Team talking

The tough economic situation has left many companies pondering how to do more with less money and fewer people. As a result, it is vital to take some time to think about what kind of team will work best in a firm, because most of the work carried out this year will be done by people in teams of one kind or another. The chances of winning will be improved by creating the most effective team possible.

The industry spends a lot of time understanding the market, competition and customers. However, in contrast, little time is invested in getting a full understanding of how one's own team works: what makes its members tick? What gets them out of bed in the morning? What are their strengths? What are they like when things are going well? What are they like when things are a little harder?

It does not matter what sort of team it is; people may have left or joined; there may be exciting or challenging projects to face; the team may be based in one office, spread across the country, Europe or the globe. However, it is essential to set some time aside simply to decide what kind of team you want to be. This will improve the chances of winning as the year progresses.

Being the best
Winning is not everything. People who say it is, either do not win much, or have not developed and coached teams to victory. I have coached winning teams in business and sport and my philosophy has always been that winning is not everything, but wanting to win is. Of course, performance and results are important, but I believe passionately that deciding how you are going to get there and how you are going to work with one another is actually what gives you the best chance of winning.

Any successful sports coach or business leader will say that the continued success of their teams is based on the following individual and collective characteristics: superb preparation, hard work, a desire to do and be the best possible and great execution.

All this has to be done in a team environment, with an unwavering focus and culture of wanting to win, learning and getting better individually and collectively and enjoying every minute of getting there.

Great teams do not happen by accident. In the best teams, everyone is united behind a common purpose, clear on what needs to be done and how it will be done, with everyone having the desire and passion to perform, learn and enjoy being part of such a great team.

Yes, teams are created to deliver results. Yet it is so important to take time to think about what the team is there to do and how it is going to do it. As time passes, people come and go from the team and it is essential to create the opportunity to ensure everyone is pursuing the same purpose. The principles are very simple; ask the members what kind of team they want to be, give them meaningful work andthe space to get on. Ensure that time is allocated to talk about what has been achieved and how it has been done. It is also important to give feedback on how each person's behaviour matched up to the team that was aspired to and to keep repeating this procedure every time to help continuous improvement.

This will work for a team that wants to build on previous successes, that has had people leave and join the team, has had new and challenging objectives and if a new team has been started.

All of these ideas are straightforward. In order to embed them, get the team together and talk things through. Understand where the team is, what is good about it and what results it has achieved.

Then try to understand what problems it has and be solution-focused. Take some time to think through the purpose of the team, what it does, how it delivers its purpose and how it measures success.

External assistance
It is also important to decide the type of team to be. Consider how it will make decisions. Think what is needed and expected from the team members and the team leader. Consider how to recognise and feed back what is working and how lessons will be learned from what works and what does not.

Experience suggests that one of the best ways to do this is to use a facilitator to work alongside the team to address these issues.

The advantage of having someone external to help is in having someone to provide objective support and challenge thinking. A facilitator will provide a sounding board for the team's thoughts, coupled with a desire to see the team succeed. He will provide an approach that will enable the different strands of team effectiveness to be explored. A facilitator will also help the group understand the current situation, enabling the creation of a clear picture of what kind of team to be and to help in the development of strategies and behaviours to get there. He will help the team identify what it stands for, what values and ground rules will drive decision making and relationships both within the team and with its stakeholders. Facilitators will ensure that the team makes the links between what it is trying to do and how it will do it.

Imagine that by answering the question: 'what kind of team do you want to be?', a great team may be created that could be remembered forever. When the members meet in the future, they will think back on why it was such a brilliant team.

For me, the best teams have been those that focused on great performance, taught all the members a lot, and in which we had a great time achieving our goals.

The Author
Eamon O'Brien is managing director of CR&C Organisation

To comment on this article, email pme@pmlive.com