For Team Interaction - An Interview with Team Coach Joonas Laine

Topaasia games have gained a new ambassador. We interviewed an advocate of teamwork from Turku, Joonas Laine from Reveiller Oy. Joonas is a team coach who wants to see better teamwork and team learning in working life. He uses Topaasia® games as part of his team coaching sessions. We interviewed Joonas and asked for his views on the biggest pitfalls and successes of teamwork. What do you do? I run team coaching sessions. I am the kind of person who does not solve anyone's problems for them; instead I focus on the team's interaction so that the team can solve its own potential problems itself. What makes you sad, what do you see teams doing every day? Quite a few things:

• Situations where things have drifted to the point of grumbling afterwards: "darn, this never gets done" or "this will end up undone anyway".
• The fact that people cannot necessarily influence how the work community operates, and new ideas and perspectives are not valued, or at worst cannot even be put forward.
• Not every workplace has a space where the team could even come together face to face.
• Fear of conflict, which stems largely from a lack of trust.

What makes you optimistic and gives you faith in the future in terms of how you see teams and work communities functioning? Many small things. For example, one team I was coaching told me that every now and then they start their morning with water jogging and breakfast together. A wonderful communal habit! Nowadays it is possible to communicate remotely in a way that lets us see each other's faces. That is important. When we hold our own dialogue practice sessions, an absent person can "participate" so that we can see facial expressions, gestures and body language. Someone joining remotely can take part in a way that is significantly better than staying away entirely. The trends of lean thinking and a culture of experimentation also seem to emphasise thinking about how operations could be improved from within the teams. It is a joy to see this kind of thinking on the rise. Image by Johanna from Hehku Visual. What could teams quickly do or try in order to fix their common problems and highlight the good things?

• The five-second rule. When you are in a meeting, a conversation or the like, count to five in your head after the other person has finished their sentence. This gives the other person more time to think and gives you time to react constructively.

In your view, what does Topaasia bring to team development? First of all, Topaasia works incredibly well. It makes it possible to generate interaction and helps people grasp and experience the cycle of expanding and crystallising shared thinking. Small experiments are the biggest thing Topaasia steers you towards, and this is essential, because it is precisely those small experiments that can create even a big impact. It also helps you move from fine words to deeds. It is important that the talk does not leave you with nothing but a planning buzz. You can reach Joonas via Reveiller's website and LinkedIn Topaasia games can be purchased from our online store.