Teams help individuals achieve goals
PEOPLE who are well, do well in life. Teams who are well, help individuals and the team to achieve their goals. They support and care for one and other and they succeed. It sounds good but there are certain fundamentals that need to be in place for it to happen.
Successful teams share many common attributes. They value diversity, individual strengths and insights of their members and look out for and help to bring out the best in each other. Most importantly they have a clear and common Goal.
The benefits of a well-functioning team are enormous. Communications are clear. People know where they stand and what they have to do. There is a balance between seriousness and fun. They address challenges together. Pressures and challenges are part of life. They are manageable as long as people work together to solve them. Stresses are addressed and minimized as people work together. Good teams make one and one equal to eleven by using all of the resources and strengths that individual members have.
Well-functioning teams need to have these 4 fundamentals clear.
1. Goals are agreed and understood and all are committed to it. Noel Tichy, an American management expert, found that 80 percent of team conflicts were the result of unclear goals. Team goals always have to have realistic timeframes without putting people under undue stress.
2. Peoples roles and responsibilities are clear. The natural strengths of individual members are used and all aspects of the work are clearly assigned
3. Processes and procedures are clear and people have a place and space to voice any concerns they have about how things are going. There is space to talk and thrash out and solve problems.
4. Relationships are built on trust and respect. There is a balance between fun and seriousness. Relationships are balanced and based on strong emotional intelligence. People are self aware and they know how to regulate their own emotions. People are mutually supportive and listen to one another. Diversity and difference is valued as it is understood that when people think differently, we all learn and grow and generally arrive and the best outcomes as things are thought through from many view points.
If you are involved in a team, think how you can make your team work better. First and foremost you have to be at your best in yourself. And when you are in your centre and coming from the right place, participate. Everyone in a team has a critical part to play. Team success is always collective. When each team member brings their own best self and best game to the team, good teams happen. When people are constantly working on themselves, and focused on being cooperative and collaborative and concentrating on their work, whilst being part of the team, magic is possible.
Members move from me to we and understand how their role fits into the success of the team and work to make that happen. And people support and motivate one another.