6 Conditions For Creating Effective Teams
A company’s growth, innovation, and success largely start with one thing: having effective teams.
Effective teams bring in diverse opinions, collaborate, and share talents and resources. But not all teams are created equal. It’s difficult to take an approach that works well for one company and assume it will work in every organization.
Martine Haas and Mark Mortensen studied numerous teams to discover the six conditions to create effective teams, regardless of the organization. For teams to be as effective as possible, these six conditions must be met:
- Real team. Effective teams have clear boundaries and interdependence among members. The members may change slightly over time, but the teams have at least a moderate stability of membership.
- Compelling direction. To be effective, teams must have a clear purpose that is challenging and consequential. The members have to know what they are working towards instead of just following the steps and getting stuck in the process instead of the end result.
- Enabling structure. Effective teams have a structure that enables teamwork as opposed to hindering it. These teams have the right tools to collaborate, no matter where they are in the world, and a structure and hierarchy that encourages collaboration and respect.
- Supportive context. The best teams aren’t left on their own but have resources like training, rewards, and access to information to do their jobs well. The team members encourage each other to use these resources and continually learn and improve.
- Competent coaching. Either within the team or close by outside, effective teams have someone to act as a mentor and to answer questions and help in getting over obstacles and challenges.
- Shared mindset. Teams are becoming more dynamic and distributed. It’s tempting to adopt an “us versus them” mentality, but a shared mindset creates a common understanding and identity.
Having effective teams can be a major boost to an organization and help on the road to success. These six conditions create a framework to build effective teams, no matter the company.
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