Want a stronger team? Try these tips & build one!

Number 165

Research suggests what experience shows us: teams tend to out-perform individuals. And a group decision is usually better than one made by the group’s brightest member. Strong teams merge individual skills and knowledge into a high performing entity with capabilities beyond those of the most talented individual members.

Teamwork is more important than ever. In a fast-paced environment, teamwork is the quickest way to sift through rapidly changing information from multiple disciplines. And if you’re looking for creative solutions, start by fostering teamwork, because innovation tends to emerge from collaborations, rather than from the work of single individuals.

Here are strategies for helping your team to thrive:

• Provide compelling direction. Members need to know what they’re supposed to be doing together. Without clear goals they may pursue different agendas. On a strong team, members understand their collective objectives, why they’re important and how they are aligned with the broader organization’s mission. Take the time to regularly discuss both immediate tasks and the big picture.
• Communicate assignments, goals and standards. On a healthy team, members understand each others’ responsibilities and hold each other accountable for certain contributions. This is easier when performance targets are shared and every member of the team understands the others’ goals.
• Understand the need to belong. We each have a basic need to be part of communities, and we naturally want to make contributions that are appreciated by others. Successful team builders understand the power of belonging, and they find ways to reinforce it. They encourage traditions and rituals, create events and find occasions for distributing identity items that may be as simple as pens or T-shirts.
• Celebrate success. Recognizing both individual and group achievements promotes a positive environment and contributes mightily to job satisfaction. Taking time to appreciate accomplishments makes people feel better and stimulates further achievement.
• Help team members build Emotional Intelligence. Individuals who are self-aware are more likely to be comfortable in acknowledging others’ strengths and addressing their own weak points, in seeking assistance and in having honest discussions with others. There are many ways, including coaching and journaling, to foster this kind of self awareness, which often is described as “Emotional Intellligence,” or “EQ”.
• Enhance the collective EQ of your team. Work out protocols and standards of civility to guide team interactions. In an effective team, members listen to each other; they treat every member with respect; and they have mechanisms for working through disagreements and debates.
• Understand different personality types. Chances are your team includes people who communicate, plan and respond to crises in different ways. Diagnostic tools like the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator can provide practical and scientifically valid behavioral descriptions of the ways that various types of people are likely to think, speak and act. When we understand another person’s type, we know where they’re coming from and can respond accordingly. When team members understand each other’s types they can find new ways to get along.