Great teams are what make high-performing companies work like a well-oiled machine. An ideal team is able to merge individual talents and skills into one cohesive unit with capabilities that surpass those of its most talented individual member. Whether the reason a team comes together, teams are getting more of the work done more than ever.
In reality however, a lot of teams fail to even get close to the ideal. Members don’t work together as cohesively as they could, people disengage, information isn’t shared, wires get crossed and, more often than not, money gets flushed down the drain.
So what makes a great team? High-performing teams aren’t products of happy accidents. Great teams have high levels of participation, cooperation and collaboration because each member trusts the other, shares a strong sense of group identity and has confidence in the team as a whole. How is that achieved?
- Common Goal
Ask anyone about the contributing factors towards a great team and the answer of “common goal/purpose” is likely to be one of the top answers on that list. When a team has a common goal, all of the individual members are aiming towards one achievement.
As a leader, it’s important to create a very clear and concise goal that the team needs to move towards. If not, each member will tend to look at achieving individual goals that may create rifts within the team.
- Good Communication
Communication is another essential factor when it comes to having a great team. A team with good communication will not just be experts at presenting ideas, but will also be great at listening.
Teams often feature individuals of different expertise who can contribute a variety of ideas. Each individual must not only know how to communicate their own idea to the team but be able to listen with an open mind when other members present their own thoughts.
- Organization
A team that’s well-organized is one where each member understands their role and what they can bring to the team. An organized team is one that can find the best way of reaching their goal in the shortest amount of time.
- Support and Guidance
Every team comes across challenging times but what separates great teams from the masses are the support and guidance they need to overcome difficulty. This could come from the team leader, someone outside the team like the department supervisor or even a fellow team member.
- Mutual Respect
Having mutual respect doesn’t mean that everyone has to agree on everything. What it means is that even when there are areas where conflict may arise, each team member respects the contribution of another. The focus is maintained on the issue or task at hand rather than the individual.
- Adaptability
Even foolproof plans need to be flexible and great teams know that the ability to achieve anything is influenced by how prepared they are to adapt to any change in circumstances.
Simply put, great teams are made of individuals that support and respect each other, and are focused on achieving a goal.
There are characteristics that are common to extraordinary teams, and poor teams.
Download our Functioning Together: Characteristics of Extraordinary and Poor Teams and use it to assess your own team, with ideas on what to do next.
