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Coherent action from multidisciplinary teams requires that everyone be playing the same game. But the less time team members have spent together—or the more the situation around them changes—the harder it is to agree on what game that is. Unfortunately, newly formed groups and rapidly changing situations are exactly what you’re likely to face when leading a team through an emergency.
So when you’re leading (or working on) a multidisciplinary team, how do you make sure everyone understands the mission and starts moving in a common direction? The answer is the meta-conversation—the one you have before you start actually working together.
In this article, we’ll look at three key questions teams need to agree on before they start acting. The more clarity they have on their shared answers, the more their actions compound. The less alignment, the more they collide.
Is This a Crisis?
As I’ve written about before, there’s a big difference between a bad situation and a true crisis. In a crisis, normal rules often no longer apply. Teams can lean into creative, unconventional problem-solving. Everyone understands the gravity of the situation—this problem must be solved, and there’s no backing away.
Imagine a small manufacturing firm facing a sudden cash flow problem. If everyone understands that failure to fill a crucial order could sink the company, they can bend rules and act creatively to succeed. But if some don’t grasp the stakes, they’ll introduce roadblocks.
In medicine, this question is often formalized. In the emergency department, for instance, a trauma activation can be triggered by a patient’s vital signs, mechanism of injury, or a senior clinician’s judgment. Once the trauma page goes out, everyone knows: This is serious, and emergency rules apply.
What Is the Scope of Our Mission?
The second part of the meta-conversation helps teams define the scope of their problem. Are they fixing one machine? Rebuilding the line? Redesigning the entire system?
When team members hold different ideas about the scope and purpose of their mission, confusion and friction follow. When they’re clear, they can focus their energy where it matters most.
In emergency medicine, the default goal is to care for the patient in front of you. That focus drives coordinated action but can make it difficult to address larger system issues. Outside medicine, the same challenge appears. If half the team is solving the immediate problem and half is chasing root causes, both are doing good work—but they’ll head in different directions.
Leaders should make the mission scope explicit—through a brief, an intent statement, or a simple call to action. And if anyone’s unsure, they should ask early.
What Is Our Risk Tolerance?
Risk tolerance—how much uncertainty a team is willing to accept—is another defining feature of the meta-conversation. Teams that can act amid uncertainty can take bolder, higher-payoff actions. Teams that demand certainty before acting are safer but slower.
Different risk tolerances within one team can create major friction. One person’s bold move is another’s reckless gamble. This question also connects to the first: In a crisis, teams often accept higher risk than they would during routine operations.
It’s challenging for teams to explicitly define their level of risk tolerance, but a useful mental model comes from former SWAT commander Kevin Cyr, who describes risk tolerance as the difference between 51 percent and 110 percent decisions. A 51 percent decision requires only moderate certainty before action—if a course of action seems more likely than not to succeed, you take it. A 110 percent decision demands total confidence—no one moves until the team is convinced it’s the right path. Knowing which mode you’re in keeps the team aligned.
Operationalizing the Meta-Conversation
Getting to an agreement on the meta-conversation is critical for teams operating in uncertain, rapidly changing environments. Before your team begins operations, take one minute to align on three questions:
- Is this a crisis?
- What is the scope of our mission?
- What is our risk tolerance?
The answers may evolve as the situation unfolds, but starting aligned makes success far more likely. Teams that make time for this conversation first are the ones that move together when it counts.
