What Makes A Great Team?

Many books, articles, studies and experts will tell you that good teams and teamwork is the ultimate competitive advantage any company has. Yet it is still one of the hardest things for company management to acheive. Particularly because it is not a management achievement - it is the achievement of the individuals themselves. Management can only provide an environment where good team work and great teams are able to emerge and blossom.

In an article published for CNNMoney.com a couple of years ago, Jerry Useem has a particularly humorous take on what consistutes a great team, and I agree with his bottom line: the best teams have established norms (roles & goals) and all members of the group or team hold each other accountable.

The Microsoft Office team offers a few tools to help create an environment conducive to building great teams.

Keith MacFarland offers these four tips to add to your arsenal:

"Great teams -- whether composed of athletes, businesspeople, fire fighters, military commandos, or what have you -- have four essential characteristics:

1. A shared passion to achieve a specific goal. Far too often, a company thinks it has a teambuilding problem when what it really has is a goal problem. If you want to build a great team, make sure its members share a determined passion to accomplish something. How do you get that kind of commitment? By involving everyone in the development of the goal. Without it, all the Outward Bound trips and Kumbaya singing sessions in the world aren't going to make a bit of difference to team performance.

2. A shared strategy to achieving the goal. It's not enough to get a bunch of people together who care deeply about reaching a goal. They need to have a strategy that everyone buys into for attaining it. If your team isn't functioning as well as you would like, you may actually have a strategy problem. I find that when a company clarifies its goals and involves a broad cross-section of members in crafting a strategy, often its team begins to function better together. What I have learned is that if you want to increase teamwork, don't focus on the team, focus the team on the task.

3. An unwavering belief in the intentions and abilities of fellow teammates. Yes, trust and respect are key. But, ironically, often the best way to increase levels of trust and respect on a team is to get them focused on the goal and the strategy. That's because, if done correctly, the process of developing a strategy gets people saying what they really think. When people say what they really think and are held accountable, trust and respect usually follow. Don't impose an atmosphere of false politeness.

4. A great coach. There's no getting around it, great teams usually have great coaches -- though some of the best coaches I have met in the business world operate without hierarchical authority. The advice I would give to anyone seeking to build a great team: Learn how to be a great coach. "

And here are some interesting facts from the Animal Kingdom on great teamwork:

Lessons in Teamwork from Wild Geese

As each goose flaps its wings, it creates uplift for the birds that follow. By flying in a "V" formation, the entire flock adds 71% greater flying range than if each bird flew alone.
People who share a common direction and sense of synergy can get where they are going quicker and easier, because they are travelling on the trust of one another.

When a goose falls out of formation, it feels the drag and resistance of flying alone. It quickly moves back into formation to take advantage of the lifting power of the bird in front of it.
If we had as much sense as a goose, we would stay in formation with those headed where we want to go. We would be willing to accept their help and to give help to others.

When the lead goose tires, it rotates back into the formation and another goose flies to the point position. Great teamwork involves sharing the hard tasks and sharing leadership. As with geese, people are interdependent on each other's skills and capabilities, and unique talents or resources.

The geese, flying in formation, honk to encourage those in front to keep up their speed.
In groups where there is encouragement, productivity and effectiveness is greater. The power of encouragement (to stand by one's core values and encourage the spirit of others) is the quality of honking we seek.

When a goose gets sick or wounded, two geese drop out of formation and follow it down to help protect it. They stay with it until it is able to fly again. Then they launch out together with another formation or catch up with the flock. Great teams have people that stand by each other in difficult times.


At RealTime, we have a great team, and we are constantly working to improve the environment that allows our team members room to grow and feel the power of really great teamwork. We hire people who exhibit the passion for their work and the willingness to align with others to reach all goals. On any given day, our clients get the very best of each person, working in tandem, with respect and genuine caring for their fellow team members and their client and that's what makes this a truly great company!