Building Teams That Work

Some time or another, you will be asked to either work on a team or build a team of your own.  Just bringing people together and assigning them a task isn’t enough to build a cohesive team. A team that works well is one that is productive and efficient – and the members enjoy their work on the team. The team has a clear sense of direction, an understanding of each person’s role within the team, and ways to resolve conflicts as they occur. A good team is a mix of skills and interests, not dominated by the most verbal, outspoken, or popular personalities. You as a manager have several things to consider in developing and leading teams that work.

1. Set clear goals and a purpose for the team. Talk to the team about their performance goals and how the team is a part of the company’s success. Purposes and goals can change over time, so remember to revisit these.
2. Clarify the individuals’ roles in achieving the goals and purpose. Be as specific as possible – assigning tasks and communicating expected results.
3. Plan for conflicts and how you will resolve them. Conflict, when handled well, can actually produce constructive ideas and draw the team members closer together. Let the conflicts come to the surface and deal with them quickly. Each team will have a different approach to resolving disagreements, below are some tips:
1. Make sure each team member has a chance to explain the problem as they see it.
2. Encourage employees to solve problems themselves so that you aren't always in the middle. However, if they can’t resolve it, or it keeps coming back, make sure they know that you are available to coach them through a problem-solving framework.
4. Remember your leadership role. While ownership of the work is healthy for all team members, avoid being “just one of the team.” You are the one accountable for the team’s results. Hold each employee responsible for meeting goals and for solving problems. Let your team know that you are their greatest supporter by removing obstacles and supporting them when issues arise.
5. Establish ground rules. Let your team know how you like to operate. Are you a solution-oriented manager, who requires that everyone contributes ideas for a solution? Do you prefer to do a root-cause analysis first to better understand the problem before moving on to finding a solution? The important thing is that your team knows your preferred style.

The-4 Player Model

David Kanto and William Lehr designed a communication model for family systems in 1975. This model was adapted by Deborah Ancona and William Isaacs of MIT’s Sloan School of Management to teams in organizations. There are four acts that are essential building blocks of team behavior. In appropriate sequence, these acts help the team consider a wide range of alternatives, examine each, refine and elaborate with ideas from inside and outside the team, choose an alternative, and act.

Move – this act establishes a direction and sets the team in motion.  Example: “Let’s build Product X.  Product X is the best Idea out there.”

Follow – this act provides support for the move and serves the function of completion. Example: “I agree with the arguments you’ve made. Product X is the way to go.”

Oppose – the oppose act questions the move that has been initiated. Example: “The data don’t support your claims. We’ll be in real trouble if we go with Product X.”

Bystand – this provides perspective and invites the team to be more reflective. A bystander may bring in more data, an historic perspective, or some insight about the operation or team. Example: “We tried some of these same ideas two years ago and they didn’t work. What do we think has changed?”