A3 Characteristics of Effective Teams
Having a clear vision gives each member a sense of purpose. Understanding how what you are doing in your individual tasks has an impact is more motivating. Effective team leaders will communicate this goal clearly and even include team members in the decision making process when establishing goals.
Having clear roles for each team member gives them confidence in what they are doing and allows members to see how what they are doing fits in with other team members. In order to do this effectively, leaders should consider the attributes, personalities and skills of individuals and utilise them in deciding on individual roles.
Good interpersonal relationships create a positive environment where members are happy which leads to better engagement in team objectives. Leaders can encourage interpersonal relationships through teambuilding activities, encouraging social relationships and dealing with conflict effectively.
Providing training and development opportunities allows team members to feel more confident in their tasks, increases productivity and efficiency and makes members feel more valued. Having a good induction programme ensures that new team members can make an effective contribution quickly and can support the formation of relationships with existing team members.
Establishing a strong culture where team member care about the overall team performance creates better engagement from all team members. Team leaders can achieve a positive culture through establishing norms for working together and celebrating individual and team successes.
Good communication is a two way process and effective teams have clear communication from leadership both in terms of strategy and expectations as well as the reasons behind them. Effective teams also have effective bottom up communication where staff feel like they are listened to and their opinions are considered. Effective teams also have good horizontal communication where team members are able to work together to make some decisions and meet their social needs.
