GUEST COLUMN.

BUILDING RESILIENT TEAMS TO NAVIGATE UNCERTAINTY

By Kelly Shih, Strategy Lead for the Public Service Leadership Institute, Partnership for Public Service

Barrett and Greene, Dedicated to State and Local Government, State and Local Government Management, State and Local Management, State and Local Performance Audit, State and Local Government Human Resources, State and Local Government Performance Measurement, State and Local Performance Management, State and Local Government Performance, State and Local Government Budgeting, State and Local Government Data, Governor Executive Orders, State Medicaid Management, State Local Policy Implementation, City Government Management, County Government Management, State Equity and DEI Policy and Management, City Equity and DEI Policy and Management, City Government Performance, State and Local Data Governance, and State Local Government Generative AI Policy and Management

The challenges facing state and local leaders today are complex – from drastic changes in funding and policy priorities to the rise of artificial intelligence in the workplace. Leaders face the daily grind of keeping the trains running while trying to deal with unexpected challenges, lay the groundwork for longer-term strategies and keep employee morale up.

Building resilient teams is crucial for navigating this difficult environment. A resilient team is one that can continue to deliver on its mission at a high level while adapting to changing circumstances and inevitable setbacks. This kind of resilience is built on two pillars:

· Team cohesion around shared purpose, norms and culture

· Individual autonomy based on clear roles, psychological safety and trust

It is important to remember that a collection of resilient individuals does not necessarily make a resilient team when brought together. This is where leadership comes in.

Intentional, values-based leadership – like the kind captured in the Partnership for Public Service’s Public Service Leadership Model – can transform a group of individuals to become a team that is more than the sum of its parts. Below are some leadership principles and practices to build teams that not only will withstand pressure but even become stronger as well.

Team cohesion: unifying around shared purpose, norms and culture

The foundation of a strong team is a shared purpose. An advantage of working in government is that the compelling mission of serving others is often built in. It is up to leaders, however, to be clear in communicating the “why” of the team’s work and ensuring team members can articulate how their work fits into the larger mission.

In times of uncertainty, clear purpose endures and provides continuity when everything else seems shaky – a north star shining through the fog. Say a team is unsure how much longer grant funding will be provided for their program supporting small businesses. It may be difficult to set goals on program quality or improvements, but the team can still be held together by their greater mission of spurring economic development in their community – even if how they do this will need to change.

Top tip: Hold a team retreat and feature the story of someone who benefits from the team’s work or invite a senior leader who is a strong articulator of the team’s public service mission. This keeps the team’s impact top of mind, providing inspiration and context that can place day-to-day challenges in perspective.

There is an adage in healthcare that the best cure is prevention. Translated into building resilient teams, the best approach is preparation – both in team structure and team culture. Effective teams use a framework for identifying and assigning roles and responsibilities according to work demands. They revisit it together at regular intervals to build ‘muscle memory’ for approaching work with this kind of clarity.

All teams develop norms and default ways of doing things; resilient teams know how to talk about them. Teams that make the implicit explicit by naming their collaboration and interpersonal dynamics can then mold them towards an aspiration. These norms might be around communication and conflict management, such as developing effective information sharing mechanisms. Establishing norms requires asking such questions as: Who needs to be included in what decisions? How do different team members view and engage (or disengage) in conflict?

Top tip: At the team retreat, or via a document like a team charter, have team members identify current and aspirational team norms.

Individual autonomy: building culture that unlocks potential

Teams that have higher sense of safety have higher performance. According to Amy Edmondson, the pioneering researcher of psychological safety and member of our Government Leadership Advisory Council, the goal is to promulgate “a belief that one will not be punished or humiliated for speaking up with ideas, questions, concerns or mistakes”. Responding to failure with punishment creates a self-fulfilling cycle of stifling new ideas out of fear; by contrast, recognizing lessons learned and celebrating the effort to try new things spurs innovation.

Psychological safety helps teams effectively navigate new and unfamiliar terrain by eliciting innovative ideas, encouraging reasonable risk-taking and generating effective feedback – all critical to dealing with unpredictable obstacles and opportunities.

Top tip: Establish ways for handling failure on the team to show it as an opportunity for growth. Some teams will facilitate a ‘failure-share’ or have a ‘failure of the month’ award where team members share the situation and – more importantly – lessons gleaned from the experience to encourage creativity and create a culture of learning.

One of the most challenging parts of uncertain environments is the speed of change. New input arises constantly and it is hard for information flow to keep up. In times like these, people need to feel empowered to make decisions at the ground level and come up with novel ideas to solve problems. Part of the leader’s responsibility in this situation is to provide autonomy with accountability for the team.

One prerequisite for that kind of autonomy is trust. As our Government Leadership Advisory Council member Stephen M.R. Covey states in his seminal book, “The Speed of Trust” – having a foundation of trust in a team is what will accelerate that team’s ability to execute and get things done in any situation. Mistrust, assuming the worst, being territorial, withholding information and operating out of fear is what slows down response time and team effectiveness. Leaders must trust that team members can filter new input and make good decisions on when to act and when to escalate. A powerful contributor to that trust is knowing team members have a shared purpose, as mentioned above. A clear understanding of “why” team members are aligned allows leaders to do less micro-managing of the “how.”

Top tip: Extend trust first. Covey’s book outlines 13 behaviors of high-trust leaders based on one’s character and competence – from talking straight to delivering results – that culminate in this final one: extend trust. It might seem counterintuitive – shouldn't someone need to fully earn trust first? But this simple shift in mindset can impact how a leader behaves to lead team members towards their full potential.

For more tools on leading teams through uncertainty and other leadership topics, visit the Public Service Leadership Institute for leadership development programs, assessments, coaching and free resources to grow your skills.