Shaping Your Team’s Identity - The Importance of Naming Your Team

Your team knows it’s a team, right?

And surely you have to know whether you’re the senior leadership team or the St. Patrick’s under 13’s… so what the heck is the point in naming your team?

Well, it all comes down to ensuring your team has an identity that team members can get behind.

This in turn creates belonging.

Belonging is a fundamental human need, hardwired into our DNA. And yet, 40% of people say that they feel isolated at work, resulting in lower commitment and engagement from teams.

On the flip side, in Dan Coyle’s book ‘The Culture Code’ he shows that if belonging is cultivated early in an employee’s tenure it has the ability to more than double the time that employee spends at a company.

But often teams are never explicitly told they are a team, meaning they have no sense of belonging.

This is especially prevalent when new team members join. They suddenly become part of the unit with no one officially welcoming them in. Even before the pandemic and the rise of working from home, this was an issue. Now you have to juggle the additional challenges of recruiting and onboarding new team members remotely.

Each time a team member joins or leaves, by definition, you have a new team.

Bringing the members of the team together and actually saying the words “welcome, you are a team and I’ve assembled you because…” creates belonging from the offset.

That all sounds well and good, but why should you name your team?

Naming your team is equally important, but also equally disregarded by many leaders.

Acknowledging you are more than a group of individuals and are in fact a team is the first step to shaping your team’s overall identity. 

Choosing a name takes it to the next level.

Think about when you were a kid, you probably enjoyed being part of a class, group or sports team. I know when my team won or class did well, how good the sense of belonging made me feel. So why not carry this sense of belonging into your teams?

Bringing people together has a palpable effect. Often people visibly puff up, their pride gets a little boost of dopamine and their basic human need, ‘being part of the crew’, commonly called love and belonging, is positively affected.

Research shows 31% of employees said their biggest driver for feeling like they belong is having a sense of community and identifying with a clearly defined team.

Naming your team is the foundation of this identity and immediately introduces a sense of belonging amongst all team members.

And you don’t have to think too hard to realise that some of the world’s greatest teams have really strong identities.

These identities have the ability to take on a life of their own and develop a cult like following… the USA’s dream team of the 1992 Olympics, the New Zealand All Blacks, the Chicago Bulls — to name just a few of the greats.

Granted, you might not be the Chicago Bulls, but what’s stopping you having a little fun with your team name to create that belonging?

So how do you go about this? How on earth do you name your team?

I know what you’re thinking and no, naming your team after your department does not count.

But the answer is just as simple…

Throw it open to participation.

Encourage all your team members to put up a name or two for consideration and then vote on it. I like to suggest that people can’t vote for their own name, but you can do it however you like.

This team naming session should be fast, fun and create cohesion, and it should be a name that will stick.

And once you’ve got the ball rolling, keep it cranking all year round. Have these sessions whenever you get a new team member and set regular time in your diary to discuss your team identity remind your people of the fact that they are actually a team!

Now, go crack on!