Primal Teams

About the Author

Jackie Barretta is a founding partner of the Nura Group, a consulting firm focused on enhancing team innovation and performance. With extensive experience in harnessing the power of primal emotions within teams, Barretta has garnered numerous prestigious awards and widespread recognition for her groundbreaking work. Residing in Portland, Oregon, Barretta continues to inspire leaders with her insights on team dynamics and emotional intelligence.

Main Idea

The central thesis of "Primal Teams" is that the success of a team largely depends on its emotional dynamics. Jackie Barretta emphasizes that optimal emotions such as joy and playfulness can significantly enhance team performance, innovation, and resilience. By creating a work environment that fosters positive emotions, teams can unlock their full potential and achieve extraordinary results.

Table of Contents

• Hidden Energy: Unleashing Maximum Potential
• Design for Creativity
• Pull the Strings of Heartfelt Emotion
• Synchronize the Parts of the Brain
• Let the Good Feelings Roll
• Primal Emotion: Shifting Emotions at the Source
• Seek Before You Find
• Organize Work in Creative Cycles
• Playing for the Fun of It
• Sounding Off
• Laughing Out Loud
• The Scary Stuff: Processing Fear and Negativity
• Accommodating Negativity
• Shining a Light on Fear
• Creating a Diversion from Negative Thoughts
• Desensitizing Your Team to Fear
• Emotional Contagion: Spreading Coherence in a Team
• Spawning Good Cheer
• Making Coherence a Competency
• The Sixth Sense: Detecting Emotions
• Hone Your Sixth Sense
• Enhance Your Team's Emotional Signature
• The Engaged Heart: Connecting to a Deeper Purpose
• Make the Mission Top-of-Mind
• Strike a Chord with Life Schemes
• Resonate with Core Identity
• Organize by Purpose
• Primal IQ: Activating Insight and Intuition
• Team Spirit: Building Emotional Bonds
• Generate Mutual Care
• Extend the Trust
• Avoiding Common Bonding Pitfalls
• Use the Team Bonder to Provoke Deep Connections
• The Balanced Culture: Restraining Runaway Egos
• Agree on Norms for Team Interactions
• Memorialize the Norms in a Team Agreement
• Keep the Team Agreement Top-of-Mind
• Epilogue: When the Going Gets Tough

Hidden Energy: Unleashing Maximum Potential

Teams often falter under pressure due to negative emotions like fear and anxiety. However, by replacing these with optimal emotions, such as joy and playfulness, teams can easily innovate and deliver value. Barretta emphasizes that creativity should be a fundamental component of team culture, not left to chance.

Design for Creativity

Creativity requires a deliberate effort to foster an environment that encourages imaginative thinking. Carsten De Dreu, Matthijs Baas, and Bernard Nijstad highlight in their research that emotions significantly influence our ability to see new possibilities.

“Optimal team emotions that spark creativity begin with positivity.” - Carsten De Dreu, Matthijs Baas, and Bernard Nijstad

To nurture creativity, leaders must create an environment where moderate levels of arousal stimulate motivation and multiple alternatives are considered.

Pull the Strings of Heartfelt Emotion

Heartfelt emotions, those that strongly resonate within us, boost our creative capacity. These emotions halt rational mental processes, connecting us deeply with others and inspiring profound creativity.