Characteristics of Successful Teams

As stated in my previous posts for a team to be successful, it must go through the four maturity phases and must concentrate on the two major areas- Task behaviour and Maintenance behaviour. Taking all these into consideration will ultimately determine the characteristics of a successful team. Successful team means each member working together and contributing towards achievement of a common goal and thus enjoying the whole process as a team. 

Unfortunately, not all teams are able to work well together. Why? Simply because some people prefer to work independently instead of integrating with others. 

Some major reasons behind this kind of behaviour can be:

• Excessive aggressive behaviour
• Getting off track
• Members who argue for argument's sake
• Lack of communication
• Suspending ideas in the mid-air
• Autocratic decision making methods
• Lack of respect for others' opinions and ideas
• Decisions biased towards what the group perceives management wants

This creates frustration and team dissatisfaction resulting in the destruction of the entire team spirit. These dysfunctional characteristics must be challenged and resolved. So how to prevent these situations from cropping up and build a successful team?

Here is a short You Tube video by Patrick Lencioni who describes the five major characteristics of great teams:

What are the Characteristics to establish a Successful Team?

There are many characteristics of a successful teams as listed in my first post. Here are some detailed view of those characteristics:

• Agreement on Purpose

A successful team starts with a clearly defined, measurable objective. Members should understand and completely commit themselves to the goals and objectives of the team. Unsuccessful team lack determination of purpose, plan and specific goals to be achieved.

• Use of Good Communication Techniques

Communication plays a very important role in building up a successful team. All team members should feel comfortable to communicate freely with each other to be able to share and voice out his/her opinion without fear of being ignored. A successful team focuses on listening to all members' opinion and facilitates the participation of others before concluding a final decision. 

• Ability to Confront Conflict

Good decisions are based on harmony. There are usually disagreements in teams. However, all team members have must be given an opportunity to share their ideas. Unsuccessful teams are often tensed by personal disagreements resulting in conflicts. Attempting to reconcile disagreements and making people explore differences will reduce tension. 

• Ability to Collaborate Rather Than Compete

Successful team members understand the importance of achieving team goals rather than his/her personal goal. They monitor team progress, collaborate and contribute ideas generously for the success of the team as a whole.

• Defined Roles and responsibilities

It is vital for team members to be aware of their roles and responsibilities. For them to be successful, each group member must be assigned with clear roles. The responsibilities need to be shared equally and make things simpler for everyone.

• Agreement on Systems and Procedures

Successful teams develop procedures to guide them. They set up realistic deadlines and strategies to complete the work. Working as a team with a common objective requires more time and effort, thus established procedures and strategies provide guidelines to the team along its journey to success.

• Shared Leadership

Successful teams do not have a formal leader; in fact they share leadership roles according to appropriate expertise a member has for each task. This helps to boost up moral of team members and establish positive norms for the team. Unsuccessful teams often have only one person dominating.

Questions:

Why do some teams work well together and others do not? 

Demonstrate your understanding of the characteristics and development of successful teams.