Team Development

How developed is your team?

Is your team as successful as it can be? Does the team have shared goals? Do they all pull together to achieve results? Are they performing at their individual best? Do they trust and respect one another?

Companies who offer team development programmes can expect

1. clear objectives
2. good decisions making processes
3. trust, co-operation, support and constructive conflict
4. clear roles, responsibilities and defined leadership
5. sound relationships with other teams/groups
6. teams who are open to feedback on their performance

1. Clear objectives

No team or group of people can be effective unless they know what they are trying to do. It is like trying to hit the centre of a target in the dark. Having SMART objectives is important to the overall team success

2. Good decision making processes

It is also important to have speedy and effective procedures for making decisions. Good teams collect information quickly and share it amongst themselves by ‘putting it on the table.’ Coming up with effective strategies for decision making; like using the MBTI ‘Z’ model to help them cover all bases.

3. Trust, co-operation, support and conflict (constructive)

In an effective team, the members can state their views, ideas and differences of opinion openly without risk of being ridiculed. Conflict is embraced by effective teams. They leave their egos at the door and work on how to support one another. That’s not to say that there aren’t ‘challenges’ and ‘differences of opinions,’ but it’s not personal.

4. Clear roles, responsibilities and defined leadership

Most teams have a leader whose main role is to co-ordinate the efforts of the team members in order to meet the objectives. In an effective team, sometimes the ‘leadership’ role may be passed to someone other than the official ‘leader.’ It’s not about the title, more to do with who has the best skills to lead the team on the specific project? Leadership may be delegated temporarily…

5. Sound relationships with each other

However efficient a team is, its success will be limited unless it can be linked up with other teams. It’s important to put into the emotional bank account on a daily basis. In other words, you don’t know when you may be working cross functionally, so it’s best to build relationships daily.

6. Teams who are open to feedback on their performance ask for analysis of their strengths and opportunities to grow and develop.

In a sports team, skills and abilities are improved by closely examining past performance. Similarly in a working team, regular examination of performance helps the team keep their eye on the ball. This process looks at the teams’ role in the organisation, how it makes decisions, how it integrates new members, how it achieves results, etc…

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