Do you really want to build a team?

Purpose, Goals, Trust , Roles

TEAM: Group of people with a common purpose, sharing the same goals, trusting each other in different roles to contribute to the team and teammates success

Building a team requires a way of thinking and an attitude that are totally different from the ones conveyed through the career development and selection criteria for hiring and promotion in most of today’s “successful organizations”. Are you ready to break out of your box?

What does it entail?

First, we may want to start by defining our subject. What is a team?
A team is a group of people with the same purpose, sharing the same goals, trusting each other in different roles to contribute to the success of the team and teammates.

If we break the definition, we can find where teams and teamwork fall apart so often in today’s’ workplace.
• A team is a group of people with the same purpose: means that every member of the team wakes up in the morning or comes to the workplace for the same reason, they aim to bring something positive to the world they live in. They do not come to get a paycheck in exchange for services…
• Team shares same goals: every member of the team aims for the same SMART team goals and results. Every team member owns the team results and their individual efforts to contribute to the goals.
• Team members trust each other in doing what is right for the team success.
• Team members have clearly defined but different roles they understand and own. Roles are not tasks or job description. Roles expand beyond the limitations of the box defined by the job description. Clear roles ensure fluid cooperation in work to accomplish. Team members also have multiple levels of roles: 1-their technical roles and 2- their non-technical roles (leadership, problem-solving, questioning, score keeping, people support, resources finding etc.).

Building a team in your workplace does not require innate qualities, special skills or education.  It is a fairly simple process that requires time, dedication, awareness (self, others, and environment), humility, candor, and focus.

As you can see, building and leading a team is not for the faint at heart. Are you up for the challenge?

Why would you invest time, efforts and change part of yourself to build your team?

Research has shown that setting up a team environment increased all aspects of performance by an average of 29%. Even more, the talent retention issues practically disappeared. Employee conflicts vanished.
A case in point :
A newly promoted engineering manager inherited a highly dysfunctional workgroup. He asked for my coaching help and guidance to turn his group into a team. Within few weeks he successfully eliminated team dysfunction in a multiracial multiethnic environment. Twice within a few months, the performance of his team was recognized by top executives. A few months ago he was asked to select his replacement among his team as he was being promoted again.
IN A TEAM EVERYBODY WINS.

In our newsletters, we explore and detail the ways to build your team in the workplace on your own. Register now !