Trust and Communication – The Keys to Successful Teams Today, with business competition, customer expectations, new technology, and many other developments, it is more critical than ever to build teamwork in your organization. The many challenges that your organization faces, the more critical it becomes that teamwork is effective. The key elements to successful
teamwork are trust, communication and effective leadership; a focus on common goals with a collective responsibility for success (or failure). However, without trust and communication the team will have difficulty functioning effectively. The whole process of organizational teamwork must begin with a company leadership team that creates a business strategy and a focus on the critical goals of the enterprise. Next there is the process of communicating the vision, values and mission of the organization to a team, or teams that will be responsible for planning and executing the mission and building trust in the teams and within the teams to carry out their assigned responsibilities. Marketing plans, as well as other operational plans, will succeed only with team-based planning and execution. When recruiting for senior executive positions, hiring managers and executive search consultants will look for clear examples of your ability to build, lead and manage teams. So what does it take to create success through teamwork? Five Key Elements to Managing Teams As explained by Patrick Lencioni in “The Five Dysfunctions of a Team”, senior executives, middle management and assigned team leaders, must foster and expect that team member activities include the following characteristics: 1. Trust among team members 2. Prepare to engage in
debate around ideas. 3. Learn to commit to decisions and plans of action. 4. Hold one another accountable against their plans. 5. Focus on achieving collective results. Mr. Lencioni’s diagnosis is helpful in understanding team dynamics. Yet, a straight forward prescription for building successful teams is to A. Build attitudes of trust among team members, B. Communicate openly among team members, and C. Focus on common goals that are related to a clear purpose. The purpose, of course, must be based on the business vision, values and mission of the company or, at the very least, the specific mission assigned the team by company management.
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Members of an effective team help each other achieve goals. Characteristics of Effective TeamsMany studies have been completed on the topic of what effective teams look like. They agree on key characteristics that effective teams share. The chart that follows identifies skills and attitudes that help teams function effectively.
Check out the following video to discover what Cisco has found to be the key tips for building effective teams: Common Techniques for Team BuildingOnce you know the characteristics of effective teams, how do you go about building those qualities into a group? When initially forming the team, follow these procedures and techniques to help create the environment needed for the development of those characteristics.
Optimal Team SizeThere seems to be no question about the right size of many teams. Basketball teams have five players (on the court), football is played with eleven members on the field, and a bridge team is made up of only two players. Businesses don’t have rules for the proper size of a team. Jeff Bezos, CEO and founder of Amazon, has his own rule for the right-sized teams: the team should only be as big as can be fed with two pizzas. By normal standards, that would suggest five to eight people on a team. Bezos is said to have followed this guide when he created the innovative and decentralized start-up that has grown into one of the most successful companies in the country. When in doubt about the right size of your team, you can always fall back on the “two-pizza rule.” The ideal size, according to most management experts, falls within the range of five to nine people. The reason the size is so important that it is the focus of research studies has to do with processes and outcomes. Too few people and the team may not have enough resources or skills. Too many people and communication becomes more challenging. Groupthink and social loafing may occur and negatively affect team performance. In one study, it was determined that teams with more than twelve people had greater conflict and formed subgroups that disrupted the team cohesiveness.[1] Experts also agree that the optimal size of the team is driven by other factors: what type of task the team will perform, what skills the team requires to complete the task, and the time provided to complete the task. Answers to those questions will often determine the best size for a team. If the task, for example, is a sales function, then one individual may do most of the work until the very end, when a finance and delivery/inventory manager gets involved. One business may be fortunate to have four employees with multiple skill sets whereas another company would have to include six or seven people to reach the same level of abilities. Finally, the shorter the timeframe to complete the task, the fewer the people should be on the team. Larger numbers increase complexity of communication and administration. Which of the following is an advantage of a virtual meeting for teams quizlet?One significant advantage of virtual meetings is that team members can multitask during them. Because virtual teams have a more difficult time building relationships than traditional teams, experts recommend starting each virtual meeting with social chat.
Which of the following is an advantage of a virtual meeting?Virtual meetings are more accessible for everyone who needs to be there – whether they join from home or another country. This increases participation for those who may experience travel restrictions due to things like ill health, childcare, financial restraints, or impaired mobility.
Which of the following is one of the advantages of a diverse workforce quizlet?Which of the following is an advantage of managing a diverse workforce? ALSO ADV: ability to attract and retain motivated employees, better perspective on a differentiated market, ability to leverage creativity and innovation in problem solving, and enhancement of organizational flexibility.
What is the first stage of development in high performance teams quizlet?Forming is the first stage of team development.
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