How do I create a self-organized team?

I have little faith in the possibility of creating a fully self-managed team that makes decisions entirely autonomously and, most importantly, without an appointed leader in its scope of responsibility (product development, project implementation, customer service), acts in various situations, and independently improves the organization of its work.

However, you can strive to make the team more autonomous and self-directed (I like this term better than self-directed")

??What affects a team's ability to become more autonomous:

1?? The personal characteristics and skills of team members (personality and behavioral compatibility of team members, maturity, ability to find common ground, understanding of the tasks at hand, and ability to solve them independently by each team member).?

For this, selecting the team's composition regarding competence and values is sufficient.

2??Operational coherence of all team members to achieve the goal.?

It already depends on the specifics of the tasks to be solved and the time of existence of the team.

If there is enough time to build a team (from 2-3 months to 2-3 years), experienced specialists with self-organization and autonomous work skills, and established communications within the team, the team has the necessary powers, plus coordination tools (such as regular meetings, ways of planning tasks and fixing results), the team can work effectively on its own for some time.

But in the start-up phase, when team members are not yet working together, the interaction order is not defined, and in a highly volatile and risky environment, the team needs a leader or facilitator.

This person does not have to be directive and has the formal authority of a change leader or project manager.

For example, in a scrum team, which is often positioned as self-organized, a scrum master (essentially a facilitator) is responsible for team cohesion through meeting SCRUM requirements, helping team members keep their focus on the end goal, facilitating group work, monitoring compliance with agreed ceremonies, helping use necessary artifacts, and mediating in conflict situations.

?? The absence of a leader or facilitator almost always slows the team's progress toward an outcome.?

Even when people in a team are pretty autonomous, can independently decide on their tasks, coordinate with colleagues, and act with minimal supervision from the leader, someone from the team is needed to make complex and urged decisions, organize regular structured interaction, identify risks and complexities at the interface between different team members, and communicate with the outside world (external stakeholders interested in team output are not always comfortable talking to the new team members every time).

Such management duties are often aggregated around one or two team members who become leaders or facilitators.?And a team with such roles is, IMHO, no longer self-organized. ??

?? Have you encountered fully self-organized teams in your practice?

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