Teamwork

At Level 4, you shape how teams collaborate at scale. You influence how people work together across groups, functions, and time zones. You don't just support healthy collaboration—you create the conditions for it to flourish, even in challenging or ambiguous environments. You model trust, generosity, and resilience. You're often the one making sure teams stay connected, aligned, and motivated, especially when things get hard. You improve not just outcomes, but how teams feel as they achieve them.

Key Behaviors

  • Leads or enables collaboration across multiple teams or departments
  • Identifies patterns of friction and proposes structural improvements
  • Acts as a culture carrier for healthy communication and trust
  • Builds bridges between groups with differing perspectives or incentives
  • Mentors others on how to lead through influence, not authority

Common Struggles

  • May overfunction as a mediator instead of empowering others to resolve issues
  • Can take on too much emotional labor without support
  • Might assume alignment exists without verifying it explicitly

Success Indicators

You know you're successful when you:

  • Scale your teamwork impact across teams, roles, and functions
  • Strengthen collaboration practices through thoughtful systems and behaviors
  • Foster a culture where psychological safety and shared ownership are the norm
  • Empower others to be better collaborators—not just rely on you to bridge gaps

Mindset Shift

From:

"I help teams collaborate well."

To:

"I shape how the organization collaborates at scale."

Questions to Ask Yourself

  • What's limiting trust, context sharing, or healthy disagreement at scale?
  • How can I design or refine systems that support sustainable collaboration?
  • Where do I need to step back so others can step forward?

Build These Habits

  • 1
    Distill and share patterns that improve how teams connect and align
  • 2
    Normalize conversations about process, culture, and feedback
  • 3
    Create space for others to lead, resolve, and influence

Seek Feedback

  • "Where are we collaborating by default versus by design?"
  • "What's working well in how we work together—and what's in the way?"
  • "How can I be more supportive without being central?"

Signals You're Ready to Level Up

  • People adopt your collaboration practices without being told to
  • You influence how teams work together—not just what they work on
  • Your presence helps others take healthy risks and grow in how they contribute

Focus Summary

  • Foster trust
  • Shape culture
  • Scale connection

At Level 4, teamwork becomes systems thinking. You're not just a great teammate—you help others become great teammates, too.