How do you build a successful team? Where to begin and where next?

How to build a successful team

Having spent over two decades facilitating team development and researching teams, I've witnessed firsthand how teams can form into a high functioning unit or derail into a group of individuals who don’t want to work together. So, what does it take for a group to form into a successful team that out-performs other groups? The good news is it involves the same steps and actions whether you an executive management team, a frontline customer-service team or a software engineering team. The bad news is many leaders and their teams do not allow enough time or create environments for building a great team.

The successful teams I have worked with, invested as much time working on their team psychology as their work tasks. To help you make a start building a successful team, I am sharing in this first article of the team series, the key steps and tips that underpin successful teams. So, let's dive into the foundational steps, based on research and experience to cultivate a thriving team environment. First, it's essential to grasp the distinction between teams and workgroups.

Step 1. “Do we need to be a team or a work group?” - What is the difference and why does it matter?

Years of team research1 and experience define a team as a group of people with shared goals, complementary skills and collective accountability who need to coordinate their activities to achieve team goals. They're like well-oiled machines, where everyone works together toward a common objective. Examples include sports teams, orchestras or emergency room medical teams, where collective and coordinated performance determines success. When these teams don’t work well together, they struggle to win the game, perform the music harmoniously or treat the patient effectively.

Work groups, in comparison, comprise individual contributors who typically work under the direction of a manager or designated leader. Collaborative decision-making is not needed because everyone keeps to their individual role responsibilities. The focus of work groups is to enable achievement of individual outputs, which take precedence over the group goals. Examples include the different trades people building a house. The carpenter is not expected to assist the plumber with their role and vice versa. I have also seen where several sales teams I have consulted to who were incentivized and structured to operate as a work group despite being called a “sales team”.

Why does this matter?

If some of your group believe they should work as a team and others believe they should operate as a work group, their motivations, goals and behaviours will be mis-aligned resulting in confusion, frustration and disengagement. It can also lead to resentment when some members take on extra responsibilities, in the belief that everyone else shares the same sense of team responsibility, while other members don’t contribute in the same way.

This where I have found it is essential for a group who are expected to work together, to set aside time to discuss, debate and explore:

• Do we need to work as a team or a work group for success?

• What are the shared team goals that require everyone’s contribution for success?

• Does our business or organisation reward and incentivise us to achieve shared team goals?

• Are we currently behaving as a team and if not, what do we need to do to work as a team?

You may be wondering if it is possible for the same group of people to work as team on some tasks or projects, and then as a work group on others? The answer is yes but what is often overlooked is co-workers failing to establish agreement if they are going to work as a team or a work group. This clarity is essential for both successful teams and work groups.

If everyone agrees they need to work as team, you can move to the next steps for building your team. In the upcoming articles, I’ll delve deeper into each of these next steps, offering practical tips and actions you can undertake with your team:

Step 2. Build trust with your team members for true collaboration.

Step 3. Defining your team’s purpose and mindset to build commitment.

Step 4. Aligning your team roles and accountability for achieving team goals.

Step 5. Establish constructive team communication to maximize the contributions of all team members.

Step 6. Fostering adaptability and team resilience to lift performance during times of change.

So, the key takeaway from this article is the importance of establishing a shared understanding if you and your co-workers need to operate as a team or a work group to be successful. Keep an eye out for my next article where I share more tips to help your team reach their full potential. If you are looking for guidance for your team, connect with me at email: mboult@boultpsychology.com or info@boultpsychology.com

Please feel free to contact me to share your team successes or challenges so we can tap into the collective wisdom.