To build effective teams it is essential to know what contributes to strong team cohesion and performance. That is, an effective team is not only a high performing one, it is also one where team members enjoy working together. On teams that work well, team members feel so committed to the team that they put team success ahead of their own. This is what happens in golf teams, for example, when individual stars play in team competitions such as the Ryder Cup. To start building a high performing team you need to know what they look like.
Characteristics of Effective Teams
Here are some of the key features of high performing teams. This list is not meant to be exhaustive but it does cover some of the major factors.
Clear Goals – Sports teams have the clearest goals because it is so visible when they win or lose. It is important to define what team success means and to establish ways of measuring it so that team members can see precisely whether they are making progress and whether they achieve their goals or not. This is easier to do for a discrete project than in an ongoing operational setting, but not impossible.
Open Communication – Effective team work has a machine-like efficiency because each part is fully in sync with every other part. To achieve this level of coordination, open communication is essential. Team members need to keep each other fully informed of critical developments in their work. The team manager can be a role model in this regard.
Trust - Trust is important for open communication but also for risk taking. Team members need to feel safe to take risks, to say things that might make them look stupid and to disagree with the majority when the majority is wrong about something. An atmosphere of trust can only be created if team members do not put each other down when mistakes are made.
Mutual Respect – Respect can only be earned. A lack of respect usually means that some team members are not seen as adding as much value as the others. This may be due to a team member being less competent, less experienced or less motivated than the others. A good manager coaches less respected team members so they can start earning respect. If some team members are not respected, the motivation of the entire team can be undermined.
Shared Values – Teams that work well share a desire to win, to succeed at whatever they are doing. They must have a fairly common work ethic. To some extent those with a slightly weaker team ethic will make more effort if they see others working hard but one very lazy team member can drag down the rest. The team must also agree that the work they are doing is worthwhile, that their goals are worth making the effort to achieve.
Fun – Team members must enjoy working together to remain motivated over a lengthy period of time. They either need to find ways of having fun in the work itself, through the way they interact on the job or by socializing outside of work. To have fun together, people need to like each other and enjoy each other’s company.
Constructive Dissent – A productive team needs conflict because disagreement fosters creative thinking. Too much agreement is not healthy. It is a recipe for “groupthink” where people agree with each other because they are afraid to disagree. Whenever people disagree, however, it is easy for potentially destructive emotions to damage relationships. A team should agree a process to resolve issues constructively.
Engagement – To remain interested, team members need to feel that they are making a strong contribution, that they are being stretched without being overstretched. They need to feel involved in making key team decisions, that team members seek their advice on tough problems. Team managers can foster intensive sharing of expertise by fostering regular brainstorming sessions if joint problem solving is not happening naturally.
Organizational Connection – A high performing team feels that it is valued by the rest of the organization and closely connected to its overall success. A team that is marginalized or rejected by the broader organization cannot feel motivated. If the team is made up of thinkers who have a tendency to isolate themselves, there is a risk of an us-them mentality developing which will hinder the team’s overall success. Managers need to encourage team members to develop relationships with key stakeholders to prevent this situation developing.
Team First Mentality – Team members with a “me first” mentality put themselves ahead of the team. They think they are never wrong, hog the limelight, take an undue share of the credit and only put themselves out if they see something in it for them personally. This is not an easy thing to change. The manager may need to remove such team members if efforts to get them to change are not successful.
No doubt there are other success factors for high performing teams but those that meet the above criteria should be well on their way to achieving great things. Clearly, how the manager behaves toward the team can also make a big difference. In particular, there needs to be fairness, equal consideration shown to all team members.
