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Building Team ChemistrySeptember 2006 Sports analogies always seem to resonate in the business world. The concept of "team" is one of the most important of those concepts. We hear much about "team chemistry", that elusive coming together of the complementary skills and competencies of the various individuals to create something greater than the sum of the parts.
That chemistry is sought by every team everywhere, yet it is not often achieved. Teams loaded with superstar individuals have failed to live up to expectations because they never found the way to pool their individual qualities in a successful way. Superstars get traded for role players with different attitudes and all of a sudden the chemistry changes and teams start to achieve greater things.
The same process takes place in the business world. We all strive to build successful teams within our organizations. Teams can be executive teams working together on a continuous, ongoing basis; they can be project teams working on short-term or long-term projects within an organization; they can be made up of representatives from strategic allies hoping to achieve common goals. Business leaders spend much time focusing on the skills and knowledge needed on the team and have failed to focus on many other important areas, many competencies that help create the desired chemistry.
Building high-achieving teams should be a top priority in any organization. In order to be successful in this very important area, those putting teams together must determine who the right team members are for the given situation. Yes, skills and knowledge are important, but so are competencies and behavior.
Dr. Meredith Belbin is one of the world's leading researchers and theorists on the nature of successful teams, and his books have become standards over the last twenty years. He debunked the belief that the most successful teams are made up of the most intelligent people. In fact, he proved almost the opposite. He then went on to identify competencies and behaviors required of the team to be successful. An effective team has members that cover nine key roles in managing the team and how it carries out its work. This may be separate from the role each team member has in carrying out the work of the team. His key roles are:
- Coordinator
Sees the big picture
Moves others toward shared goals and builds trust
An effective leader who can mange meetings and delegate tasks
- Plant
Innovator, who is creative, imaginative, even unorthodox
Generates new proposals and solves problems
- Shaper
Highly motivated and intense, sparks new life into the group
Challenges and pushes for action
Creates solutions
- Monitor/Evaluator
Serious minded and analytical
Sees and weighs all options and judges accurately
- Resource Investigator
Explores opportunities and ideas
Searches for resources
The team's external communicator
- Completer
Capacity for follow through and detail
Delivers concentration and accuracy
Sense of urgency to finish on time
- Team Worker
Cooperative, perceptive and diplomatic
Good listener
Lubricating effect on the team
- Implementer
Turns ideas into actions
Reliable application to tasks
Tackles problems systematically
- Specialist
Provides specific knowledge and skills
Deals in technicalities
Some people have the ability to handle several of the team roles, so that depending on the overall makeup of their team they may assume a different role or roles. And obviously, if the team is three or four people, they have to be able to handle all of the roles among themselves.
According to Belbin, to have a successful team, you must have the right person in the chair; at least one strong Plant; a fair spread of critical thinking abilities; a spread of personal attributes and team roles; a good match between team roles and team responsibilities; and a commitment to adjust when imbalance occurs.
Management Mpowerment Associates can provide clients with valuable team assessments, helping to assure the success of teams. Through the use of the Hallmarks of Excellence in Leadership Assessment Tools, an organization can gain valuable information about the individuals on the team and the team itself, to propel it forward.
Once the right team members are chosen, there is then a process to go through to make these individuals into a high performing team. The steps are as follows:
- Make sure that every team member has a common purpose.
- Develop mutual trust.
- Ascertain that there is mutual commitment.
- Make certain that the leadership, the team roles and the lines of authority are clear.
- Develop solid relationships allowing for healthy conflict.
- Keep clear communication.
- Have clear process.
- Establish clear, common goals.
- Make certain that there is mutual accountability.
- Be results oriented.
Those enumerated steps are all crucial parts of the group of individuals growing into an effective team. None of them just happen naturally. They have to be facilitated and worked at. They will be discussed in greater detail in future articles.
If you feel you have the right people on board, but things just aren't clicking or happening the way you want, think about Management Mpowerment, and how we can work with your team to develop the process needed to make it successful. There is a lot at stake - your organization.
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