT. Team Coach, Servant Leader, and Workshop Ninja.
