Building Effective Teams

When you’re sitting in the stands and your team wins a hard-fought game you clap and shout along with the players jumping up and down with pure elation. The joy you feel from achieving more than you thought possible as a fan or a member of the team is fantastic.  

After the victory, your shared experience is relived by retelling the story with other fans or just a feeling of happiness when you’re alone. Why is it a good memory? As a fan you contributed support but how much credit can you take from your couch? I think it’s earned from your investment of time and the real emotional stake you have in the team’s success or failure. 

You can capture that same feeling of joy and satisfaction by helping your organization’s team succeed. The highs and lows might not be as dramatic unless you work at NASA, but the sustained feeling of well-being from building a highly functioning, successful team is real.  

The review paper "Enhancing the Effectiveness of Work Groups and Teams" by Steve W.J. Kozlowski and Daniel R. Ilgen [1] summarized over 300 research articles of the day in 2006 and set the stage for the subsequent work on the science of team effectiveness. 

Here are 12 recommendations to improve the performance of teams that are still relevant today.

1. Clear Goal Alignment - Ensure that the goals and objectives of the team align with the overall strategic goals of the organization. 

2. Effective Leadership - Appoint and support effective leaders within teams. These leaders should be capable of facilitating team processes, maintaining cohesion, and resolving conflicts.

3. Skill Development - Invest in the development of team members' skills and competencies. 

4. Team Composition - Pay attention to the composition of teams. Consider members' skills, personalities, and diversity of experience and ideas to create balanced and complementary teams.

5. Communication and Information Sharing - Encourage open and effective communication within teams. Promote sharing information, feedback, and ideas to foster collaboration and problem-solving.

6. Performance Evaluation - Implement fair and transparent performance evaluation processes that recognize and reward both individual and team contributions.

7. Team Building - Organize team-building activities and exercises to enhance trust, collaboration, and a sense of belonging among team members.

8. Conflict Resolution - Establish mechanisms for resolving conflicts within teams constructively. Avoiding or ignoring a persistent conflict will distract the team.

9. Flexibility - Provide teams with the autonomy and flexibility to adapt to changing circumstances and make decisions that align with their objectives.

10. Resources and Support - Ensure that teams have access to the necessary resources, tools, and support to carry out their tasks effectively.

11. Monitoring and Feedback - Continuously monitor team performance and provide timely feedback to help teams adjust their strategies and improve.

12. Learning and Adaptation - Encourage a culture of learning and adaptation within teams. Promote the idea that failures and setbacks are part of the improvement process and are growth opportunities.

If these recommendations are consistently applied, they will establish a favorable environment and lead to the development of a highly effective team capable of winning for your organization.   

Author

Darren Verebelyi, PhD

References

[1] Steve W.J. Kozlowski and Daniel R. Ilgen, "Enhancing the Effectiveness of Work Groups and Teams", 2006