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Six Essential Ingredients for Teams in Transition

Written by: Jennifer Britton

Article Overview: With change becoming the new constant in today’s workforce, more than ever teams are now in transition – sometimes with new leadership, sometimes with new team members, often with both. How do you create an environment for a team to go from 0-100 (or at least 60) with limited budgets, resources and time? This article explores six essential ingredients for teams in transition. The article also provides strategic questions managers and teams going through change can consider to foster proactivity and results.

Six Essential Ingredients for Teams in Transition

With change becoming the new constant in today’s workforce, more than ever teams are now in transition – sometimes with new leadership, sometimes with new team members, often with both.

How do you create an environment for your team to go from 0-100 (or at least 60) with limited budgets, resources and time?

This article explores 6 Essential Ingredients for Teams In Transition – Teams with New Leadership or Teams with New Members. As you read through the article, take note of where your team currently is. You may also want to bring these questions into an upcoming staff meeting (or two!).

1. Create a Common Compelling Vision and Goals
When teams are in transition it is important to create a new vision and a common set of goals, particularly if there is new leadership, or significant members of the team have changed.

The creation of a common a clear compelling vision provides a foundation and anchor for team members to rally around. With vision being the foundation, goals provide the checkpoints along the way.

Ask yourself:
What does this team want to achieve?
What outputs or products are we responsible for?
What are the SMART goals we want to achieve? Are these a stretch?
What do we want to create?
What do we want to be known for?

2. Be Clear on Roles and Responsibilities

Having a conversation about roles and responsibilities within the team is a core activity to ensure that teams are aligned and able to perform at their optimum. Have this discussion at the kickoff when a new team is forming as well as on a regular basis.

Ask yourself:
What are individual members of the team responsible for?
How does each individual responsibility contribute to the outputs of the team? Do they contribute to the results of the organization OR the bigger picture?
How are responsibilities communicated? Recognized?
How do we check in on responsibilities? How effective is this?
How clear are the roles within the team? What are they? What needs some tightening up?

3. Identify Common Values
Our personal, professional and organizational values underpin the work that we do. A value may be around excellence or productivity or balance.

Ask yourself:
What individual values do each member of the team bring? What are the team values? How are both related? How do values translate into action?

4. Assess Ways of Communicating
What’s the most effective way for communication to occur within this team? Don’t assume that the way it’s always been done is the most effective way possible. Take as strategic look at what’s working and what’s not. You may want to consider tightening up your face to face meetings by creating more structured agendas or identifying who really needs to be at the table. You may also want to revamp email communications or look to simplify communications with regular status reports.

5. Build Trust and Respect
In order to boost team productivity and impact, trust and respect need to be present within a team.

Ask yourself:
How well do the team members know each other? Do they trust each other? What does the team need in order to feel respected? Is this supported by the organizational cultures and practices?

6. Look at individual and team strengths and capabilities
A team is only as strong as its members.
Ask yourself:
Who are the members of the team? What do they bring in terms of strengths, abilities, expertise? How can you leverage this?
What gaps exist in terms of strengths? What do you need to add?
Where is the team uniquely strong? What synergies exist?

Finally, create systems which are based on the team purpose, function and not its members. In moments where turnover is great, think about how the different roles can be filled fluidly, and how results can be achieved even if the team members change.

As you work through these questions with the team, focus in one area at a time. Remember that team development is a process which occurs over time. Which one focus area will give you the boost in productivity and results that you are after?

Reflecting and taking action on these questions as a team, will enable you to become more proactive as you navigate change.

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Article Tags: anchor, budgets, checkpoints, core activity, essential ingredients, foundation goals, kickoff, leadership, new vision, roles and responsibilities, smart goals, staff meeting, team members, transition teams, workforce



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