Building Effective Teams

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Based on our 30+ years of organisational experience, successful teams usually meet 10 requirements. For your team to optimise its effectiveness you will have:

  1. Defined your Mission – a clear purpose (Why do we exist?) that is fully comprehended by all. 
  2. Defined your desired Reputation – clearly articulated the values, and the associated behaviours, of the team. These describe what the team wants to be known for and therefore, how they will act/conduct themselves. 
  3. Defined your team Vision – a clear goal (future-oriented state) that is fully comprehended by all. 
  4. An articulated Strategy to achieve this goal.
  5. Agreed and clearly understood Technical processes that achieve the team purpose. This usually means some level of documentation. 
  6. A way to Measure your processes for effectiveness and then improve the processes further.
  7. Clear Roles. Be clear about who does what. Include team maintenance roles as well as technical roles. 
  8. Have clear processes for Team maintenance issues i.e.:
    1. ommunication,
    2. Decision making,
    3. Providing feedback within the team,
    4. Problem solving, and
    5. Conflict resolution
  9. Have each member of the team working on some aspect of Improving the team’s processes/performance. A minimum for any one person is to be improving his or her own personal capability. Most can be working on improving some aspect of the team’s processes as well. 
  10. Appreciation within the team of the value of differences, without letting difference become an excuse for not performing. 

At Organisational Capability Solutions (OCS) we have developed a tool to help you assess the effectiveness of your team(s) on these requirements. We are also able to assist you in working on any one or more of these requirements.