Building Great Teams – Missing Ingredients

Team Building and Management Series – Part 2

Teams and its’ importance is discussed and agreed upon by management scholars and practitioners’ way before this article being written. Yet, how such powerful teams could be created is still a somewhat mystery. Though some groups eventually become teams (Refer my first article to understand the difference between groups and teams), success rate can’t be considered as acceptable. This article attempts to fill some of the ingredients missing in the recipe of creating great teams all the time.

1st Ingredient: Timing & Planning

Building a great team involves a process which transform the “individualistic” thinking of members to “collective – individualistic” thinking hybrid. This takes time and effort. Though nobody knows how long a particular group takes to achieve the transformation, there is strong negative correlation between the time taken and the compatibility of the team members. This simply implies that higher the compatibility, lesser the time taken. Hence, we need to start the transformation process ahead of the actual tasks of the team. Allowing the selected team members to engage in strategic team building exercises along with their current work schedules demands careful planning.

What to avoid:

• From the organization’s point of view ==> Expect outcomes of the team project within a very short time period of forming the team
• From the team’s point of view ==> Engage in the core project from the get go (Allow sometime for the team to transform)

2nd Ingredient: Get a grip on your group, you can be democratic/laissez-faire once they become a team

Illusion of the word “TEAM” mislead the team leaders to be democratic and laissez-faire from the very beginning of the team. It is important to remember that they are still a group with “individualistic” and non – committed mind frame. The leader has to keep them in a tight loop until they become a team. The leader has to be more autocratic to keep them on track and control the conflicts until they reach the “collective – individualistic” mind frame. Once this happened, the leader can empower the team.

What to avoid:

• ?From the organization’s point of view ==> Imposing “Team behavior” on the team and constraining the team leader on taking strict actions when needed
• From the team’s point of view ==> Pretend to change your behavior before you are convinced, it’s the right thing to do

3rd Ingredient: Ensuring Resources, Process & Procedural Support

Similar to organs within the human body can’t sustain their performance without the support of the other organs and systems of the body, teams can’t become great working alone within an organization. Teams have to be supported by the policies, procedures, structures and power dynamics of the organization. Providing the necessary physical resources, giving a name tag or a t-shirt with the word team on it will not be enough. Authority, and freedom to act is also should be given. Sometimes giving this demands the organization to amend the organizational structure, policies, and procedures in some serious ways. If it is necessary, the organization should be willing to make the changes.

What to avoid: 

• From the organization’s point of view ==> Being insensitive to the needs of the team and be ignorant of the organizational changes needed to facilitate the teams
• From the team’s point of view ==> Assume it’s teams’ responsibility to adjust to the conditions set by the organization than a mutual adjustment