'Highly-Functioning Teams Know One Another on a Deeper Level'

Infosys CEO Andrew Duncan points out the importance of noticing and curiosity

One CEO says that the effort of teams getting to know one another well creates the advantage of becoming much better collaborators and doing improved work.

“When you look at dysfunctional teams, you begin to wonder what each of the members really knows about the others,” Andrew Duncan, the CEO and managing partner at Infosys Consulting told Don Yaeger on the Corporate Competitor Podcast. “The answer is usually, ‘Not very much.’ I’m talking about knowing something about your teammates beyond their roles on the team.

“And when you look at highly functioning teams, you see people who know one another on a deeper level. They know what makes their teammates happy. What makes them sad. What makes them tick. And what motivates them.”

Interesting, isn’t it? Now, it’s fairly well known that not every team member wants to be so very closely understood by their colleagues nor do they want to know their coworkers that well. So that’s a challenge.

Yet I don’t think that’s what Duncan is inferring. He’s communicating to be “noticers” of those with whom you work with — how they prefer to be interacted with and understood, what makes them feel valued and respected, how they like to work, etc. and not everything in their personal life.

Duncan is saying to make the time and extend the sustained effort to get to know people beyond the surface level. This takes curiosity and respectful engagement of course, if not natural then intelligently manufactured, combined with patience and persistence. Additionally, it takes a lot of tuned-in listening, ongoing communication and at times, setting aside judgment.

People are going to be different than us. Getting to know each other on a deeper level will increase understanding and allow, Duncan contends from years of experience and research, for tighter professional bonds, excellence of teamwork and greater results.

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