Four elements to build an effective team

The term “team” is used so loosely that it often makes no sense, so let’s start with a basic definition: A “team” is two or more people who share responsibility for a common goal and whose efforts toward that goal are benefit from coordination and communication. It is only worth investing the time and energy in building a team when there is a real and specific return on that investment: a more successful delivery of objectives, otherwise what you have is a “task group”.

Starting with that basic definition, here are four basic elements needed to build an effective team:

1. The team is empowered by leadership and has clear goals, expectations, and parameters.

2. Leadership provides the necessary resources: skill sets and availability of team members, budget, access to critical information and stakeholders, etc.

3. Free flow of information: Disagreements and conflicts are welcomed and resolved constructively.

4. The team meets (or exceeds) its goals, AND contributes to the organization’s knowledge and talent pool, while generating job satisfaction.

The first vital role of team leadership is to ensure that the team understands the parameters it is being given and is empowered within those parameters to make decisions and act. A team doesn’t have to have full authority to do what they want to do, but they do need to have some room to move, and they need to know how much room they have.

A common mistake in team building is “throwing the number of employees at the problem.” It is useless to have “enough” people to work on the objectives if they do not have the necessary skills for what is being asked of them. This is a second vital role of leadership: ensuring a team has the right skills and resources to accomplish its mission, including the right skill set, available time, budget, and access to stakeholders and information.

Another prerequisite of an effective team is the free and unrestricted flow of information between team members, from leadership to team. Surprisingly, the sign that information is flowing freely enough to support an effective team is something many teams avoid: conflict. If information really does flow freely, the atmosphere will be riddled with disagreement, different points of view, and, yes, conflict. Teams that place too much emphasis on harmony, getting along, or unity of thought are unlikely to think broadly enough to be very creative or effective.

A fifth and final element of effective teams is the result. Obviously, a team must meet or exceed its stated goals. But beyond that, an effective team does it in a way that makes the organization stronger in the long run by adding institutional knowledge, developing people and deepening the talent pool, building job satisfaction and company loyalty, etc. Teams that are achieving their goals but are burning people, generating high turnover, etc. they cost the company more in the long run than they bring in. Building and maintaining an effective team requires tracking and delivering these types of “people” results, as well as meeting goals.