Building an Effective Team

Building a team is more than just delegating tasks, allocating resources, and managing deadlines. To effectively and efficiently achieve organizational goals, the team leader should continuously investigate and improve the seven areas mentioned below. By answering the key questions listed in these areas, a leader will have a better understanding of the current situations, limitations, and future directions of the team, and eventually, lead to improvements in management.

1. System:

• How are the tasks delegate and executed in your organization?
• Does each team member have access to opportunities for skill development and challenges?
• How transparent is your team? Does everyone know each other’s responsibilities and ongoing tasks?
• What is the smallest working unit on your team? How agile are these small working units?

2. Feedback:

• Are team members constantly getting constructive feedback from the leader?
• Is there reinforcing feedback to encourage outstanding performance?
• How does the team respond to the leader’s feedback?

3. Support:

• Does the team member always have access to the resources they need to succeed in their tasks?
• Does the leader allocate the human resources effectively and flexibly to support each working unit?
• Does the team member have access to professional advice and experience when encountering a problem during their job?

4. Personal Values:

• As a leader, are you aware of the personal values of your team members?
• Is everyone on the team placed in a position where they can demonstrate, thrive, and empower their personal values?
• Are their personal values changing?

5. Behavior:

• As a leader, do you understand your team members’ behaviors?
• How does each of your teammates handle tough situations?
• Do you know how to communicate with each team member effectively in all situations?

6. Dynamics:

• How do team members communicate with each other?
• Does the team enjoy working together? If not, what are the reasons?
• Does the team respect each other well enough in terms of personality, work habits, and personal values?

7. Role Model:

• As a leader, are you acting as a role model for your team?
• Are you constantly demonstrating the best practice that your team can learn from?

As there are no two identical leaves in the world, teams differ from each other in the ways they function and perform. To build an effective team, as a leader, you should: 1) understand your team in terms of their personal values and behavior, then 2) construct a sustainable system and provide continuous support that enables everyone to thrive and advance, while 3) providing constructive feedback and encouraging positive team dynamics, and last but not least, 4) act as a role model to demonstrate best practices and build confidence with your team, and embrace agile, transparent communication.

By Kai