Now that we are thankfully beginning to think again about a return to work post-COVID-19, along with all the many new realities, restrictions, redesigned work practices etc. that you must consider, you will of course also need to think of your people.

If you had developed a high performing team before the shutdown, you deserve a lot of credit for that, because it is never an easy thing to deliver. Naturally, things will not immediately return to ‘normal’ team-wise once you bring your people back together, because along with the many changes that have happened in recent months, your people too will have changed – and perhaps quite fundamentally in some ways. Undoubtedly, there will be an eagerness amongst most employees to get going again, but don’t assume that this eagerness will automatically translate into a return to previous levels of high performance. It will not. In many ways the teambuilding process starts again and understanding the evolution of teams - and the fluctuations in team performance - should be an important component of your post-COVID-19 action plan.

A useful way to introduce the concept of states of effectiveness of teams is to explore something called the Nut Island Effect.