Secrets of a successful team. Secrets of a successful team What does it mean to create your own team in management
A team can be identified by a number of signs, the main of which are the following:
Table 1. Options for working in groups and teams
| Prefer to work alone or in groups | Prefer to work in teams |
| To solve simple problems or “puzzles” | To solve difficult tasks or problems |
| When cooperation is satisfactory | When a decision needs consensus |
| When Diversity is Limited | When there is uncertainty and multiple solutions |
| When a problem needs to be solved urgently | When high commitment is needed |
| When a narrow range of competence is enough | When a wide range of competencies is required |
| If there is an unavoidable conflict of interests of the participants | If it is possible to achieve the goals of team members |
| When an organization prefers working with individuals | When an organization prefers the results of teamwork to develop a forward-looking strategy |
| When you need the best result | When a Diversified Approach Is Necessary |
On the way to becoming an effective and efficient team, each group goes through several stages. The team must overcome internal contradictions and doubts before a truly harmonious team is obtained.
Steps required to build a team
To create an effective team, at different stages of its existence, it is necessary to carry out a number of actions:
Selection of suitable employees
The effectiveness of the team largely depends on the personal qualities of its members and the relationship between them. Each member of the team must be ready to use their abilities and knowledge to solve the team problem.
Therefore, it is first necessary to carefully analyze the requirements for future work. Based on this, the level of competence is determined, which includes the knowledge, understanding, skills and personal qualities that team members should have. Special attention should be referred to ability to work together.
Team size regulation
What is the optimal team size? This simple question points to one of the primary problems that comes up when building a team. The most reasonable thing would be to have a team as small as possible, but large enough to the competence of its members corresponded to the requirements of the task. Of course, you may not always be free to act freely, and you will not always have the opportunity to start building a team from scratch.
It is easiest to work in a team consisting of two people, due to the ease of communication. In larger teams, people tend to have messy communications that lead to disorganization and the feeling that a lot of time is wasted.
With an increase in the size of the team, the number of interactions between its members grows even faster, which is confirmed by a simple mathematical relationship: the number of possible personal interactions between n members equally n * (n– 1) / 2. For example, in a team of nine members, the number of possible interactions per each is 36, and in a team of four members, only 6.
If we keep in mind that every interaction contains potential conflict between its participants, with the size of the team, a greater predisposition to organizational difficulties becomes apparent.
This is especially noticeable in teams consisting of 12 or more people, in which time losses are progressively increasing and the efficiency of using the participants' qualifications is decreasing. If your team has more than 12 people and this cannot be changed, it is advisable to regroup it, breaking it into subgroups and instructing each of them to perform part of the overall task facing the team.
Clear setting of goals and objectives
For effective work team, all its members should be aware of links between goals, working methods and objectives. Objectives should be clear, focused, and should provide a vision of the way work is done and the objectives that will lead to success.
The formation of goals should be carried out by the participants themselves, and it does not matter at what level this happens - personal, team or at the organizational level. These goals should form a thoughtful and realistic basis for objectives and methods, and not be a simple list of prescriptions that logically follow from the profile of the organization.
For a clear statement and solution of tasks by the team, it is necessary to take into account the variety of expectations (often contradictory) provided by the team's goals. Dilemmas related to goals should also be considered. For example, that, on the one hand, the range of problems should be clear, and on the other, that flexibility and variability are necessary to adapt to changing circumstances.
It is difficult to expect that goals will always be clearly defined. Social, economic and political factors can cause sudden changes or force organizations to change constantly and relentlessly. Team goals should be foundation of its activities, however, significant external changes can lead to their revision.
It should be remembered that each team member has his own individual goals and hidden intentions. Therefore, team members who obey the goals of the team can only agree with them to a greater or lesser extent. They may secretly disagree with the goals of the team, but obey them for some personal reasons - for example, wanting to make money or build a career.
Therefore, the decisive moment in goal setting and the main area of team management is prevention of the possibility of conflict or collision between team and personal goals. For the team to work effectively, it is important that the goals are achievable, measurable and accepted or at least understood by team members and managers. high level both inside and outside the organization.
Team Efficiency
It is impossible to formulate a complete and categorical set of rules, following which will necessarily lead to the creation of an effective team. The reasons for the team's success are more complex. However, the main elements of effective team work can be identified:
Summing up what has been said, it can be noted that well-organized teamwork can be achieved under the following conditions:
A business in which everything goes according to plan, and employees are gathered into teams, resolve conflicts on their own and inform management about problems and solutions in a timely manner is the ideal that many companies aspire to. We explain what stages a group of people goes through before becoming a team, how to bring it to self-organization and what risks there are.
According to a study by American psychologist Bruce Tuckman, a group of people goes through four stages of its development before becoming a full-fledged team. Each stage is characterized by its dynamics within the team and is associated with its own complexities.
By anticipating these difficulties, having ready-made solutions, a manager can happily avoid such problems and make a real team out of his subordinates.
Let's take a closer look at the stages of the life cycle of a team: formation, collision, normalization, execution.
Formation
The stage of meetings, grinding and team building. On it, the participants recognize each other, do not conflict, but the effectiveness of the work is still quite low.
There are no teams as such. Each participant primarily pursues personal goals, and does not accept and does not fully understand the goals for which the team was created
Solution: At this stage, the manager's task is to help the team determine the overall goal and criteria for the success of the product or project. Agree on the norms and rules of work - both formal and non-formal. Particular attention should be paid feedback: participants should be given the opportunity to ask all their questions and express their own concerns.
clash
Main difficulty next stage- the appearance of contradictions between team members. There is a clash of opinions, people find out who is worth what, there are disputes about how work should be done, and how to assign roles. This is the most dangerous stage. At this stage, the participants fight for the status of an informal leader, the level of conflict increases.
Recommendation: In such a situation, it is important for the leader to monitor and resolve conflicts, communicate with employees as often as possible. He acts as a coach who leads his team through a difficult stage. Helps steer negotiations in the right direction and explains how a problem can be dealt with constructively. The leader needs to be able to be a mediator, an intermediary between the conflicting parties - to paraphrase their words, removing emotions, and leaving only the important essence. Facilitation skills are also very important - organizing meetings as efficiently as possible, so that a short time the group came to a consensus and everyone accepted it as their own.
Normalization
The team has rallied, learned to work together and is gaining experience in working together. Efficiency grows gradually, but constantly. Roles are defined, norms are worked out and work. Everyone shares a common goal.
Recommendation: It is important to think about team sustainability. There is such a thing as “bus-factor” (“bus-factor”) - this is the answer to the question: “how many people in your team must be hit by a bus for the project to stand up or die?”. The lower this number, the less stable the team. It is important for the leader to organize communication within the team, and convey to each member that each member of the team should be able to help another, or even replace, if necessary. Only then will the team be able to overcome difficulties and cope with any load.
Efficiency plateau
The pinnacle of efficiency. There is a transformation of the working group into a productive close-knit team. The "bus-factor" is high, the team consists of interchangeable people, appreciates everyone, and feels like a single whole.
Recommendation: this command state is not stable. It is worth changing the composition of the team, or switching it to another project with which she did not work, as the whole process begins anew. With a smaller amplitude, but still, the team goes through the stages of Formation, Collision, Normalization and Plateau of efficiency. All this is associated with a drop in efficiency, and demoralization of the team. Therefore, the leader needs to be there, and, if necessary, again help the team go through all the stages, helping it with their skills and expertise.
The importance of the team can hardly be overestimated, because it is people who determine the success of the company in which they work. Recall Jim Collins' study in Good to Great, where the first priority of successful companies was to build an effective team.
“Those who created great companies understand that the main accelerator of growth is not the market, not technology, not competition, not products. The factor that is more important than all the rest is the ability to find and retain the right people for the company.” J. Collins
Today we will talk about how to create a dream team in your company, having examined in detail the key steps to success in team building.
Without what there is no dream team
Before claiming that the ideal team is a myth, we suggest checking your company for the following items, which, as a rule, are the components of the dream team.
1. Competent distribution of roles
Well-known business consultant Yitzhak Adizes identified 4 key roles in the management process. This model is so versatile that it can be applied to team building as well. Let's take a look at the key roles that team members can play:
- The producer of results is the executor. Actually, the one who creates the product (or services) in the company. Perfectly knows the nuances of development, technology, monitors latest inventions in their industry, to then successfully implement them in their own work.
- Administrator - controller. He is also a manager. Often a perfectionist. Follows all the details of the process. Analyzes the situation, plans for the future. Organized. Asks a lot of questions on the case, looking for "pitfalls".
- An entrepreneur is an ideological inspirer. Generates new ideas, is not afraid to take risks. Develops a strategy for the direction of the company, its development, development of new prospects. The entrepreneur has a kind of "gift of forecasting" - he feels the trends and moods of the market, as a result of which the company creates exactly "shooting" projects.
- Integrator - "superglue". The team pays. He will always listen, understand, try to help, convey the ideas of the team to the management and do everything to bring them to life. As a rule, he is a mass entertainer who organizes all kinds of corporate events, collective meetings and meetings.
2. Interesting tasks and projects
People are interested in showing their abilities, discovering something new in themselves. They like to work on something that captivates them with their heads. And when projects are entirely carbon copy and do not require new knowledge and self-improvement, in such cases the routine not only extinguishes the fire in the eyes of employees, but also kills the team spirit, and as a result, the company itself.
3. Clear goals
Vagueness is the enemy of results and efficiency. Before you set a task for the team, formulate goals. They must meet four simple requirements: be specific, measurable, time bound, and consistent with the overall concept of the project. And, of course, the goal must be achievable - otherwise, why bother taking time from the team for a doomed project?
“There would be a goal, and the chain of trial and error itself would lead to the desired result” H. Murakami
4. Comfortable environment
Labor productivity grows when all conditions for work are created: a cozy office, a pleasant atmosphere, coffee and tea in unlimited access, and, of course, sweets :-)
5. Appropriate equipment
You can, of course, try to develop something super-innovative using outdated tools, but the result is unlikely to please you. Provide your team with powerful equipment that is a pleasure to work on - and trust me, your employees will thank you with an impressive implementation of the tasks assigned to them.
6. Cohesion and "team spirit"
Naturally, the existence of a dream team is impossible without cohesion and unity, without some kind of “team spirit” that unites and spurs employees to conquer new heights.
7. Understanding Career Development
Agree, few people are ready to come to work every day and stagnate in one place, knowing that today's position is the ceiling of a career. Therefore, it is necessary to give employees a clear understanding of what they have, where to grow.
8. Reward
The remuneration policy includes not only the financial part (bonuses, bonuses and other options for monetary motivation). Employees need to be praised, both in private and publicly. Most people are vain, and really want their pride to be amused, and their merits to be recognized. In psychology, there is such a thing as “stroking” - all sorts of compliments, a smile, the same praise, as well as physical contact (for example, pat on the shoulder, shake hands, if appropriate, hug).
Problems on the way to building a dream team
It's not enough just to pick the right people and give them a job. Man is a complex creature, and the totality of people is even more complicated. That is why not all companies manage to create their own dream teams, because a banal misunderstanding of psychology and needs, incorrect distribution of roles, as well as many other factors can make even the most highly qualified specialist work carelessly. Let's take a look at what's standing in the way of your dream team:
1. Misunderstanding of task priorities
Confusion is yours main enemy. When there is no clear understanding of which tasks need to be done first and which can wait, time is wasted, and this is terribly annoying. Relieve your employees of this annoyance and help you effectively allocate your working time - set clear priorities in the tasks assigned to them.
“To be able to manage means not to interfere good people work" L. Kapitsa
2. Wrong goal setting
“The slowest person who does not lose sight of his goal is still more agile than the one who wanders without a goal” G. E. Lessing
3. Incorrect distribution of roles
Do not assign to the employee the role that does not suit him! Analyze what a person does best, and give him the appropriate tasks. Develop skills, encourage abilities.
4. Lack of an influential charismatic team leader
Giving authority to lead the team is not enough. It is extremely important that the leader is not just formally appointed, but truly enjoys authority among his wards. Management is an art, do not give it to the wrong hands.
5. Misunderstanding of career prospects
The career ladder should be transparent - employees should know that for their efforts, initiative and achievements they will receive the desired promotion.
6. Routine and boring projects
Not only creatives and other creative workers need to be periodically “fed” with projects in which their imagination and talents can roam to the fullest. Even techies to the core need variety and challenging tasks where they can show their abilities. Monotony and dullness will appeal, perhaps, to robots or zombies.
7. Lack of motivating factors
If you do not reward employees for their efforts, for good results and in general, take them for granted - be sure that they will leave you soon. And if they do, they will be extremely dissatisfied and stop trying. And certainly the dream team in this case will turn into a myth.
8. Conflicts and disagreements between team members
Naturally, employees should not be required to communicate with each other in the “mimimi” style. It's okay if there are disagreements in the process of working on a project - as Socrates said: "Truth is born in a dispute." But it is very important that these same disputes do not lead to destructive consequences, and do not cause a split in the team into camps, militancy and other negative things.
How to create a dream team?
- Allocate roles wisely. From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.
- Combine business with pleasure — dilute your routine with exciting tasks and projects.
- Specify the facts and focus on the main thing.
- Involve in the process - involve in brainstorming sessions, consult with those who know technology better than you.
- Organize unifying events – corporate outings, holidays, gatherings and conventions help bring employees together in an informal setting, which blurs boundaries and removes all communication barriers.
- Promote growth - literature, trainings, courses. Train and nurture talents.
- Promote the most profitable projects within the team.
And for dessert, we present to your attention the presentation of the report of our novel “Dream Teams. Myth or reality?”, which he spoke at the WebCamp 2012 conference in Odessa.
I owe a lot to those talented people who supported me at different moments. The team is almost always stronger and has the ability to achieve more than even the most talented and professional loner.
I bring to your attention an interview on this topic with my good friend, Swedish businessman and popular business coach Martin Runov.
Martin Runow is a business consultant with over eighteen years of experience in HR. He owns recruitment companies in fifteen countries. Martin's client list includes Volvo, IBM, American Express, Scania. One of the companies (“Performia”) has been successfully operating in Russia for three years.
We had the opportunity to meet Mr. Runov and find out how he managed to build and manage such a large number of companies.
“Mr. Runov, what is the secret of your success?
- I think that when you create a real team, you can rely on it and work together towards the goal.
You said "team", what meaning do you put in this word?
A team is a group united by a single goal, in which group members care about each other. They represent what the other members of the group actually want. They are ready to help each other and are ready, as needed, to correct the actions of other members of this group.
They know why they are in this group and what they are trying to achieve by working together.
If we talk about the group in general, then it can be anything. The spectrum is wide: from a real team to a bunch of confused people who have no idea what they are doing.
We know that you conduct recruitment seminars, this is understandable, you work in this business area. And where does the knowledge of creating a team come from, purely practical - the experience of creating your own companies and managing them - or do you have some kind of theoretical background?
It turns out that the group as a whole follows the same laws of behavior as an individual, because the group consists of individuals. If you know what drives a person, if you understand a person, if you investigate the laws of his behavior, this automatically improves your awareness of the laws of group behavior. Also, if you can't handle an individual, you won't be able to handle a group.
If we talk about theoretical data, I studied the technology of the American scientist Ron Hubbard. Although here I must emphasize that in fact any "letter" of this theory is focused on practical use.
This technology describes with pinpoint accuracy why a person behaves in one way or another, how to cope with human emotions and reactions, how to help a person overcome any difficulties associated with human relationships. Ron Hubbard said that if you can't improve the individual, you can't improve society. Therefore, it is extremely important to have knowledge about a person, and understanding a person gives you an understanding of the laws by which a group lives.
Mr. Runov, from your point of view, what mistakes of leaders are the most dangerous for the team and can even lead to its destruction?
Leaders (especially some) often "bypass" their own, for no reason. Bypass means to intrude into the responsibility of your subordinate and start doing his work or part of the work. Thus, they simply do not allow a person to control what he should control.
Imagine that you are driving a car, and someone grabs the steering wheel from you or presses on the brake or gas. As a result of such actions, the manager can generally discourage employees from doing anything. In such a company, they can turn into a bunch of "observers" who sit and wait for instructions, or the company begins to lose productive employees. Both will undoubtedly be devastating to the group.
If a leader is trying to build a team, where should he start?
If the leader really wants to build a solid team, he needs to do something like research within the group and find out who is the real real opinion maker in this group (in other words, the person whose opinion is decisive for the rest), and then establish a rapport with by this person. If the legislator of opinion disagrees with the leader in some way or there is no understanding between them, this situation will spread to the relationship of this leader with the whole group.
If there is an unhealthy atmosphere in the organization, what should the leader do in the first place to correct the situation?
Do everything to increase production; no matter what you have to do to achieve the desired result. If you are only worried about the "atmosphere" - you are not really worried about that, you are wasting your time completely in vain.
If you feel that something is wrong in the team, know that something is hindering production and you better figure out what is stopping it as soon as possible. Find out what or who it is. If this is a person, then you may have to kick him out of the company.
If it's confusion about how to produce or provide a product or service, then the manager just needs to figure out what the employees don't understand and organize training for them if necessary, even if he has to train them himself. As soon as production starts to grow, the atmosphere in the team will immediately improve.
Mr. Runov, can you name a few principles for creating a team?
First, any team, in order to be a team, needs a leader who is ready to be a leader. This person must be clearly aware that his attitude to something and his emotional state will determine the emotional state of the entire team. Therefore, in certain situations, the leader needs to cope with his bad mood, otherwise it will be destructive for the team as a whole.
It is also necessary to maintain a high speed of operation. True team players like to do things quickly. High speed of work allows you to identify problems faster and fix them faster. Organize teamwork in such a way that everyone is busy. As soon as you see that someone is bored, immediately assign them additional responsibilities.
There is one more key moment- always reward high stats and never reward low stats! To do otherwise is like planting a bomb under your own company. IN this rule there are no exceptions for friends, relatives, or yourself.
Mr. Runov, is there anything you would like to wish our readers?
Remember that building a team is an ongoing process. There is no such thing here - you made a decision, created a team and then never do it again. You have to create literally every minute of your life. It's the same as in marriage: if you don't create that relationship, it will disappear.
Also, if you are the leader, make sure that other members of the group have the opportunity to communicate with you. This approach will allow you to create a team that simply will not be equal.
Questions were asked by Evgenia Sukhareva, President of WISE CIS.
WISE- international association entrepreneurs (individuals) who use the management technology developed by L. Ron Hubbard in their business
But let's continue the topic of creating a team.
Once upon a time, probably in 1994, one of my acquaintances "foreign exchanger" addressed me with a similar question. So we then called those who knew how to change rubles for currency. I then, as best I could, tried to explain that it was elementary. As a result, we became partners and subsequently created a very successful company, Northern Empire. And a little later, no less successfully, in my opinion, it was destroyed.
After that, with another partner, we managed to create an even more successful team - the White Guard trading house, which has flourished to this day. Somehow it happened that with the teams in my life it was good. It's worse without commands.
In the institute years, together with friends, we created a faculty propaganda team and it was really fun. A great team was formed during the construction team, and now, after 20 years, we continue to meet. The former commissioner of our construction team became the vice president of Alfa-Bank, the chief engineer is one of the leaders in the furniture market, and so on ...
There are indeed many different leaders in different markets, it's just off topic.
In general, to create a team, firstly, it is not necessary to be a team building theorist. And, secondly, it is not necessary to invite specialists - “team creators” who will take you to the forest, where you will stand in a circle, hug your shoulders and start spitting together in the center of the circle in order to rally.
In my opinion, the following things are needed to create a team:
An interesting, exciting goal, activity or game.
Your own desire to succeed.
Ability to communicate to find, engage and inspire like-minded people with this game.
Fair rules for doing business within the team.
Proper distribution of roles in the team.
Real opponents to compete with. (I almost wrote that various difficulties were still needed to be dealt with. But I remembered in time that you could find enough of this without my help. The next point is much more important)
To build a team, you need to win and celebrate those wins. One of my most successful staff motivating activities has been creating intermediate group goals and celebrating the achievement of results against those goals.
It all seems to sound simple, but what to do if “glasses are on the nose, and autumn is in the soul,” as Isaac Immanuilovich Babel wrote. If this is your case, then I recommend very simple steps. You need to get a notebook and call old friends, wish them a Merry Christmas and start meeting and chatting. And do this until you have a goal and an idea for a new game.
Yes, I recommend dating people who are doing well. At the same time, it is absolutely not necessary to load them with your problems. It will be enough if you express your admiration for them and simply show interest in what helps them achieve this success.
What do you do if you feel like you're not a natural leader? The most important word in this sentence is "seems". In this case, just take a piece of paper and write down on it all the activities that you organized or initiated, whether it's your son's birthday or fishing with friends, a project at work or making money on the side.
Another very important point. It doesn't matter if you consider yourself a leader or not, you need to learn how to find leaders and learn how to negotiate with them. Without this, it is difficult to create a really large and successful team. If you are really interested in how to find them, I will be happy to talk about it in one of my seminars.
I am very pleased to receive your letters, especially with correct and intelligent questions.
Very interesting, in my opinion, questions were sent by Vladislav Abornev:
1. “How can you motivate people in a team if there are not enough material resources at the beginning of a project launch?”
I recommend to calculate and write on paper what the project participants will have as the development progresses and as a result. At one time, I wrote rules for managers, in which it was clear from the numbers what they would have, and what actions they would need to take, and how it would develop over the months. Show what advantages they will have compared to existing businesses.
2. "Where to look for young professionals who do not have high requirements, and how to motivate them to cooperate in a team?"
I recommend looking for graduates of technical universities and not necessarily with low requirements. Just show them growth opportunities. And on their part, ask how they can prove that they are able to achieve and get results. Those who are capable respond to a challenge, not to a large salary.
3. “In your experience, what are the most appropriate ways of testing, evaluating the quality of candidates in order to understand how effective they are in a team?”
In my opinion, one might ask:
What teams did this person participate in in his life?
Have these teams been successful?
His answers will give you all the information you need. However, you may notice a delay in answering these questions. (Moreover, the delay is not only silence, but also chatter that does not answer the question posed). The longer the delay, the less it suits you. Well, for reliability, you can really call those who can give a recommendation.
The team has always been and always will be an essential component to building a successful business. But building a strong team is not always easy and simple, it is important to plan for building it and make some efforts to keep people in the same boat.
Smart leaders know that building a team requires pinpointing the skillset of employees and assigning them precise tasks that are well suited to their abilities. When building teams, they choose people they feel will work well together. The joint efforts of team members not only produce superior results, they also build a sense of solidarity within their organizations.
Since your success is directly dependent on the team, you must know certain secrets that will help make it effective.
5 Secrets to Building Effective Teamwork
1. Recognize the power of teamwork
Before you begin, take the time to appreciate the power of working together and how you can the best way use this tool. Consider the outcome you want to achieve and the tasks you think are necessary to achieve that goal. Do you think that the qualifications of your employees correspond to the objectives of the project? Determine which personalities on your team will complement each other best. A successful project comes from the talents of the team, but the true power of teamwork comes from group cohesion and focus on a common goal.
2. Choose the right people
If you want your team to be truly effective, you need to have the right people for the job. If possible, try to include people in your organization who bring a variety of experiences and perspectives to the project. If, for example, you're trying to come up with a new way to track customer satisfaction using new social media tools, be sure to include employees who know what sales, IT, customer experience, and more are all about. Try to choose people for your team who together will provide a broad perspective on your project.
3. Delegate
Once you have selected your team and defined your expectations, delegate your authority and access to the team to complete the project. Hard-working, energetic, and creative people become frustrated very quickly if they don't have the freedom, access to the tools, and other resources needed to complete their work.
Once you've made your recommendations, you can make sure they can follow through. Avoid telling team members what to do and how to do it. Instead, work with them, set goals, and then remove obstacles, provide access, and provide the support your team needs to achieve those goals.
4. Monitor progress
If you have chosen the right people for your team, you must ensure that the team works well together and that the project is on track to succeed. Provide, as needed, a forum where you and the team can share challenges, successes, and monitor progress.
You may find that you need to assign a team leader, or redefine the project and reassign roles. Try to give this right to the command itself. This will bring them very close.
5. Celebrate your successes
When your team hits or exceeds goals, be sure to recognize that victory and celebrate it. At a minimum, schedule a final team meeting where you can thank the group collectively and describe the positive impact their work has had on the overall success of your organization and your clients. One hallmark outstanding team is the camaraderie. And for this you need to notice the role of the team in the entire process of achieving success.
Here are 5 rules that will make your team effective and your business successful.
