The everyday habits behind a capable team

A capable team needs clarity about its work and enough trust to discuss what is going wrong. At BMI, we build that through everyday habits: people take responsibility for outcomes, make time to understand the work and stay in regular contact.

These habits matter in a collective of independent businesses. Each specialist needs room to use their judgement, while the wider team needs to understand how the work fits together.

Give people responsibility they can act on

We expect people to take ownership of their area of work. That includes understanding the intended result, making decisions within their responsibility and raising problems when they affect someone else.

Autonomy needs boundaries. The team should know who approves a significant change, what has been promised to the client and when to ask for help. Those details make independent work possible.

Make time to understand the task

Our daily approach includes acknowledging the uncertainty of business, learning the details of the work and taking time to think before acting. A person who understands the context can make better-informed decisions than someone working only from a task title.

Focused work needs protection from constant interruptions. Cal Newport’s book Deep Work, included in the reading list below, explores that idea in depth. In practice, the team still needs a clear way to reach someone when a decision is genuinely urgent.

Leave room for quiet thought

A meeting does not need an immediate answer to every question. Give people time to read a proposal, write down concerns or consider options before discussing them. This also creates a way for quieter team members to contribute.

Quiet preparation and open discussion can work together. The useful question is whether the conversation gives the team enough information to make a decision.

Spend ordinary time together

We share tea and light food, such as fruit or vegetables, when we arrive at the office and during meetings. It is a simple routine that makes space for conversation outside an immediate task.

Researchers use the term commensality for eating and drinking together. The firehouse study in the reading list examines shared meals and cooperation in that particular setting. At BMI, the routine gives people a regular opportunity to connect and notice how others are doing.

Discuss the work directly

We draw on the ideas of a deliberately developmental organisation and Kim Scott’s Radical Candor: care about the person and be clear about the issue. Feedback is most useful when it identifies something specific and gives the person a way to respond.

For example, explain which part of a handover lacked information and what the next team member needed. Agree on the change, then revisit whether it helped. That turns feedback into part of delivery.

The systems a business needs include both its tools and the way people use them together. Read more about how our collective works.