What Does a Team Need to Be Successful?

If a team wants to be successful, it needs pay more attention on two major areas:

• Task Behaviour – Helps to achieve task that are given.

• Maintenance Behaviour – Helps to create good and consistent team relations.

Sometimes teams are able to complete their tasks successfully but fail to respect their members in the process. These teams are not really considered as successful teams.

Listed below are specific tasks and maintenance behaviours that contribute to successful teams:

Tasks Behaviours

Initiating: Proposing tasks and suggesting procedures for solving a problem

Seeking information or opinions: Seeking suggestions, ideas and relevant information about a group concern.

Giving information or opinions: Providing suggestions, ideas and relevant information about a group concern.

Clarifying and elaborating: Interpreting ideas, clearing up confusion and presenting alternatives before the team.

Summarizing: Putting together related ideas, restating suggestions after team discussion, offering conclusion for team feedback.

Consensus-testing: Sending a 'trial balloon' to test possible conclusion to see if a team can agree on a decision.

Maintenance Behaviours

Listening: Paying attention to member's ideas, opinions and suggestions without interrupting them.

Harmonizing: Attempting to reconcile disagreements to reduce tensions.

Gate keeping: Facilitating the participation of others by keeping an open communication.

Encouraging: Being friendly, kind and openly accepting others' contributions.

Compromising: Admitting errors and seeking workable alternatives.

The team not only attains its goals but shape the team for better challenges in future if a good balance is maintained between the two. They should be practiced not just by the leader but by the entire member.

Next Topic Entry: Characteristics of Successful Teams

Question:

What are the strategies that you would apply as a team member to balance task and maintenance behaviours?