Research Backed Ways to Strengthen Your Team
Team: A Group of People Who Trust Each Other
Teams are receiving a lot of attention now and in the recent past. Leaders and managers hire individuals with specific skills needed for work to be done. But, in our day-to-day work lives, we speak of “building a team,” “working as a team,” “developing the team,” and so on. This raises a couple of really important questions: what, exactly, is a “team?” And, once we know what a team is, how can we equip the team to work effectively?
Merriam-Webster defines a team as “a number of persons associated together in work or activity: such as a group on one side (as in football or a debate)[1]. I have also heard a team described as “a group of people who can, by working together, accomplish more than they could if they were working separately.” Additionally, I have a colleague who described a team as “a group of people that trusts one another.” Author Patrick Lencioni expands on this point further: “At the heart of it all, at the foundation of being a team lies the most precious of all virtues and the antidote for all sin, which is humility. It is the ingredient that makes vulnerability palatable and creates the possibility of trust among human beings who are naturally inclined toward self-protection[2].”
These descriptions clarify the “what” by showing the need for association, working together, humility and trusting one another. But that still leaves the question of “how?” - how does a team work together effectively?
On the positive side, teams function most effectively when they incorporate the best strengths of each team member. In addition to technical skills needed to perform daily work, teams work best when they take advantage of team members’ leadership abilities in key areas. The Gallup firm notes that “while each member [has] his or her own unique strengths, the most cohesive and successful teams [possess] broader groupings of strengths…executing, influencing, relationship building and strategic thinking[3].”
Lencioni describes five dysfunctions of a team that get in the way of it functioning well[4]:
Absence of trust, which leads to vulnerability.
Fear of conflict which leads to artificial harmony.
Lack of commitment which leads to ambiguity.
Avoidance of accountability which leads to low standards.
Inattention to results which leads to pursuit of status and ego.
All of this leaves business and organization leaders with a few challenges to consider:
Identifying team members’ leadership strengths. A strong team needs individuals skilled in executing, influencing, building relationships, and thinking strategically. Leaders who have identified these strengths in their team members have taken the first step toward using their team members most effectively.
Building teams that balance the organization’s needs. If you need a particular technical skill in your organization, you may be able to gain an additional benefit by considering the leadership skills the person brings in addition to their technical skills.
Focusing on building and strengthening your teams over time. This requires more than the occasional “team building” exercise. Such exercises can be useful, but they are not sufficient. You will benefit from spending consistent attention on identifying and addressing potential team dysfunctions that can keep your team from working at its full potential.
[1] https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/team
[2] Lencioni, P. (2002). The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable. Jossey-Bass
[3] Gallup (2008). Strengths Based Leadership: Great Leaders, Teams, and why People Follow. GALLUP PRESS
[4] I Lencioni, P. (2002). The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable. Jossey-Bass.