The main idea of an effective team is the organization of workers in a collaborative unit that can identify new approaches to achieve the company’s goals and increase their productivity.
Seems easy, right? However, if you think that you know everything about the subject, you might be mistaken. Even if you manage a really efficient and high-performing team, there is always a spot to learn how to make it stronger. In this post, you’ll learn about the key characteristics and qualities of well-performing teams and get detailed tips on how to make the team more effective.
Why teamwork matters
Any team is made up of two or more participants who work collaboratively to achieve a common goal. In any collaborative game, sport, business, strategic mission or military campaign, humans will not survive if their teams are dysfunctional.
A team spirit opens doors, overcome obstacles and solves even the most complex objectives. Even when sad things happen or individuals make dumpish mistakes, the team is able to rally, repair, and persist.
More and more people nowadays evaluate the role of team organization. The recent research, provided among 4K workers that were surveyed by Slack showed that the top-3 things they most value in the workplace are efficiency, autonomy and being a part of the team.
What makes a good team?
The way a team plays as a whole determines its success. You may have the greatest bunch of individual stars in the world, but if they don’t play together, the club won’t be worth a dime.
George Herman “Babe” Ruth, professional baseball player
As an alternative to a vertical command chain, an effective team can significantly increase employee motivation and business results.
Actually, teams are different from ordinary workgroups:
- The main goal of a workgroup is to share information between members and make decisions to let each team player achieve their individual work goals.
- In an effective team, people not only share information but also share common responsibilities for the team’s work. This kind of synergy helps team members to accomplish more together than they could on their own.
How to Build an Effective Team? 8 Quick Tips for Team Leaders
Pushing a team towards better performance is one of the most essential responsibilities of any team leader. In software development companies, this role may perform a project manager or a product manager.
The effective team will definitely win a disconnected work bunch, where people work individually. As a team leader, you will face many challenges need to overcome in order to create your effective team.
Here’re 8 tips on how to build an effective team.
1. Define the concept of a great team
Nothing occurs smoothy – the effective team requires conscious efforts from all individuals including the leader. There are 5 key elements that any effective team should contain. Make sure you understand each of them and try to optimize these elements in your team.
- Clear goals and objectives. Everyone in your team must be aware of the meaning of any single activity as part of a global goal or objective. When employees do not understand the purpose of the task, they will fail and you will need to appeal to outsource.
- Distinctly defined roles. All team members must be aware of their positions and the company’s hierarchy.
- Cooperation. Effective teams are about group accomplishments, not about individual achievements.
- Flawless communication. Each person should be able to communicate any question, proposal or idea he/she has. This communication must be as smooth as possible.
- Individual development. Despite orientation to cooperate, employees must not lose their voice throughout the work collaboration.
2. Establish strong leadership
If you care about the characteristics of high performing teams, first you must learn how to be a strong leader. Only a highly motivated leader has the power of influence to push the team to work effectively.
It does not mean imposing authority but fostering trust through honest approach and transparency. Team leaders must be open enough for employees to approach any issue.
What helps to reach strong leadership?
- Big picture vision – when all decisions are transparent and guided by a global perspective.
- Delegating tasks/responsibilities. Managers must not overwhelm team members with too much work while leaving other individuals with tons of free time.
- Communicating clear purposes. Knowing your team’s goals will help to understand everyone in the team.
- Being honest and friendly. It’s never late to show the human side to the workers and they will be more willing to follow your lead.
3. Build the connection
One of the duties of the leader is to continuously evaluate the way how people work together, even if this team is self-sufficient enough. Managers must guide their effective teams to work well with one another productively. For example, there are many trusted team-building activities and exercises that may help.
They are aimed to assist individuals to increase trust within the team and let them know they can depend on one another.
One more good idea that encourages teams to collaborate is implementing mentorship programs.
4. Set the connection with every individual
It’s a good idea for any manager to get to know each team member as an individual. Every person has own set of characteristics, skills, interests, and preferences. Everyone has strong sides and drawbacks. When team leaders know these facts, they are able to match each worker with the right task and build trust and engagement on a personal level.
As team leaders, you may use non-formal events to accelerate team engagement as well. For example, congratulating birthdays and attending weddings are good causes to keep the connection going.
5. Listen to everyone and invite to contribute
Even the most strange idea from your employee can really help your company grow. Do not hesitate to inspire every member of the team to contribute.
Try to observe the way how your team works together and take clear steps to increase the level of trust. This can be achieved, for example, by sharing the progress of their tasks. Ask for feedback to evaluate the level of contribution and collaboration of each individual.
6. Foster productive hobbies
Hobbies are not only about entertaining, but they are also aimed to optimize the emotional background of the entire team and positively influence on the team effectiveness.
Productive hobbies can bring profits and be extremely beneficial. Here’re some ideas that can gather and involve your team members:
- Sharing and discussing favorite books
- Managing a company’s non-formal blog
- Volunteering
- Video games
- Foreign languages
- Yoga
- Playing a musical instrument
Do not think about wasting time when you try to propose a new hobby for your effective team. Al together, choose the best option that will make everyone more productive and smarter.
7. Pay more attention to team-building activities
Team-building events also develop solid relations within the team. Add these kinds of activities to your long-time to-do list:
- Sports activities and outdoor adventures.
- Indoor activities (filming an office video).
- Social events (picnics, games, competitions).
- Fundraising projects with a noble goal.
These activities are especially effective for cross-functional collaboration where people from different departments and offices are grouped in united working teams.
8. Provide reviews and feedback
Developing a great team can not happen without evaluation techniques and feedback. Nowadays team leaders utilize obvious metrics (such as financial measures) to evaluate the success of the entire team and every single person.
Do not forget to constantly track the work and provide timely feedback to push your team towards greater effectiveness.
Now you’d probably want some practical reinforcement for the tips listed. Well, take a few more minutes to watch an interesting video that will share some insights secrets of successful teamwork from Google.
Conclusion
Looking for the best team effective model, your team and you should come together for a common goal. Everyone involved should have a clear understanding of how the business and fellow team members perform.
The latest tendencies and organizational trends show that team management needs to be a priority for companies of any size and industry.
Building an effective team is not something you can get instantly. This scrupulous process requires much attention and constant evaluation. Hopefully, the tips mentioned above will help you create an effective dream-team that will take your company to success.