How to get the most out of teamwork

Designing, planning and auditing teams produces the most consistent results.

Team Chemicals and Chemistry

Karlgaard and Malone’s Team Genius is a myth-busting compilation of research into teams. They confirm that small teams outperform soloists, making it fine to overrule stubborn opposition, and that teamwork is fun and releases oxytocin. At the same time they show good chemistry, strong leadership and virtual working, all contribute to lower team productivity.

Firms should have a system for building and running teams that concentrates on delivering results. Here is a three-step framework for such a system.

Team Design

In October, the English soccer team lost a match against Greece for the first time. The star-studded team looked like a fantasy line-up, but it failed to click on the pitch. The perennial problem for England managers is how to mould undoubted talent into a winning team.

A similar issue arises at work when teams are made up of the smartest or top performing people. They get in each other’s way. Detailed-oriented people, those I call Calculators and who are data-driven experts in their field, often struggle to interact with other personalities.

The most successful teams bring a diversity of thought, which comes from different perspectives, experiences and skillsets. Even though there is a natural tension in competing ideas, each person feels able to speak up. This is a result of constructive management rather than team leadership, which too often ends in a dominant voice drowning out others.

Teams with shared experience learn and adapt well, and have fewer conflicts. They are, however, subject to groupthink and less innovative as a consequence. If a project involves proven processes then common culture is not an issue, but when the aim is to innovate, it is best to design teams drawn from different departments and with a range of experience.

Team Charter

When you have kids taking exams you try to remember what worked for you. The best advice I received was plan more, write less. Planning is more likely to mean a clear and precise answer to a question. Teams should prepare in similar fashion to students.

A team charter involves planning, setting goals and roles, and deciding how to communicate. Everything is documented. Goals add precision to vague requirements, such as efficiency improvements or more sales, and require metrics and monitoring. Dividing work among people enables everyone to feel valued and captures a breadth of opinions.

Communication is the most important part of a plan. Significant decisions should be made in team meetings and must not be undone by smaller groups after the fact. Working groups can concentrate on details that do not change outcomes or timelines. Anything more and the team ethos breaks down.

Imagine a heated discussion about the software to be used for a project. A vote is taken and a program chosen. Then a group that preferred an alternative, announce they showed some numbers to the Finance Director, who approved their choice. There are a few things wrong here.

The most effective teams number 5 to 9 people. They won’t always make the right decision, but the most consistent and effective outcomes result from respecting the majority. Those on the wrong side of a vote must back the decision. If a small group holds sway over the rest, team members disengage and the benefits of teamwork are lost.

A charter details communication channels, regular times for meetings, and determines which content goes where. For example, you share files in a common directory, ask questions in a Teams channel, and report metrics by email. The manager ensures people stick to the chosen channels and use them properly.

Team Audit

At times it will be necessary to course correct. The team may fall behind schedule, or the software prove unable to handle the workflow. An audit is held on longer projects to ensure the team stays on track.

The audit measures progress against milestones, identifies risks, and assesses output quality and whether communication is working. The team focuses on alleviating bottlenecks before returning to its tasks.

Productive Teamwork

The average company spends 15% of its time on meetings and 71% of them are considered unproductive*. A framework for productive teams consists of team design, a charter and an audit.

Questions to Ask and Answer

1. Does my firm have a strategy for creating teams?
2. Do we take time to consider the appropriate make-up of teams?
3. Do we audit team performance and make adjustments to our teamwork strategy?

* https://www.scienceofpeople.com/team-meeting-ideas/