In 2020, as the pandemic began, HR consulting firm Hubu decided to specialize in workplace team cohesion. Since then, the firm has developed its own model for measuring team cohesion, with its reliability validated by researchers at the Université de Montréal.
Daniel Renaud, who co-founded Hubu with his son, Gabriel Renaud, sat down with us to explain the four pillars behind the firm’s team cohesion index.
1. Clarity
Let’s start with the pillar that tends to be the least challenging for organizations: clarity.
Companies and organizations surveyed on the four pillars of team cohesion generally do a good job of establishing and aligning around a shared vision, priorities, objectives, and individual roles.
“Clarity and collaboration—the fourth pillar—are the two areas where organizations tend to score highest,” explains Daniel Renaud. “And that’s not surprising, because both are largely about know-how: how we set objectives, divide responsibilities, organize work, and so on. The weaker pillars are communication and connection, which are more about interpersonal skills and behaviours.”
2. Communication
The second pillar tends to be more challenging and therefore requires greater attention within organizations: communication.
“When unspoken issues start to creep into a team, when there are all sorts of underlying tensions or issues that everyone senses but no one talks about, team cohesion suffers.”
Hubu has identified several essential practices for fostering better communication within teams:
- Recognizing one another’s contributions, celebrating successes, giving feedback, and having courageous conversations.
- Being open-minded and genuinely listening to others.
3. Connection
The third pillar addresses one of the most fundamental human needs: feeling connected to others.
“We could also have called this pillar trust, because it encompasses concepts related to psychological safety. Do we feel that we can truly be ourselves? Do we feel that we know the people around us?”
According to Renaud, this need was significantly affected by the pandemic, with hybrid work becoming one of its lasting legacies.
“Before, when we were working in the office, we had countless opportunities to get to know one another. Now, it’s much harder. When we’re on Zoom or Teams, we’re there to get the job done. We’re less likely to have informal or personal conversations,” he explains.
4. Collaboration
The fourth pillar brings us back to know-how: How do we organize our work? How do we help one another? How do we support each other throughout a project?
This pillar also involves reliability—the ability to count on one another.
“Generally speaking, we choose to collaborate with a colleague when we believe that person is reliable.”
Collaboration is also closely linked to flexibility—the ability to adapt to change—as well as mutual support.
“Is a colleague willing to put aside what they’re doing to help someone else who genuinely needs it?” Renaud asks.
Without attempting to reinvent the wheel, Hubu’s four pillars provide organizations with practical levers for strengthening team cohesion.
And as hybrid work becomes an increasingly permanent feature of the workplace, building cohesive teams has arguably never been more important.
Explore our trainings
