How To Build Unity In The Workplace
The owner of a successful construction company was getting old. He enjoyed coming to work but no longer had the energy or interest to “take the next hill.” His wife had recently begun reminding him of promises made while building the business. It was time for her to collect on those trips, visits (together) to grandkids, and uninterrupted summers.
He saw that he needed to prepare for his exit. Over the years, he had built a management team of high performers. However, while they worked well independently, when together, they constantly argued. He wanted to sell them his company. They very much hoped to buy it. But he was afraid that they would pull it apart. The owner tried many ways to encourage them to work together better. He tried talking to them, bought them books, sent them to conferences, hired consultants. Nothing seemed to work. They were unable, or unwilling, to recognize the risk they were to themselves and the company.
Finally, he decided to give them a practical example of how they were undermining their own success. Monday morning, he called them into the conference room. On the table sat a bundle of survey stakes bound together with plastic straps.
“I’m selling this company. But I’m trying to decide how and to whom.”
While his managers’ faces remained unexpressive, each felt a twinge of excitement. Perhaps now they could finally be an owner. But along with the excitement, there was a sense of threat. Would they have to be owners together?
The owner continued, “This bundle of sticks is part of my decision-making process. I’d like you to take individual turns trying to break the bundle in half.”
This felt silly. But one by one, the managers tried. Some tried to snap it over their knee. Others tried jumping on it. One tried to find a way to leverage it under the leg of the conference room table. All failed.
Then he cut the straps and opened the bundle. He handed the stakes out, one-by-one to the managers. He asked them to try breaking the individual stakes. They did so easily. Then he said, “My friends if you are like-minded and are willing to be humble and work together, you will be like the bundle of stakes. Unbreakable by the competition and the ups and downs of the economy. But if you remain siloed and competitive over turf and recognition, this company will be broken apart as easily as individual stakes.”
What is Unity?
The story is a reframing of one of Aesop’s Fables. But the experience of a disunified team is recognizable in organizations across the country. To build unity, there needs to be agreement about what it means. I would propose that organizational unity is best represented by the word harmony — in the musical sense. Different musicians and instruments, sometimes playing separately, but working to create something together.
Organizational unity benefits from sharing but not sameness. A shared sense of values, identity, and purpose are keys to building long-term unity. They are also the same ingredients used in things like building culture, or alignment, or strong teams. Sameness is a form of unity. But it is unity without dynamism or life. It resists differences, disagreements, changes, or growth.
The strongest form of unity is like an orchestra playing a symphony or a jazz band jamming. Whether their notes are scripted or they improvise — they are playing together. The best and most mature musicians know how to make everyone else sound better.
How to Build Unity?
It doesn’t come out in the story above. But the owner in the story likely bears the responsibility for his team’s disunity. Even though it pains him and he didn’t intend for it — he built it or allowed it to develop.
Leaders build unity — it doesn’t build itself.
If he wants to turn his team around — it’ll take more than pithy illustrations. It’ll take three intentional kinds of actions:
- Create a sense of Shared Purpose: Or Inspire a Shared Vision. Either way, the first question that needs to be answered is “Why would we want to be all in this together?” That question is answered by helping the group create a common purpose or vision that everyone can easily share.
- Clarify how everyone’s efforts contribute to that purpose: The best leaders make sure that everyone knows how to contribute to the shared purpose and that they are aware of how others contribute. No one wonders how they fit. Or what their roles are. There are no mystery positions or departments. Everyone is pulling together.
- Identify (and remind everyone of) the benefit: First, the benefit of accomplishing the purpose needs to real and meaningful. An owner’s desire for more profits isn’t as meaningful to others. Get clarity on how others benefit from success. Second, people forget, or get short-sighted, or distracted. You need to keep reminding them.
A Way of Leading, Not an Event
I describe these as actions. But really they are three processes a leader needs to engage in. The way a conductor reads the sheet music, listens to the orchestra, and keeps time and directs — all at the same time. A good conductor doesn’t hold a retreat to do this. It is conducting.
A good leader doesn’t build unity or a team or alignment in an event either. They lead actively and well. You can do it too.
Take good care,
Christian
Originally published at https://www.christianmuntean.com on April 20, 2021.
