We’ve been stressing the importance of teams to business success. The benefits of successful teams are clear:
Diversity of thought contributing to stronger outcomes
Innovation at levels well beyond individual capabilities
Better business results
Socialization of information to and from stakeholders
Experiential learning which adds organizational capability
Getting these benefits requires that your teams have strong leaders, follow the core team governance principles and use the core team competencies.
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- Team charter — gaining clarity about the team’s purpose, members’ roles & commitments, desired outcomes and other critical expectations
- Alignment — Making sure that the work of the team will be aligned with important business goals which are well understood by team members
- Membership — Assuring that the selection of team members brings the right skills & competencies as well as diverse perspectives to the team
- Measurement — Putting in place clear measures of team progress and success and making sure these measures are well understood by team members
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Once the proper governance is in place, the next step is ensuring that the team is able to demonstrate these five core team competencies:
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- Engagement — Strong engagement is required among team members, between the team leader and individual team members and between the team and the broader organization
- Awareness — All team members need to be self-aware as well as able to perceive the needs and styles of other team members and the broader organization
- Trust — Team members need to be able to trust each other in all respects
- Collaboration — Team members must have the ability to collaborate fully during and outside of team meetings, including collaborating with those outside the team to leverage organizational capabilities
- Empowerment — Team members must feel empowered individually and as a team to make an important contribution to the business
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Recently, I’ve blogged a lot about the core team competencies and the developmental interventions needed to instill them in team members. These have included assessments, team building and team coaching. What’s most important, is to recognize that most of your leaders and employees probably would benefit greatly from strengthening their core team competencies. And, once you do this, a big bonus benefit — beyond team performance, will be a significantly more engaged workforce.
