Mindset matters for interdisciplinary teams: Choose a collaborative one

By L. Michelle Bennett

• How often do you think about what you are thinking about?
• How about what you believe? What your values are? Or your deep set needs?
• Do you recognize that everything you say, do, or write as a member of an interdisciplinary team is influenced by what is in your head? And your team members by what is in theirs?

We can all relate to what it is like to be doing a project with close colleagues when things work seamlessly, the group is productive, everyone innately seems to know what to do and how to do it, people are comfortable pointing out things that need to be changed or fixed, and everyone is fully present.

I’m guessing we can all also relate to what it is like when there is tension among colleagues. Maybe there is something amiss that everyone sees or notices, but no one is willing to surface for discussion, so everyone sidesteps. Situations like these get in the way of the group operating effectively, achieving the best outcomes, building strong relationships, and feeling energized by being a team member.

If you are reading this, you are likely versed in the characteristics of well-functioning interdisciplinary teams, including tools and frameworks they can use to do what they do better, stay on track, and set expectations. In fact, there is a plethora of impactful ideas throughout the posts contained in this i2Insights blog and repository (see: https://i2insights.org/category/main-topics/teamwork/). Yet, if the team has not agreed to work from the same fundamental mindset (values, beliefs, and shared set of needs), it will be much more difficult to achieve the outcomes desired. And this is especially true if there is any hint of tension, judgement, or blame surfacing in the team.

Why is this? It is because how team members act and how they set the shared team norms derives directly from the team mindset, and in turn impacts the team outcomes, as shown in this image:

There are two fundamental mindsets at play:

• the collaborative mindset and
• the unilateral mindset.

Their characteristics are shown in this table:

When a team agrees to operate from a collaborative mindset, that puts them on the trajectory for acting and establishing team norms that are conducive to working effectively with each other, which is reflected in the work they do, as well as their relationships. These teams:

• Build trust and psychological safety – foundational for the team
• Set expectations – without them accountability is not possible
• Create a shared vision – for their task at hand and the team relationships
• Learn to engage in productive conflict (have difficult conversations successfully).

These are the “what” and the “what” is easy. It’s the “how” that is a challenge. HOW do you actually translate the theory into active practice and evolve it to a skill?

It starts with the collaborative mindset:

• Transparency and curiosity, even about the things that are difficult, will build and sustain trust and psychological safety.
• Reliability is only possible when expectations are clear to everyone, in every role, for every activity. Saying we will have ‘open and honest conversations’ does not work because as soon as things get tense, you will have difficulty doing this.
• Agree on how you will work together. Build the team intentionally, set clear expectations and memorialize them in a collaboration agreement (eg., see my earlier i2Insights contribution with Edgar Cardenas and Michael O’Rourke on Collaboration agreement template). Capture your process (think Standard Operating Procedure, ie., steps) for having a difficult conversation or making decisions.
• Surfacing difficult discussions is essential and done productively, improves team learning, innovation, and outcomes. Learn to be simultaneously direct and caring, use data (describe what happened), and test with inquiry (how do they see it?).

From here you can build your team mindset further. What task-associated values and beliefs are important to add to the list? Rigor, competency, and integrity are some examples. What relationships elements are important for your team to incorporate? Maybe mutual respect, loyalty, or personal/professional growth.

Putting it together:

1. Identify your team mindset elements.
2. Clarify your shared expectations and put them into writing.
   1. Decide how you want to behave and act with one another.
   2. Agree on the processes you will use as you work together.
3. Learn how to have difficult conversations with each other, practice having them, give each other feedback.
4. Agree to surface tensions at the earliest stage possible.
5. Hold yourself and your team members accountable.
6. Keep an accomplishments list and celebrate each and every one.

Questions for reflection:

• As scholars do you see a need for bringing a collaborative mindset to the work you do with interdisciplinary teams?
• What does this look like in your work?
• How can you most effectively share it with others?
• And, when you do, how can you be sure you are modeling what you espouse?

Use of Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) Statement: Generative AI was not used in the development of this i2Insights contribution. (For i2Insights policy on generative AI please see https://i2insights.org/contributing-to-i2insights/guidelines-for-authors/#artificial-intelligence/.)

Biography: L. Michelle Bennett, PhD is the Principal and Owner of L.M. Bennett Consulting, LLC, based in Potomac, Maryland, USA, having departed her position as Director of the Center for Research Strategy at the National Cancer Institute in 2021. Her main areas of interest are creating collaborative cultures, maximizing creativity and innovation within teams and organizations, and guiding teams in developing strategic approaches to their work and their team relationships.