Benefits:

• Your team moves rapidly to a level of high performance
• Interpersonal issues and conflict are handled in a timely manner
• Team is able to self-manage it’s effectiveness…and get better
• Team members take on more accountability
• Build trust and commitment within your team
  

Clarify the team’s shared purpose.

Whether your team is an on-going department/unit team or a limited life project team or task force, make sure everyone is clear on why the team exists and what is does. Do you solve operational problems? Develop strategy? Brainstorm ideas? Collectively make decisions? Just share information and updates? Coordinate sub-unit activity? This helps you determine what (and what not) to discuss in your meetings and how to assess your performance.

Decide whether you want to be a “team” or a “working group.”

Jon Katzenbach, author of The Wisdom of Teams, says a true “team” has (1) a shared common goal, (2) indicators of the group’s performance, and (3) shared accountability for the team’s success. Most so-called “teams” are really working groups. They don’t generate anything collectively but rather they coordinate individual team members’ work and share updates. A true team requires much greater commitment. A working group doesn’t need to become a team and shouldn’t invest the time and effort to try.

(Note: For convenience, however, we will use the term “team” in these tips.)

Clarify roles, accountabilities, and expectations.

Early on, have each member express what they (1) want to receive from being on the team, (2) bring to the team (e.g. certain skills, knowledge, experience, perspective) and (3) expect from other team members. Also, assign any specific roles and accountabilities. For example: chairing meetings, keeping notes, collecting data, preparing reports, following up on members’ commitments.

Identify–and periodically update–the team’s “norms.”

A “norm” is an agreed-upon guideline–what’s OK behavior–for operating in the team. For example: Arrive for meetings on time, Follow through on commitments to the team, Speak candidly, Be open-minded to new ideas. Have the team, together, create the initial list of norms. Treat it as your team charter and ask everyone to agree to abide by these guidelines.

Foster a shared, participative leadership within the team.

Leadership has to do with influence over how we will work and what we will do. Almost always there is a formal leader, usually the boss or the project leader. Spread the leadership tasks around the team: rotate the chair role, allow for a vote (vs. boss decides) where possible, let different people take the lead when their particular skills are called for (e.g. mediating a conflict, writing a team report).

Attend to both task and “maintenance.”

The job of a team is to do things–share information, analyze and solve problems, manage a department, collaborate, etc. Normally it focuses on tasks. Occasionally, however, a team can become bogged down by conflict, guarded communication, people feeling left out, lack of commitment, etc. When this happens, stop and attend to the human issues involved–do some maintenance on the team–so you can quickly get back on task.

Have the team periodically self-assess.

To maintain the team’s effectiveness, every once and awhile talk about how you are doing working together. Review your list of norms. Which ones are people honoring? Which aren’t being followed or enforced? What new ones should we add? Also, ask yourselves, “Where are we working effectively as a team?” and “What’s missing in our team that, if present, would make us even better?”