Growing In The Right Direction — Understanding Team Composition
Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence wins championships — Michael Jordan
Teams are the core of every productive venture, development, production, sports, business or educational systems. Teams bring us in unison and sync, collecting ideas and thoughts into a process that releases our best works. Yet it is difficult to build a team that excels at its job, some people find it rather impossible. Chances are that you are a team person, either a player, or a leader, and you are seeking out ways to maximize your team effort and produce superior results. Don’t be alarmed, you are not alone.
Your team is composed of different people and variables, with this variance comes a task of management, control, understanding and empathy. These qualities if found only in the leader of the team will drag the team and successfully lag them behind timelines and deadlines. In my opinion, I believe, every member of the team should have these qualities well above average.
As a team leader, if you feel threatened by the increased performance of the individual members on your team, then you have some assessment to do on your values. Each team has a weak link, and a strong link, it only makes sense that people with the strongest links lead the team, in retrospect, if the weaker links led the team, what cost would it lay on productivity, efficiency and effectiveness? There are different ways you could answer the question, and this is as personal as it could be general, In the flip side, I try to objectively look at the good, the bad and the ugly of utilizing the weak-link strategy.
Objectivity
Every team has an objective. It could be long-term, short-term or in-between. The objective of a team determines the direction of that team. Imagine your team’s objective was to increase sales by 45%, where would they focus more energy? If the objective is to deliver products within stipulated timelines, the direction of that team changes to meet the objective, if your team’s objective is to never hit a deadline date, your team members would naturally work assiduously to deliver projects before the deadline arrives.
Objectivity is the key here, it creates focus, concentration and unique speed. There is a sense of urgency to which the team subscribes to when project objectives are clear, and in line with the team’s objective, naturally, we work better when we pick our task, we do them because we want to do them, we feel great doing them, our creative lights turn on automatically because we are working within our areas of proficiency. Team leads should identify each member’s proficient square and create task lists around that domain, you can’t ask your IT guy to get engrossed with financial projections for the project, it would down his production.
Atmosphere
Every team has an atmosphere. It is the spirit of the team, their frame of mind while working to meet goals, their culture. Atmosphere affects the productivity and efficiency of a team. If your team members feel excluded, threatened or continuously incapable of squaring up, they begin to recluse, hold back and wander while at work. Creating an inclusive environment where everyone is allowed to dare, succeed, fail, learn, unlearn, fight, win, lose, and what have you, can be the defining key to your teams’ success. When we don’t find expression, we trade it off for suppression and fear. If you are looking to join a team, understanding the team’s atmosphere will ease your transition, integration and efficiency in the team. When building, structuring or restructuring your team, be sure to allow for the right atmosphere.
Accountability
Every team has an accountability system. If you don’t hold anyone responsible for actions, successes, failures, unbeaten deadlines and the likes, you would pretty much achieve less than average. I prefer that each team member builds a habit to hold himself/herself accountable. This puts you ahead of your perceived failures and gives you the courage to flip the coin. Every system owes a responsibility to itself to grow. Sometimes, accountability systems may seem hostile and inhibiting, for better results, you should create accountability systems that blend well with your working atmosphere.
Recording & Reporting
Every team has a recording system, a reporting schedule that allows teammates to keep track of progress. Without this, your team could be marking time, running circles and digging pits. Keeping records opens up a clear path that shows where your team has been, where it is now, and how fast it is approaching its target objective. The record reveals the team’s weak and strong links, most productive periods and all other sorts of data you would need for validation and evaluation.
Size
Every team has size. The size of your team is of great importance, you may envisage a large team, so you could achieve more, that is fine. You may operate better with a small-sized team, this also is fine. Your choice for size will be informed by your values, objectives and atmosphere. In this article, Build a team that ships, Naval explains why he opts for a small-sized team, Naval’s team size is largely controlled by his team’s objective. When you have the right objective, you can build a team that scales in size.
“Individual commitment to a group effort. That is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work.” — Vince Lombardi
Build your team, cultivate the right atmosphere, hold accountability meetings, ensure that tasks are completed within set timelines, be the team-player that conscientiously delivers, the lead that inspires confidence, mastery and dominance.
If you like to read, see how you build a team with the right ingredients, and share you thoughts with us all.
