Optimising Team Dynamics: A Practical Guide to Building Better Teams & Team Development
When a team works well together, the results are obvious – communication is smoother, decisions are faster, and people enjoy what they’re doing. But when team dynamics are poor, it leads to confusion, tension, and wasted time.
This blog post explores how to optimise team dynamics using practical strategies and tools. It draws on insights from a recent Facet5 Live session led by organisational development expert Martha Kesler, and includes real-world advice on how to design, support, and improve team effectiveness using personality data.
What Are Team Dynamics?
Team dynamics describe the way people interact, collaborate, and influence each other within a group. These dynamics can be shaped by many factors—such as personality differences, communication styles, trust levels, and how decisions are made.
Good team dynamics mean:
- People feel safe to speak up
- There’s clarity about goals and roles
- Conflict is handled in a respectful way
- Everyone understands how their contribution fits
Optimising team dynamics means intentionally improving how a team works together—so that it performs well, not just functions.
Why Optimising Team Dynamics Matters
Here are some of the outcomes when a team has strong, healthy dynamics:
Better collaboration
Team members are more likely to share ideas, support one another, and solve problems together.
Greater efficiency
Work gets done with less duplication or confusion. People know what they’re responsible for.
More trust and openness
People feel comfortable raising concerns or suggesting improvements, without fear of judgment.
Improved wellbeing and engagement
When a team works well together, people are more likely to feel motivated and valued.
On the other hand, poor team dynamics can lead to frustration, rework, and turnover. According to research shared by Martha Kesler in the Facet5 Live session, disengaged employees cost the global economy $8.8 trillion annually. Miscommunication alone can cost organisations millions each year, particularly in larger companies.
8 Ways to Optimise Team Dynamics (with Key Insights from Facet5 Live)
1. Build Teams by Design, Not by Default
Teams often form by accident – based on who’s available rather than who’s most suitable. But a high-performing team should be planned, not patched together.
This means:
- Choosing people based on complementary skills
- Understanding working styles and preferences
- Thinking ahead about what the team needs to succeed
Personality tools like Facet5 help team leaders understand how individuals are likely to behave in a group. This makes it easier to build a team that’s well-balanced and able to work through challenges together.
2. Go Beyond Surface-Level Diversity
Diversity is more than visible traits—it includes values, life experience, working style, and personality.
Martha Kesler encouraged participants to reframe their view of DEI (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion) as:
- Diversity = a fact
- Equity = a choice
- Inclusion = an action
- Belonging = the result
Optimising team dynamics means being deliberate about how you support diversity—not just who’s in the room, but whether they feel heard, safe, and involve
3. Create Psychological Safety
Psychological safety means people can speak up, ask questions, admit mistakes, and challenge ideas—without fear of embarrassment or negative consequences.
This doesn’t mean avoiding conflict or always being agreeable. It means people know they won’t be penalised for being honest.
Understanding personality plays a role here too. Some people need more time to reflect before speaking. Others are more direct. Using tools like Facet5 helps team leaders adapt communication styles to include everyone.
4. Build and Maintain Trust
Trust is at the heart of every high-performing team. Martha shared a helpful model for understanding what trust is made of:
Trust = (Credibility + Reliability + Intimacy) ÷ Self-Orientation
In simple terms:
- Are you good at what you do?
- Do you do what you say you’ll do?
- Can you be open with others?
- And is it about the team—not just about you?
Optimising team dynamics starts with encouraging this kind of trust across the group.
5. Clarify Roles, Goals, and Expectations
Unclear expectations cause confusion and frustration. When people don’t know what’s expected of them—or of each other—collaboration breaks down.
Martha recommended spending time up front talking about:
- Who is responsible for what
- What success looks like
- How decisions will be made
- How to handle disagreements
She shared a helpful ratio for teams:
- 40% of your time should be spent doing the work
- 40% on how the work gets done (planning, aligning, problem-solving)
- 10% learning from what worked or didn’t
- 10% celebrating the progress
This reduces rework and improves outcomes over time.
6. Balance Diversity with Context
A team full of different perspectives is usually a strength—but not always. In some contexts (such as emergency response or technical delivery), speed and alignment matter more than broad debate.
In these cases, a more uniform team may be better suited to the task.
This isn’t about reducing diversity—but about asking:
👉 What kind of diversity does this team need to succeed right now?
Again, understanding personality helps answer that question.
7. Use Tools That Make Invisible Dynamics Visible
Most of the challenges that teams face aren’t technical—they’re relational. They come from mismatched expectations, unspoken preferences, or unclear boundaries.
Facet5’s Teamscape tool helps by showing how team members:
- Prefer to make decisions
- Handle feedback and conflict
- Respond to structure or flexibility
- Interact with different personalities
This insight helps teams spot friction points before they become problems—and gives them a shared language to work through issues.
8. Make Trust and Inclusion Part of Your Culture
Optimising team dynamics isn’t a one-off activity. It’s something that needs to be maintained through regular conversation, reflection, and adjustment.
Why Use a Psychometric Tool Like Facet5?
Psychometric tools aren’t just for recruitment – they’re valuable throughout the team lifecycle.
Here’s why:
Self-awareness
When people understand their own personality, they can better manage their habits, reactions, and communication style.
Mutual understanding
Knowing how your teammates prefer to work helps reduce conflict and builds respect.
Better team design
You can spot strengths, gaps, and overlaps before problems arise—leading to more balanced, effective teams.
Informed decision-making
Whether you’re hiring, launching a project, or reviewing team effectiveness, personality data helps you make choices that fit your people and your purpose.
Facet5 stands out for its simplicity, accessibility, and clear language. The Teamscape report makes team-level dynamics easy to understand, even for those with no background in psychology.
Optimising Team Dynamics Is a Shared Responsibility
There’s no perfect team – but every team can work better with the right support and team development programme. Optimising team dynamics doesn’t mean changing who people are. It means creating space for understanding, trust, and purposeful collaboration.
When leaders, team members, and coaches work together to understand personality and communicate clearly, teams can solve problems faster and enjoy their work more.
Watch the Full Facet5 Live Session: Optimising Team Dynamics for High Performance
To hear more from Martha Kesler and dive deeper into practical tools and strategies, you can watch the full recording of the Facet5 Live session:
👉 Watch now on Facet5Global.com
You’ll learn more about:
Content for this blog post is taken from a recording of Facet5 Live Session: Optimising Team Dynamice for High Performance. Hosted by Organisation Development Practitioner, Executive Coach, and Facilitator, Martha Kesler founder of Congruism.
Need help optimising your team dynamics?
Facet5 offers tools, training, and support for coaches, consultants, and organisations of all sizes. Reach out to learn how we can support your team development journey.
About Martha Kesler
Martha is an Organisation Development Practitioner, Executive Coach, and Facilitator with over 30 years of experience helping leaders and teams align their strengths and passions to perform at their best.
She has worked across diverse industries, including Healthcare, Energy, Higher Education, Consulting, Nonprofits, and 35 federal agencies, fostering high-performing teams and driving organisational change. Her expertise includes group coaching and coaching leadership cohorts, launching cross-functional teams, and guiding teams through trust-building, productive conflict, and collaboration.
Martha is passionate about personality and uses Facet5 to enhance leadership and team dynamics. She integrates it with other research-backed approaches to empower individuals and teams to thrive. She is the founder of Congruism and a proud member of the Promoter family – energized by possibility, collaboration, and driving action!
