Tweet

How to build a brilliant team

Guest post by: Campbell Corser

Article Overview: In the coming weeks, Prime Minister Julia Gillard will face a challenge that entrepreneurs know only too well - how to make teams work.

How to build a brilliant team

In the coming weeks, Prime Minister Julia Gillard will face a challenge that entrepreneurs know only too well - how to make teams work. With a government team made up of Labor MPs, in all their factions, Greens and two rural independents, former Nationals, those lessons are going to be hard. Experts say Gillard will have to use the first rule in politics and team building: listen to other people and understand where they are coming from.

Executive coach and facilitator Vivienne Barrett says the first thing Gillard needs to do is establish that everyone is working for the same thing.

"The first place that I always start with teams is look at is whether we are all on the same page,'' Barrett says.

"It's to look at what page we are on and obviously there are philosophical differences between all these people but in the end, everyone does want a better Australia."

Barrett says Gillard also has to build on strengths within the team.

"She has to see where everyone is heading to make sure they are all heading in the same direction. When you think about it, the independents and the Greens have their own agenda and in normal companies too, some people will have their own agenda."

"That issue of agenda is almost always out there. It's about seeing whether we are passionate about the same thing and how are we all going to move towards that, given that we have our own agendas as well."

So what are some of the other team-building lessons that leaders must learn?

Apart from ensuring everyone is on the same page, other companies make sure their teams work better by welcoming new members, and making them feel they are contributing straight away.

At online job agency Seek, for example, newcomers to the general team are embraced straight away. When someone joins, a general email is sent out with their photo welcoming them on board. Helium balloons are put on their desk so that everyone can come up and introduce themselves.

All teams at Seek, from sales to human resources, are expected to have rewards for solid achievements from individuals and the team itself. At human resources, for example, stand out performers are given a list of things to choose from, ranging from a movie voucher to a day off. It's not stuff that costs lots of money, but as Seek's human resources director Meahan Callaghan says, it doesn't have to be expensive to be effective. People need recognition. To create an effective team, she says you have to make that award special.

"It's more the point that you are taking the trouble to acknowledge someone rather than throw money at them,'' Callaghan says.

"If you only give them an envelope with a movie voucher, it's not the same as when you recognise them in front of the team."

Teams are made up of individuals, the two go together. As actor Ricky Gervais says, there's no "I" in TEAM, but there is a "Me" if you look closely. Smart companies try to find a balance between the two.

Seek, which last month reported a whopping 62% increase in its annual profit to $89.521 million, up from $55.3 million in the prior corresponding period, works hard on its team development, both inside the workplace and outside it.

For example, everybody gets one day off a year to go and do community work. People are encouraged to go in teams. Over the last year, they have rebuilt fences and schools damaged in the bushfires, put in time at the Royal Children's Hospital and served lunch at the Sacred Heart Mission in St Kilda. Callaghan says it helps make good teams even better. "It's just a different environment for the team to get to know each other,'' she says.

There is a big focus on communication at Seek. That means back-to-back meetings for all teams: weekly catch up meetings, daily scrum meetings in the morning to discuss what needs to be done and fortnightly retro meetings which examine how things are tracking and what needs to be done differently.

"All of that stuff that says you don't need meetings means you are not having enough communication,'' says Callaghan.

"We don't have meetings for meeting's sake. But if you have a meeting, it has to be very powerful, and that achieves something by being very clear about what the objective of that meeting is."

Another technique used by Seek to ensure its teams work well in the larger company are hard reporting lines and dotted reporting lines that keep other teams in the loop. For example, the company's IT director in Sydney has a formal reporting line connecting him to the head of IT in Melbourne. But there is a dotted line requiring him to report to the head of the business unit in Sydney. Both give feedback on his performance.

To make good teams great, team building experts say teams need leadership, clear rules and systems that build on the strengths of each individual team member.

Barrett says teams are at their most effective when they focus on the big picture. Companies need to establish systems that encourage this.

"The first thing that the team needs is to be on the same page and know where they are going,'' Barrett says. "It means starting with the big picture goals. The team goals come from the organisational strategy. The team has to make sure they are in line with that."

"Many people don't actually look at that part first, they look at the mechanics of the team, but that's how it should start."

Psychologist Eve Ash says it comes down to leadership.

"The teams where I find really highly motivated people would say the same thing about the leader. They walk around, they are visible, they know your name, they care about you, they know what's going on in your life."

"Most people who report on great teams will say their leader has regular meetings and communicates changes and what's happening with the team."

She says another important step is to establish clear ground rules. "There are agreed behaviors. You get everyone on the team trying to brainstorm ideas. It might for example be around punctuality. And for some people, what really pisses them off is the untidiness of others in their team. They will get really stressed by things that are left lying around that are shared, or the kitchen area has been left really grubby or things left behind in the fridge that nobody claims,'' she says.

"It's like housekeeping rules if you live with someone. That tends to iron out the things that make people feel annoyed. If you have the ground rules in place."

She says rewards for team members are another good strategy.

But isn't there a contradiction when you give awards to individuals instead of a top-performing team? And if the entire team is rewarded, wouldn't create a problem with free riders?

Ash says that is a matter for the team to work through. "The team can decide what the awards are and how they work,'' she says. "They can decide if it is a person each month or they can decide it it's going to be the whole team at the end of the year. If they agree together, they will usually take more responsibility for it."

She says another good technique is to create a buddy or mentoring system for people in the team. People can share skills. A geek, for example, could learn about spread sheets from a buddy and then teach the buddy how to get the most out of their computer. Or they could fill in for each other when one is away.

Timothy Sharp, chief happiness officer at the Happiness Institute, says his organisation teaches corporations to focus on the strengths of team members.

Good teams work better when the members play to their strengths, he says. These are identified through formal surveys and questionnaires.

---

"One of the main things we focus on here is to help individual members recognise, appreciate and know how to use their own strengths, and then recognise and appreciate strengths in others,'' Sharp says. "The idea is that the better I know my strengths, the more I will be able to contribute and the more productive and effective I will be. Also, if I am aware of your strengths, I'll know how to collaborate and work with you. That's when you get teams really working well, they all know one another."

The key, he says, is to focus on the positives of team members. Too many companies waste their time focussing on the negatives and people's weaknesses, instead of developing systems that build on the unique strengths of each person in the team.

"You focus on what's working as opposed to what's not working, you focus on strengths rather than weaknesses. You reinforce desirable behaviors as opposed to negative behaviors."

This does not mean sweeping problems under carpet. The negatives need to be acknowledged but they also have to be put in context, counter-balanced and offset by the positives.

"You have to be realistic,'' he says. "There will be negative people, there will be problems and there will be weaknesses in any group and we need to deal with that. You can't bury your head in the sand and pretend it's not there. But too many people spend too much time focussing on the negatives and nowhere near enough time focussing on the positives."

He says studies show that managers who spend more time focussing on the strengths of their people get a 40% better engagement score, 30 to 40% better customer loyalty and significantly higher productivity and sales.

Taden Miller, the managing director of Sabre, a company that has been training teams for 22 years, agrees that it's important to focus on the positives. He says that is the best way to make good teams great.

"You need to look at what makes that team good and what area of capability for improvement they can sustain. Usually that comes from enhancing and understanding their own strengths and weaknesses from an individual perspective,'' Miller says.

There are many tools that specialists use to map these out, including 360 degree profiling where feedback comes in from peers, subordinates and superiors. "We're not talking about psychological mumbo jumbo or black magic here,'' he says. "There are pragmatic, tried and proven tools and we try to build from that tailored workshops and tailored hands on experiential challenges. If teams want to improve their ability to execute and make decisions, they do need to go into some depth about what makes that team tick."

Sabre has a 12-point plan (see below) to build better teams but in the end, each part comes down to some commonsense rules.

"There are lots of different ways of doing it but there are some basic fundamental principles that underpin it. It goes a lot further than lawn bowls, zumba and the amazing race," Miller says.

Of course, there are fun activities too. Like military exercises where teams are kidnapped, put into fatigues and sent through mission command type activities. Or they paint on separate canvasses that come together to create a masterpiece. Or engage in movie making exercises where team members become directors, cameramen, recording and lighting specialists, scriptwriters and story board keepers and location scouts.

Miller says this helps team members learn about their strengths and the strengths of others. But they can only do that by being taken out of their comfort zones. "If you pick things that equate too strongly to their world, people tend to revert to their functional roles which is all well and good but behaviorally, people can hide behind the ego and status of those functional roles. They will not grow from that, they're not going to see different strengths and insights. '' he says.

"The reality is if you give them something that is functionally different, like a military exercise or painting, you see their natural behaviors coming to the fore. You will see leadership skills and communication skills that surprise you. Quite often, you will see a junior partner demonstrate leadership."

"To make the team better, you have to look at their teaming skills, their leadership skills, their interpersonal skills and their communication skills. The best way to do that is literally take them out of their normal experience base, take them out of their comfort zone."

"People not only go back to work with increased morale and esprit de corps, they have a better feel for their own strengths and weaknesses, and they see the value of diversity. Their ability to function as a team is enhanced by practicing team work in the context outside of what they normally do."

12 steps to make a good team great from Sabre Corporate Development: 1. Roles

An effective team will have a blend of different talents, abilities and personalities. It is important to remember that leadership is only one of many vital team roles. A balanced team generally will have thinking, supporting, doing and challenger style roles in addition to the leadership role.

2. Clear objectives and agreed goals

An effective team knows the goal it is working toward. Having clear objectives and agreed goals is more than knowing what results you want. The goals of the individual must be reconciled with those of the team for effective teamwork to occur. Begin with the end in mind to scope not only where you want to go, but also what are the milestones necessary to get there.

3. Openness and confrontation

In an effective team, people feel that they can state their own views, differences of opinions, interests and problems without fear of ridicule. There is no "stab in the back" mentality.

4. Support and trust

This is the skeleton on which an effective team is built. Support is not sympathy, but strengthening through assistance. With trust, people can talk freely about their fears and problems - knowing that they will receive from team members the help they need to become more effective.

5. Cooperation and conflict

People put the team's success before their own. Individuals trust and respect the abilities of others and are not suspicious of their motives. Conflict is also present and valued in an effective team. The team will work through an issue that causes conflict and use the result to achieve objectives. Conflict helps to avoid complacency and laziness and can often be the source of new ideas.

6. Sound procedures

The effective team thinks results first and methods second, but also realises that sound and proven working methods and decision-making help to achieve results. Good procedures help ideas to be captured and worked through without being lost and also ensure optimum usage of human and material resources for a challenge. Plan well, brief well, execute well and then de-brief.

7. Appropriate leadership

The best teams have leaders whose leadership style varies according to the situation and the needs of the individual group members and the group itself. In fact, the role of leader in an open and supportive team, can change from person to person as dictated by the situation. This situational form of leadership requires both the tolerance of members and the control of egos.

8. Regular review

Good teams understand not only the team's character, but they also look at the way that a team works, how it arrives at decisions, deals with conflicts, etc. They then use this information to develop new methods or plans and then implement these ideas. Reviews are best when teams are willing to go beyond personality and simple causes to actual root causes with a view to improving operating methods.

9. Individual development

Members of high performing teams feel good. They have opportunities to attempt new and challenging situations within the team framework and know they have the support of those around them. They are motivated to be successful.

10. Sound inter-group relations

The successful team can often appear threatening to less successful groups. This can cause isolation and hostility. The effective team works at its relations with other teams and ensures that help for others will be given when needed.

11. Good communications

Team members are aware of developments within their own team and how this fits into the larger picture of the organisation. When people understand why things are being done, they avoid duplication of effort. Rumour is replaced by fact.

12. Celebrate and acknowledge success

In the same spirit that errors are identified openly and reviewed for improvement to occur, success needs to be identified and celebrated to ensure that "what we do well" is equally addressed in tandem with areas for improvement.

Related Articles
  7 steps To a Great Interview
  5 Reasons Why Entrepreneurs Fail to Reach Their Full Potential
  How to Motivate Yourself Financially
  Your Sales Force is your companys engine Isnt it time for an MOT
  Teamwork
  Business Opportunity - Leverage Your Employees!
  To Grow Your Business, Surround Yourself with Experts: Charles Schwab
  Sometimes You Have To Blow Your Own Trumpet
  Got a Great Idea? Here's What to Do Next...
  Start a Part Time Internet Marketing Business Without Losing Your Mind
  Business Succession Planning - Three Fundamental Reasons You Need It Now
  Residual MLM Income For A Business You Can Count On
  Bite Your Tongue
  Master Your Game: Leveraging "Who" and "How"
  High quality canvas photo
  Online Business Opportunities: Try Network Marketing
  Here Is A Quick Way To Propel Your Career
  Just Get STARTED!
  Succession Planning - 3 Brilliant Benefits For Managers
  No Trust, No Team: Building Trust in a Virtual Setting

Article Tags: leadership, people management, team building



Related Forum Posts
Re: PLEASE JOIN ME . . . . - Hey Trent, I appreciate the advice. I was just sending an invitation to everyone I could. I was introducing myself and OUR objective. I knew this move would be controversial and I apoligized to everyone up front. I'm not hustling the other members for business or Marketing my business. I'm doing this for all of us. I want to build this forum as a team. . . . . Not "my section" but I want to build the Whole forum. We have an incredible team here but we only have 1000 members. I believe that we have so much to offer the world. I believe we have to be more assertive and let the world know we are here. I'm on probation and if you and the team need to vote me out I truly understand that. I take no offense at all....... My personality and the way I build a business is not for everyone. Thanks again Regards Barry
Rich Schefren on Business Systems Video - Bigjim, 1. Create a systemized business 2. build accountability into your team 3. document your processes
Team Building - Effective team building doesn't seem to be something that most business do well. That's sad since it can have such a positive effect on the business and the employees. I totally agree that taking people out for an event and then laying them off the next day wouldn't do anything to make me feel like part of a team. I've also worked with many people who see through the phony attempts at team building. Chris
Team Dynamics - Thanks for the opportunity to introduce myself. I have been helping leaders build teams of employees that are as engaged and committed to their organization's success as the leaders are. I specialize in business team culture. I am building collaborations with with leaders who might do something different than I do, but who are compatible for projects and exchanging ideas. So I would love to learn more about you, your goals and vision. I loved the post by the woman in NY who helps women develop their video on line presence. We have been working on this for some time and am looking for streaming video channels that will help me market 30 - 60 minute team dynamic training videos for on-demand viewing. Any ideas? Please share. Very happy to be here to share insights and learn even more. Dianne Crampton, Founder TIGERS Success Series.
Real Estate Management Team? - Hi Terry - if he has a team already what's the problem with expanding to having more properties? The hardest part is getting that initial team in place and building the system around it. Can they not handle more capacity?


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

Steps For Starting A Small Business

Rumor Has It

What To Do With a Troublemaker?

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.