Evo had supported a sports team of hard-core athletes for years, but it only recently attempted the experiment of launching a formal workplace team. Like many companies, the online retailer of snowboard, ski, skate, and wake gear had been in the habit of sloppily throwing around team metaphors to describe anything involving random groups of employees. Evo finally got serious about the team concept when the company formed a creative services team.

Evo’s creative services team is composed of three full-time members: Tre Dauenhauer, staff photographer; Pubs One, graphic designer; and Sunny Fenton, copywriter. Together they produce magazine ads, all the content for Evo’s Web site, and more.

Before being appointed to the team, Dauenhauer realized he and One needed to coordinate their efforts more effectively. One came by Dauenhauer’s desk one afternoon to ask if he had any cool photos of fashionable skiers sitting around a picnic table. When Dauenhauer asked when he needed the photo, One responded, “today.” Dauenhauer knew he couldn’t find this kind of photo at an online stock agency; he would have to shoot it. Given One’s last-minute request, there wasn’t enough time for Dauenhauer to help him.

The team’s individual roles are far from interchangeable, even though Dauenhauer might dabble in design, One may write a few lines of copy, and Fenton might snap photos on occasion. Their projects require the individual contribution of all three: cool pictures, clever words, and a visually compelling design that brings everything together on the page. They’re committed to their common purpose and excited about what they can do together.

When the team first launched, they moved into their own space, away from Evo’s chaotic, open-plan work areas. Being together every day enabled the team members to become better acquainted and move through the “forming” stage more quickly.

Dauenhauer, One, and Fenton needed help navigating the conflict-ridden, storming stage of their team’s development. Before joining the team, they functioned individually and weren’t used to making decisions as a group or sharing power. Creative types are often independent and opinionated; in art school, most students focus on developing and expressing their creative voices, which can make for a very competitive atmosphere where team assignments are essentially nonexistent.

So to help the team members learn to work together, Nathan Decker, director of e-commerce, became their team leader. The bottom line is that Decker is the boss. He makes sure this talented trio delivers the goods and steers clear of dysfunction. Initially, Evo planned to hire an experienced creative director with knowledge of photography and design to lead the team, but it couldn’t comfortably fund the position.

With Decker’s skillful negotiation of conflicts, Dauenhauer, One, and Fenton are learning how to communicate with each other in ways that are less likely to escalate into conflict. Having a leader to facilitate difficult conversations has helped build team cohesiveness.

After the creative services team finishes each project, Decker brings everyone together for a postmortem to go over what they learned and how they could do things differently. They also identify new routines and rituals to incorporate into their process.

To work better as a team, Dauenhauer said they’re figuring out how to speak a common language. Instead of making vague and confusing comments such as, “The message needs to be bigger,” Dauenhauer tries to fi nd more specific feedback, such as “I think the text needs to pop off the page more,” or “the message isn’t reading well.”

Eventually, Dauenhauer thinks they’ll need a leader with a creative background, but for now, Decker will keep everyone on the express train from storming to performing.

Discussion Questions

1. What style did the team use to handle conflicts initially? What style(s) are they learning to use?

2. What type of conflict negotiation is Decker using: integrative or distributive?

3. How can Decker effectively lead when the team starts “norming”?

4. How might the team benefit from having a leader with a creative background?