The modern workplace is often organized around a team concept. Many companies who request training on team building, don’t actually operate in a real team environment. Many workplaces engage a group of people working on similar tasks or pieces of a larger task. What separates a group from a real team is interdependence. Team members can’t get their job done well without some assistance from other members.
A sport analogy may help: a basketball team or soccer team is the ultimate interdependent team – members are continually shifting roles and supporting each other. A track team or swimming team is the other extreme. Except for relays, each person is doing their own thing and while their success builds the overall team’s success, one member’s performance is not dependent on others. They may cheer each other on and coach each other, but basically they are each working on their own task. A baseball team is somewhere in the middle. Most of the time it’s the pitcher and catcher engaging the batter. The rest of the team is on pause. When the ball is hit 1 or 2 fielders generally handle the play while the rest of the team is on pause.
Think about what kind of team you have now and what kind of team you’d like. Are your staff like basketball players, constantly giving and taking from each other? Or are they more like a track team with each person doing their own job? Or maybe a baseball team where one person does something and then another may step in for the next step? Interdependent teams are exciting, but also complex and require a lot of effort to build and maintain. Think about whether you really need this type of team.
For whatever type of team you want to build, here are my 10 top team building tips:
- Understand people’s work styles (our T.E.A.M. styles) – people have very different ideas of what it means to work in a team.
- Think about “what’s in it for me” – why should your staff be interested in working on a team?
- Be clear and upbeat about what the team’s purpose is.
- Build team relationships (taking into account differences in style).
- Be clear about what kind of team this is: Highly interdependent? Working in parallel? Working in series?
- Be strategic about “on-boarding” at the start and as you add new members.
- Be clear about team guidelines/rules, especially decision making/authority.
- Strive for consensus decision making, but have a bail out option.
- Listen and really hear what people say.
- Acknowledge and appreciate contributions and effort.
We’ll expand on these tips over the next few months. Subscribe to our blog to be sure you get notified when they’re posted!