Building Effective Teams

The majority of work is done in teams: the quality of those teams makes a huge difference to results and yet most of us have little education in how to build effective teams. This is a short introduction to how to put together a team that really works.

What is a Team?

Before we get into how to build them it’s worth defining how a team is different from a group. “An organised group of people with a common goal and shared accountability” is one definition of a team I like. If you want to build an effective team first check they are one! If they are not organised in some way and do not have a shared reason for being, for example, they are not a team. The shared purpose or goal is not always obvious and can be made into a “team charter” or (more or less compelling) mission statement. It is important that any such statements be made by the whole team and written in simple memorable language. They need to be fully embodied, not an “on the wall and ignored” heaps of wordy jargon.

Team Selection and Composition

Team-member selection is, of course, a vital part of building any team. Teams should consist of people with complimentary skill-sets, not just clones of the leader/selector. Other things such as personality types are also worth balancing and in many teams a balance of extrovert and introvert, or feeling and thinking types (to use two well known Myers Briggs distinctions for example) is useful. As well as types roles such as those identified by Meredith Belbin are also important as within a team a certain number of very different functions need to occur – e.g. some people to come up with innovative new ideas and some to check them for realism and dot the i’s and cross the t’s. An individual with low potential for team coordination or poor followership may not be worth selecting even if they are individually gifted.

Role Clarity

The main way in which teams are organised is through division of responsibility. In a high-functioning team each member knows exactly what their job is and what their job is not. This does not mean these cannot change or people do not support each other generally, only that each member knows their core responsibilities and how this fits with the greater group purpose.

Team Life-Cycle

Successful teams do not form straight away but rather go through a number of stages more or less quickly. The classic model is Bruce Tuckman’s “forming, storming, norming and performing” model which suggests amongst other things that a period of arguing in a  team can be a good thing and that a leader’s style should change as the team develops.

Leadership and Team Development

Team leadership, motivation, good communication and training are also things that are necessary to build effective teams that I would like to mention in passing. “Team building” activities have perhaps rightly gotten a bad name for themselves with too many companies wasting time on “jollies” with little work application. Targeted away-days and unusual activities can however still be useful if done in the right way with the work context not forgotten.

This is just a short introduction to what is a large area but I hope it has given you some areas to think about. In a rapidly changing world quickly forming effective teams is an important aspect of working life.

If you liked this article you may like to look at the following:

• Music Making at Henley Business School
• Leadership and the Body
• Leadership Presence – Qualities in the Body

If your organisation is interested in how our team building and other corporate training can help in your workplace then call us on (+44) (0) 1273 906828.

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