Tent Talks Featuring: Brett Harned
In this Tent Talks session, Brett Harned, co-founder of Same Team Partners, explored how teams can navigate today’s workplace challenges without relying on rigid frameworks. He emphasized that instead of adding more process, leaders should focus on improving communication, collaboration, and culture to remove friction and enhance team dynamics. Brett introduced Teamangle, a human-centered approach designed to help teams align, build better habits, and solve real-world problems through diagnostics, conversation tools, and workshops. He also shared practical strategies for boosting engagement, reinforcing purpose, and fostering autonomy. Throughout the discussion, Brett debunked common teamwork myths, including the idea that teams should function like families, arguing instead for a high-performance, trust-driven environment.
Tent Talks by Chicago Camps · Brett Harned, Chicago Camps
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Show Notes
Where Should Leaders Focus to Improve Team Dynamics?
• More with less: Teams are under pressure with fewer resources, leading many leaders to default to process changes.
• Removing friction: Instead of adding more processes, reducing inefficiencies that slow teams down is key.
• Clarity and autonomy: Alignment on practices and priorities, along with clear roles and expectations, improves efficiency.
• Empowerment over micromanagement: Giving teams autonomy to make decisions enhances team effectiveness.
How Do Teams Undermine Communication, Collaboration, and Culture?
Communication Pitfalls:
• Assuming clarity: Just because something was said doesn’t mean everyone understood it the same way.
• Over-reliance on tools: Slack, email, and PM platforms don’t replace direct human conversation.
• Avoiding feedback: Lack of check-ins and retrospectives leads to misalignment and bigger problems.
Collaboration Pitfalls:
• Unclear roles: If no one knows who owns what, collaboration becomes chaotic.
• Department silos: Teams optimize for their department rather than shared goals, creating inefficiencies.
Culture Pitfalls:
• Avoiding hard conversations: Letting misalignment fester erodes trust.
• Inconsistent leadership: Shifting leadership priorities lead to confusion and distrust.
• Misaligned values: Culture isn’t what a company says it values, but what happens when no one is watching.
What is Teamangle and How Does It Help Teams?
• A flexible approach, not a rigid framework: Teamangle helps teams align on their own terms.
• Focus areas: Communication, collaboration, and culture as key to team success.
• Diagnostic tool: Identifies alignment and misalignment through team surveys.
• Conversation Cards: Structured discussions to uncover gaps in teamwork.
• Workshops & Playbooks: Practical resources to help teams implement long-term change.
• Action-driven: Less about abstract insights, more about tangible improvements.
How Can Leaders Boost Engagement in Tough Times?
• Reinforce purpose: Teams stay engaged when they see the impact of their work.
• Give teams more control: Micromanagement and shifting priorities lead to disengagement.
• Create the right conditions: Engagement can’t be forced, but leaders can build an environment where it happens naturally.
A Myth About Teamwork That Needs to Go
• “A great team is like a family”: Brett strongly rejects this notion.
• Work should be about respect, trust, and accountability—not forced intimacy.
• Better analogy? A high-performing sports team: Clear roles, investment in success, and a shared commitment to growth.
• “Your team doesn’t need a work family; they need clarity, trust, and space to do great work.”
About Tent Talks
Chicago Camps hosts irregularly scheduled Tent Talks with people from all across the User Experience Design community, and beyond. Who really likes limits, anyway--If it's a cool idea, we'd love to hear about it and share it!
What is a Tent Talk? That's a great question, we'd love to tell you.
Tent Talks are short-form in nature, generally lasting from 10-20 minutes (ish) in a recorded format--we like to think of them as "S'mores-sized content" because that's pretty on-brand. Tent Talks can be a presentation on a topic, a live Q&A session about the work we do, or the work around the work we do, or really just about anything--we don't want to limit ourselves, or you.
You should send along an idea or topic of your own so we can learn from you, as well! You don't have to be a published author or a professional speaker on a circuit to be good at your job, so please, put yourself forward, and let's have some fun, talk, and share your experience with others!
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