Team building

In this post I would like to share my experience in one of the most difficult tasks you face as a manager, executive or when you have responsibilities for the results of teams whatever is the level or the environment:  team building.

We spend a lot of time leading teams and leading with people in groups. Getting people to work well together is as important as motivating individuals, in my opinion.

Team building is a matter of establishing mutual confidence and trust among all the people working in your team. You should aim to create a feeling, let´s say, of interdependence. In my experience a good team feels shared responsibility for getting results.

A lot of readers, in managerial roles, know very well that people do not necessarily work well together. Personal and interdepartmental rivalries exist in the vast majority of companies. It is likely you agree with me with this. But you need to look for them or they can ruin the most brilliant groups.

So what´s is the point? Good teamwork is essential. To become an effective team builder it is useful to know and understand the behavior of the members of your team.

Normally you can find what I could call formal and informal groups. The first one are groups that are created by the company to achieve a defined purpose and normally are aligned with the organization needs. The second are set up because they have some affinity for one another. In this case the group exists to satisfy the needs of its members.

For me, the ideal situation, would be for both groups to coincide so they will satisfy the needs of both the organization and the individuals in it.

One of the most important things to look for in groups is the status system that may exist within them. If you understand the informal as well as the formal hierarchical order you will be better equipped to deal with problems within the team.

Your aim, and this is really difficult and a stressing task, is to create an effective team. You need to create a vision, engage the members to become cohesive, self-supportive and finally show them where it is going.

But the question is how can we know we have or we are creating a real effective team?

My thought is you should look for some features as follows:

·         The atmosphere tends to be informal, comfortable and relaxed.

·         The task of the team is well understood and accepted by the members.

·         The members listen to each other. Very important, indeed.

·         There is disagreement and the reasons are carefully examined. This is essential in my view.

·         Most decisions are reached by a kind of consensus.

·        Criticism is frequent, frank and relatively comfortable. In other words, there is little evidence of personal attack either openly or in a hidden way.

·         When action is taken clear assignments are made and accepted.

·         The leader does not, normally, dominate it.

The readers can think other features based on their experience. The above are just mine.

The final ingredient is your capability to lead, in other words, your leadership.  The role of the leader is critical, especially nowadays, when we are in times of crisis so it is when the group must get into action fast.

Within this role of leadership you must look for getting cooperation. The members of an effective team cooperate equally will with one another and of course, with the team leader.

But are there methods for team building? This is not an exact science. You should develop your skills based on your experience and by observing other managers or executives, within or outside your organization and learn from them. This will allow you to create your own management and leadership style.

So, in my experience, you need to demonstrate to your team:

·         You know where you want them to go

·         You know how they are going to get there

·         You know what you expect each member of the team to achieve

·         And you know what you are doing.

When you have done the above you are ready to:

·         Encourage participation in agreeing objectives and targets

·         Rotate jobs within your team so that the team members identify with the reams as a whole rather than with their own jobs.

·         Ensure that communication flow freely within and between groups

·         Encourage informal meetings between your team to resolve problems.

And finally, if you are a member of a team and you want to work effectively within your group you would need as follows:

·         Understand the purpose of the team

·         Find out what you are expected to contribute

·         Analyze your own skills and competences to establish how you might best contribute

·         Prepare yourself well before meetings. For example, get your facts and arguments at your fingertips

·         Don’t talk too much. Think about this, the art of being a good team member is to know when and how to intervene.

·         Assess your own performance as a team member. Ask yourself what you are good and not so good at doing by reference to your successes and failures, and  take appropriate action.

And remember,  the team makes you and not the opposite ¡¡¡