Effective Team Building

A work environment has many teams. They come in many sizes, and are comprised of people of different backgrounds and skill sets. Yet, a team will often succeed — or fail — for the same reasons.

Today we will explore effective team building, to create teams that are strong and set up to achieve their goals.

Business Dictionary defines a team as “A group of people with a full set of complementary skills required to complete a task, job, or project.”

A team is an intentional group with balancing skill sets, working towards an end goal or assignment.

A team is intentional

Teams do not occur accidentally. A team requires an intentional agreement between its members. All members agree to gather together to undertake and complete a task. Whether the team is assigned or chosen, the group is formed with a purpose in mind.

This intent creates a resolve and determination. The team was made to achieve a specific goal. The intentionality of a group coming together, in turn, means that they all have the same purpose or objective. All members are working towards the same thing, which innately encourages collaboration.

A team has balancing skill sets

Team members work with a high degree of interdependence. The purpose of a team is to gather together individuals with different skill sets to balance and complement one another. If one person could do it all, there would be no need for the team.  

The team has to recognize these skill sets in the other members in order to create a sense of mutual commitment. It is through this synergy that results are achieved.

A team has an end goal

A team is a team only when working towards a common goal. Without some purpose or mission for the team, they are just a collection of people and skills. The end goal gives team members a reason to gather, to work, to innovate, and to succeed.

Aside from the goal itself, there must be a shared reward for each member. This reward encourages clear communication, collaboration, innovation, and growth.

Building a team with purpose

A team has a shared purpose: to win. In order to win, the team must be intentionally formed.

For example, a business owner may choose to build a sales team with strong salesmen from different backgrounds with different communications styles. This is achieved by identifying the most appropriate skill sets, but also by ensuring a team member fits team culture.

It is important to build a team that works well together, yet is diverse. There must be an intentional balance of complementary skillsets.

In addition to possessing complementary skills, team members understand how to work together and be effective. An agreed-upon synergy should be in place. If there is conflict, a team leader must be able to take steps to ensure that the team can fully function without distractions or disagreements moving forward.

A team operates in a coordinated fashion to accomplish the win. Team members need to communicate daily to strengthen their coordination and steadily produce results. They should understand which tasks best utilize each team member as an individual and as a collective.

The entire team moves forward together. If team members don’t work together, they’ll likely be pushed away from their goal.

Ultimately, the team plays a game that’s worth winning, but they could possibly lose. If they lose, they lose as a team. If they win, they win as a team. In a team with purpose, each individual is accountable for the collective performance of the group.

Effective team communication

Communication is more than emails, white boards, and extended conversation. Communication is the act of coming together to share ideas in a productive setting.

Team members communicate with each other in two specific ways:

1. Reach and make agreements with each other.
2. Bring integrity to those agreements.

These agreements refer to spoken and unspoken roles and contracts between team members. Team members agree:

• To take on their individual, defined roles.
• To support one another and utilize each other’s skills.
• To hold themselves and one another accountable.
• To take the necessary steps to achieve the end result—to win the game.

Treating and preventing team infection

A team, just like any other body, can be plagued with infection. This can take the form of miscommunication, lack of communication, lack of understanding, loss of productivity, team conflict, and more. Disease is anything that inhibits the team from communicating effectively and moving towards the goal.  

Most team diseases can be eliminating by observing three rules:

1. Learn to spot diseased behavior.
2. Do not engage in or tolerate diseased behavior.
3. Stay focused on your mission and core values.

Ensure your team understands it is responsible for its own health. Create a system that allows the team to safely call out diseased behavior and processes.

For example, if one team member notices that another is not meeting the agreed-upon deadlines, and instead of communicating directly with him, chooses to bicker about it with other team members. This creates dual disease: one person isn’t meeting deadlines, and the others are not communicating (and instead are creating further dissonance.)

It is the role of the business owner to make sure an organization’s team leaders can recognize diseased behavior. They effectively communicate this to their team members, so anyone is able to recognize diseased behavior and intervene via a process that the team agreed upon before starting the project.

The most crucial aspect of a healthy team is being able to notice diseased behaviors, intervene, and move beyond it.

How and when to create teams

Consider the following questions:

• When are teams effective in your organization?
• When should you create teams?
• How do you create an effective team?
• How do you utilize teams towards success?

Teams are capable of accomplishing tasks that individuals and other groups can’t accomplish as effectively. Teams possess certain characteristics that make them unique and distinct from other types of social structures.

You do not need to create a team for every project. Teams are best utilized when they are focused on accomplishing key strategies of the business. Teams work together towards large wins and projects. If a project requires at least three different skill sets, or points of view, it’s time to build a team of individuals with complementary talents, ideas, and innovations.

Conclusion

Teams are the ultimate tool in accomplishing goals and implementing strategies. Teams gather together unique, complementary skillsets to create a powerhouse group.

Nevertheless, teams require work. You need to form and maintain healthy dynamics, where each individual is communicating effectively, executing agreements, and pushing the team towards the finish line.

Oftentimes, teams can’t go it alone. An outside business coach is a vital resource to build strong teams, stay the course, and actualize a final goal.

How will you utilize teams to elevate and reach your business objectives?