The Question: How to change my team culture from apathetic to engaged and proactive?

(This question is based on a post I recently came across.)

Currently working for a large company in a position of influence / project manager-ish capacity where the culture is such that there's a lack of ownership and communication among project teams. Deadlines for deliverables are seen as a suggestion and not a requirement. Thinking forward towards future leadership opportunities, what have some of you done previously to encourage accountability and to change the culture of a team to one that's engaged and proactive as opposed to being apathetic?

Just some items I'm considering here:

• Can you achieve this through hiring for certain personality traits?
• Can having a solidified vision at the leadership level fix this?
• How do you change the expectation for quality of work while remaining conscious about motivating v. demanding?

My Answer:

It sounds like you’re facing a situation many leaders encounter: project teams that aren’t fully taking ownership, communicating inconsistently, and treating deadlines as flexible suggestions rather than firm commitments. It can be frustrating, but it’s also an opportunity to shape a culture of engagement and accountability as you look toward future leadership opportunities.

Understanding the role of mindset constraints

A helpful way to frame this is through the lens of mindset constraints. These are the unspoken rules, assumptions, and habits that guide how people behave day-to-day. The set of mindset constraints define what is acceptable (and even rewarded) in your work environment. In your case, some mindset constraints might include:

• “Deadlines are flexible; the goal is to avoid conflict, not necessarily to deliver on time.”
• “If no one asks for it explicitly, don’t take initiative.”
• “Communication is only required when problems arise, not proactively.”

These constraints make certain behaviors (like missing deadlines or minimal communication) acceptable and expected, while proactive ownership and initiative aren’t supported by these constraints.

Shifting the mindset constraints expands what’s possible for your team — introducing new behaviors that are possible and acceptable in the work environment. When you adjust the rules, assumptions, and habits that guide daily work, behaviors that were previously discouraged or ignored, like proactive ownership, timely communication, and collaboration, become achievable and reinforced. In other words, by carefully shifting your mindset constraints, you reshape the environment and make the behaviors you want to see natural responses for the team.

Why shifting mindset constraints works better than other approaches

You mentioned wondering whether this can be solved by hiring for certain personality traits, creating a clear vision at the leadership level, or adjusting quality expectations. While these approaches can help, they don’t address the underlying rules shaping everyday behavior. Focusing on identifying and shifting your team’s mindset constraints directly changes your team’s habits, norms so that they reinforce engagement and initiative.

Reflective questions for you and your leaders

To map out the constraints shaping your team and identify what changes are needed to shift what you are seeing, consider:

• Which of the undesirable behaviors are currently reinforced, even unintentionally, by the way work is assigned, tracked, or evaluated?
  
• How do team members know when initiative is valued versus when it’s discouraged?
  
• Where in the workflow or processes could communication and ownership be explicitly encouraged?
  
• What are the mechanisms that reinforce accountability, quality, and collaboration?

Making engagement and ownership feasible

It is possible to get your team performing at the level you expect. You’ve already taken the first step by reflecting on what’s happening and exploring ways to shift the environment.

Reflecting on the questions above can help you uncover the mindset constraints shaping your team and identify concrete changes to help them perform at their best.

If you’d like to be walked through the entire process, I’d be happy to work with you to map your team’s mindset constraints and uncover practical steps to foster engagement, accountability, and initiative, get in touch anytime.