Mental Skills Training: 3 Team Cohesion Strategies

By Jessica Maes

I discussed team/group cohesion at length in my post titled: An Analysis of Cohesion in Sport and Performance. Be sure to check out that post if you haven’t already! Here are three examples of cohesion strategies:

  • Cohesion Strategy 1:

Take time to learn something personal about the other people on the team.

I feel drawn to this specific strategy because I am very relationship driven and I personally believe that learning something personal about someone makes you at least more respectful of that person because you have some insight into what they have on their plate or what they have been through. This strategy is building GI-S cohesion which is Group Integration Social. This strategy is a bonding exercise that will stick with people in a broad way and over the long term. It will help the team as a whole grow socially and it is a behavioral outcome. The impact I would hope this strategy would have is:

  • to be more empathetic as a team member
  • to be more collaborative than competitive and
  • to exercise overall care for someone in your orbit

 

  • Cohesion Strategy 2:

Develop a feeling of “ownership” among the players.

I feel drawn to this strategy because it speaks to a philosophy that I often share with others: If we each just took care of what we are responsible for, and every person did that, what a different world we would live in. The same is true for a group/team that needs to work together to achieve a goal/victory. This strategy is building ATG-T cohesion which is Attractions to the Group Task. This is a strategy that, while task driven, will benefit the group in the end. The impact I would hope this strategy would have is for everyone in the group to feel that their specific actions/contribution matters to the overall success of the group.

  • Cohesion Strategy 3:

Highlight success, even loss.

I feel drawn to this strategy because it also resonates with me as an important life lesson/way of being. Just waking up/being alive today is a success so even if a game/activity was a total disaster, something good happened along the way and digging deep and finding that is powerful. This strategy is building GI-S which is Group Integration Social. Similar to number 1 on this list, finding the good is a bonding experience and it promotes perspective within the group. There may be someone who can’t fathom anything was a success and this strategy can help them in that regard. The impact I would hope this strategy would have is to promote perspective. Competing at the highest level is important, but at the end of the day you have to step out and live your life as a productive person in society. While task strategies are important and have their place, I think social strategies do more for team cohesion.

 

Jessica is a first-year master’s student in the Sport, Exercise, & Performance Psychology program at the University of Wisconsin – Green Bay. She earned a bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Wisconsin – Parkside and is currently a Writing Tutor at The Learning Center at UWGB. She is also certified as a grant writer from the University of Wisconsin – Eau Claire and from Learn Grant Writing. Connect with Jessica on LinkedIn.

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