ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

How to Build Effective Teams

Updated on January 27, 2013

Building an effective team can be as simple as 1,2,3, if you follow the rules that govern how teams work. Knowing and applying these rules will ensure the team is assembled and managed effectively.

When building a team from scratch it is imperative that these rules be followed if you have any hope of creating an effective team. If you have a team that is failing, examine the rules and be brutally honest, you will discover that most of the teams that are failing are ineffective because some or most of these rules are being broken or ignored.

TEAM RULES

1. The team must have a common objective, goal or vision.

The goal is the most important component of the team. The reason the team was assembled was to accomplish or to reach the goal. Without a common goal there would be no reason to have a team. Without a common goal there is not team, just a group of people working in the same area trying to fulfill their individual goals. The team’s goal must be vitally important to the team, more important than their individual goals.

2. Team members must have the same basic ideals.

Don’t confuse this with similar way of thinking, the team needs diversity of thought. Basic ideals work deeper than that. i.e.: If you hire a sales team to roll a new product with the goal of getting as many accounts a possible, you need closers who thrive on the closing of the sale now. If you hire a sales team to manage accounts on the long term, you need members who are more customer service oriented. Those two teams have different ideals. The leadership of the team must decide which one to be. You can’t be both. And either of the salespeople placed in the opposite team will most likely fail, because basic ideals are deeply ingrained.

3. All teams must have a clear leader. (a committee is not a team)

The leader doesn’t have to be the smartest or most talented of the group. The one quality every leader must have is consistency. He must be consistent in his feedback, his rewards, and his punishments. His words must be consistent with his actions. By being consistent the team leader will be more effective than by having any other quality.

4. No single team member is more important than the team.

Regardless of the contribution, no team member is more important than the team itself. An over-talented or over-achieving member, who is out of control, can diminish or completely destroy the productivity of the entire team. This member must be brought under control or removed from the team.

5. Commanders must be identified.

The commander is the most trusted individual in the team. This is the person who you always notice others seek, to complaint or for advice. The commander is never a member of management. He or she is usually, but not necessarily, the most senior member of the team. For these two reasons he or she is viewed by team members as trustworthy. The commander is usually unaware of their awesome power over the team members (and that’s the way it should remain). You don’t have to gain the trust, respect, or persuade the whole team your new initiative is worth it. Gain the trust, and respect of the commander or persuade him or her that your initiative is worth it and the team will follow. This is the fastest way to gain control of the team. Manage the commander and you control the team.

6. Every team member must have a clear and specific position within the team.

Responsibilities and expectations for the position must be clearly defined. If two or more team members share the same responsibilities a clear and specific chain of command must be established. You can’t have two equal assistants working in the same location, one must be assigned seniority over the other.

7. Communications must be open.

No team member should fear ridicule or fear retaliation for speaking his mind. All ideas or concerns must be considered, even if they are not shared by the leadership of the team. If the team is afraid to speak out to the leadership of the team, team members will not report problems or mistakes, they will keep them to themselves until is too late.

8. Everyone is responsible for the performance of the team.

I had a porter who worked for me. He cleaned the bathroom, vacuumed the carpet, empty the garbage cans and Windexed the showcases. Every morning he would ask me how much we did yesterday and how much we needed today. During the day, if we needed a sale he would wipe the store frantically from top to bottom. He believed that a clean store was the key to making sales. When I separated from the company, five others asked to come with me, he was one of the three I choose to recruit. No matter what the position, each team member is directly responsible for the performance of the team. Each position was installed to help the team achieve its goal. Each member must feel the vital importance of their position to the team.

9. Rewards and Punishments must be handed out impartially.

If a team member is rewarded or given thanks for performing any actions, other team members who performs the same action must be rewarded or thanked in the same manner, regardless of their position, seniority, or contribution to the team. If a team member is reprimanded or disciplined in any way, any other team member performing the same action must be reprimanded or disciplined in the same manner, regardless of their position, seniority, or contribution to the team.

10. The unity of the team must never be compromised.

No one outside the team can be allowed to have more influence over the team than the team members. No one within the team can be allowed to form cliques or make other members feel excluded.

11. Team members must trust one another’s ability to perform their position.

They don’t have to like each other, they don’t even have to be civil to one another. But they must be able to trust on their team mate’s ability to perform their specific position, and must rely on each other when it comes to reaching the team’s goal.

12. No one is allowed to turn against the team or against one of its members.

All confrontations must be resolved, but they must be resolved away from the eyes and the ears of the team. When one of the team members is confronted or attacked, the whole team feels confronted or attacked. You don’t take a team member aside to spare his feelings, you do it to minimize the effect of the talk on the team.

13. Members must be made to feel accepted, included, and their position secured within the team.

This is obvious when we are welcoming new members, but it is not so obvious when an existing member is promoted, given new responsibilities, or is failing within the team.

14. Loyalty belongs to the team.

Team members must not only be loyal to the team and other team members, they must be loyal to everything that has to do to the team. No member can be allowed to badmouth the team, its product, its image, other members, or anything to do with the team. They can disagree with the team, but once the decision to proceed in a certain path is made, complete loyalty and effort is expected.

15. The team must evolve, must change.

Everything changes and so must the team. Change forces people to grow. People come and people go and as they come and go the dynamics of the team change. To expect the team to remain the same for ever is insanity. Even when the team members remain, as time passes, they change and become other people, again changing the dynamics of the team. It is futile to try to keep the team from changing because of previous successes. Embrace change, it will only make the team better.

working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)