Great teams get great results

What makes a great team?  It can be quite a difficult thing to define.  Maybe it is easier to think about your own experience and think back on teams that you were part of or observed and what made them great.

A few things spring to mind for me;

  • Leadership – usually there is a strong individual who was positive, passionate, inclusive and leads by example. They show direction.  Someone recently referred to them as the Chief Storyteller which I thought was an interesting description.
  • A sense of belonging and common purpose – that you are all there for a reason and are all pulling in the same direction. It is about having a common goal.
  • Environment is understood – there are defined beliefs and boundaries that you subscribe to and work within. Call it “rules of the game” or “culture” but there is a basic and documented understanding of what is expected and acceptable and not and all subscribe to it.
  • Everyone has a part to play and needs to play a part. The whole-hearted contribution of all gives a better team dynamic – not showing up or showing up and not contributing can bring imbalance and can lead to tension and frustration.
  • Not a talking shop. Teams work best when they are achieving and moving forward.  It helps when everyone knows who is doing what and things actually get done – there is an action plan with responsibilities and deadlines so all can be in sync and recognise dependencies etc.
  • Creativity with support – few get excited about doing the same old thing so encouraging change and innovation keeps energy levels high and leads to improvement.

Overall I think communication is key – this is important in so many ways and has many angles.  It is about keeping people informed, encouraging the sharing of ideas and opinions and creating an open environment when people feel safe in contributing.  All should recognise that communication is a two-way thing so creating the environment for that is important.

How does this sound to you?  More importantly how do you achieve it in your organisation and in the various sub – teams?  Do you have a framework that creates and supports good teams.

Here are a few questions you can use for self assessment in this area:

  • Have you set and shared the goals for the organisation/the team?
  • What is your benchmark against which you can measure behaviour to know when someone is not playing within the rules?
  • What is your framework for communicating – remembering it is a two way thing (a news letter is unlikely to hack it!!)
  • What was the last suggestion you got from the team for improvement and what did you do with it?
  • As a leader have you talked with everyone on your immediate team this week? This month?

If the answer to any of the above is creating doubt in your mind as to the quality of  teamwork in your organisation, what are you going to change next week to improve things?