Five Ways To Improve Your Productivity
May 14, 2023I’ve Lived Long Enough To Have Learned
July 16, 2023There is so much time, effort, focus and commitment needed to build an effective team. What will work for some will more than likely spell disaster for another.
In my experience, the key to building a great team is: Knowing where to start, and from there, you just simply start connecting the dots.
Here are a few dots to get you started:
What
What is it you are trying to accomplish? What are the key outcomes you need to pursue? The starting point is identifying the endpoint. What is the end result? Once that critical endpoint has been identified, you can then go back to the beginning and start working towards that ultimate destination.
Why
Basically, why do you need a team? Is a team approach the best way to go? Is it really a team you need, or is bringing a group of highly skilled individuals together to form a workgroup a better and more efficient alternative? Teams and teamwork are good, no doubt about it, but they are not the only vehicle to drive collective productivity.
Make sure you know why you need a team as somewhere, sometime during the journey you are on, the question of ‘why you have brought this group together’ will be raised.
Role
What is the role of the team? A pretty basic question, but you would be surprised at how often I see people getting this wrong. The team, for all sorts of reasons, and usually because those involved don’t know any better, becomes ‘all things to all people’. Even though within the team, the experience, knowledge and skill state that it could be ‘all things to all people’, it doesn’t mean it should.
The most common mistake I see is where every decision is made by consensus within the team. Some decisions can be made this way, and others should never be. Although there may be discussion around certain elements of decision-making by the team, in the end, it is the leader’s responsibility to make the decisions, and it’s the team’s responsibility to execute them.
Recognise difference
Don’t be fooled by it! Teams are made up of individuals, and if you have selected correctly, those individuals will be different. Different in their experience, in their skill set, their knowledge, and in their beliefs. Which, to some degree, is what you need.
However, you can’t have a team where their difference keeps them apart. Well, you can if you want anything other than a team. Hence point #2 above.
The difference within the team needs to be able to come together to form a team. A team that is special does contain that difference, but it also contains an attitude of preparedness to come together behind a common goal or purpose. Therefore, the difference works for the team rather than against it.
Understand the difference but don’t be fooled into thinking it’s something its not.
Use the understanding you have
If you understand, and by understand, I mean truly understand what your outcomes are. If you have taken the time to work out why you need a team and then what is the real purpose of the team, then you have the insight and understanding to allow you to utilise the team you have brought together fully.
However, the main advantage to having this insight is to be able to monitor and manage the effectiveness of the team, and, within that process, you will be able to determine who is right for the team and who isn’t.
As a leader, this is one of your main responsibilities to the team. That responsibility is to maintain the integrity of the team. If someone isn’t right, you will know it, they will know it, and the team will know it. If this is the case, do something about it! Because if you don’t, the team will soon turn their attention from the person who they know isn’t right to the person who isn’t doing anything about it.
And that is the last thing anyone needs. Because remember, this team was brought together, so…
The Journey Continues!