1. Give the team (or have
them create) a big enough vision or outcome.
If the goal isn't bigger than the
personalities of the team members, the team's effectiveness will be
mediocre, due to ego.
2. Train all team members
in the standards of behavior of the team's communication, response and
interaction.
These ground rules are designed to keep
the team's communication clean and make team membership mean something.
Bad attitudes, delayed responses, nattering, gossiping, whining or
politicking are grounds for expulsion from the team meeting.
3. Have the team vote the
Team Leader.
Leadership is still required in a team
environment. Not a manager, but a Team Leader. A Team Leader should have
the confidence of everyone and not the person with the power to hire and
fire, unless the members are ok with that.
4. Install structures to
support the team and keep it moving.
Daily or weekly reporting, public
display of team goals/results,etc., helps everyone on the team get that
they ARE on a team and that the team is accomplishing something.
5. Teams need a
member/manager who manages the details and flow of idea sand information.
Have one team member be the person who
makes sure that ideas are catalogued, agreements are kept, promises are
made and that input from team members "goes" somewhere good and not into
the ethers.
6. Include periodic
meetings where the agenda is how the team can work better together -- and
no other agenda for that meeting.
It's KEY that two things happen,
otherwise these "effectiveness" meetings become too
personal/venting/gripe sessions. First, make it aground rule that any
unresolved/uncommunicated issues among/between team members must be
completed resolved PRIOR to the next effectiveness meeting. This will
help the meetings be positive and healthy progress/bragging sessions vs
hurtful or finger-pointing slugfests. Second, have every team member
make one suggestion for team effectiveness improvement prior to the
meeting, so they can propose it during the meeting.
7. Know when a team
approach is called and know when it's "not enough."
8. Continual, accurate
and frequent acknowledgement
A big part of what makes the synergy of
a team work is that individual team members are publicly acknowledged
for what they've done to help the team and/or forward the outcome/goal.
However, keep this praise accurate vs manipulative puffery.
9. Team meetings should
be exciting moments of creating, not reporting.
Pose a great question or significant
problem for the meeting,don't make it be a boring reporting session --
that's why God invented email and copy machines. If there's any
reporting to do, keep it short shares about the wins and progress.
10. Teams work best when
people enjoy each other's company.
