Building Effective Work Teams

New managers can be very naïve. They assume that all it takes for employees to work together effectively is to give them a clear goal upfront, express faith in their ability to collaborate and dangle the right reward if they succeed. Sadly, it is never that easy. Just because you form a team and urge everyone to pull together to achieve a common goal for the organisation does not assure employees will buy in. Employees need to understand what they are supposed to do and why it matters to the organisation they are working for.

Here are 7 tips you need to help you in building effective work teams.

1. Set goals as a team.
   What do you want your team to achieve? It is important that everyone agree, accept and supports what the team sets out to do. Goals should be defined clearly and quantified as much as possible. The more involved team members are in defining what needs to be achieved, the more committed they will be to achieve them. It is not enough to ask yourself, “What do I need my team to do?” Instead, ask, “How can I appeal to the shared interests of everyone on the team so that they will all care about contributing to a shared goal?”

 2. Encourage cross-training among team members.
Cross-training allows team members to acquire new skills and improves their proficiency in various aspects of their job processes. It is about training employees to be proficient in roles outside of their current responsibilities. It is also beneficial to the company as employees in terms of workplace flexibility. When a team member is sick or on leave, others can help out without the need to engage temporary help and this will reduce costs for the company. One way to get started is to use stretch assignments to develop employees who demonstrate high potential. Stretch assignments forces employees to get out from their comfort zone and develop new abilities and gain new knowledge. 

3. Maintain a small team.
   There are fewer coordination and communication problems when the team is kept small. Small groups bond closely and are able to reach consensus and agreement compared to larger groups. A reasonable number would be anything from 4 to 6 members in a team. More people means more communication, more chaos and pretty much more of everything that slows down the productivity of the team. In 2013 Gallup released a report called "The State of The American Workplace," where they found that smaller companies had more engaged employees. In fact, 42% of employees working at companies of 10 or fewer were engaged at work versus only 30% of employees at large companies.In this instance, these 10 employees could easily be equivalent to 10-person teams!
   
   Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/jacobmorgan/2015/04/15/why-smaller-teams-are-better-than-larger-ones/#5da24571e686

4. Ensure a good mix of team members within a group.
   Variety is the spice of life. For instance, managers should strive to combine dreamers and do-ers, pragmatists and innovators in the same group, as having such a mix gives the team an internal system of checks and balances on their team members’ actions. Most of the time, managers choose team members based on their functional skills, which is the area of work they are proficient at. However, the truth is that good teams are about personalities and not just about skills. Some companies make use of psychometric tests to determine the composition of teams to have a fair mix of team members. Thus, picking people for your team is a combination of both art and science.
   
   
5. Reward group performance over individual performance.
   Group rewards motivate everyone to be mutually supportive, cheer on one another and stand united in dealing with problems that might hinder the progress of the group. It will also build group loyalty and motivate each member to put in their best efforts. Group rewards could include a bonus to be shared among team members, incentives or public praise. A good manager should ensure that the team’s drive for excellence should not be undermined by any individual on the team. It is better to lose someone from your team if that can help in maintaining the overall team’s success.
   
   
6. Managers should aim to be an advisor and not boss to the group.
   Successful teamwork is when a manager has transitioned to being an advisor to the group and each team has the resources and information to complete the work. Everyone becomes responsible for results instead of just the manager alone. As the manager, you have to learn to determine when you should join the team “on the ground” to help them with challenges and when to take a step back and let your team members sort out the problems on their own.
   
   
7. Prevent teams from being isolated.

It is vital that managers assist by coordinating each teams’ efforts with other departments within your company or outside vendors for information. Collective efforts affect the entire company. To truly break down work silos, it is important for organisations to establish a culture of sharing and culture of collaboration within the workplace. Managers can start by improving communication and transparency between departments. Another way to get started is to create opportunities for departments to share best practices and success stories. Teams working in isolation kill productivity and innovation, hence managers need to make a conscious effort to prevent teams from being isolated.