Most of the work companies and organizations do today is usually in teams irrespective of the task to being performed.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), a team is a group of two or more people working interdependently towards a common goal.

Working with good teams as an individual/employee or leader gives the best experiences especially if you share the same goals and values. However, we may not say the same for bad work teams.

How does one know the right team to choose?

For a team to give the required results, in this case working towards a common goal, you will need to consider some elements which include the following:

Team size

A group of 3 – 12 people would be the ideal number to set up your team. This is because they work faster and produce results faster or quickly because there is more diversity. Teams bigger than that would be the most recommended but they come with more work a lot of work like requiring leaders for small groups. However, they give a greater diversity.

Overall team composition

For a team to perform, it should have a variety of talents and skills ranging from

Experts or people that have worked under a similar project and have experience in the area.

Technical; to handle the websites, social media, app development, and any technical need that may arise.

Administrative; to assist with quick decision making and problem solving

Communication and interpersonal skills; to

Selection

As you put your team together, pick those that are great team players, proactive, concerned about the idea or activity of the project (share a common goal as that of the project), creative/ open minded as well as optimistic and are generally excited about the project.

Be mindful of the fact that not everyone has to be on the team. Especially because the person is a leader or holds a high position in the system. Being a leader in the company or organisation doesn’t automatically add you onto teams of projects. Select them only if they promise that they will be able to put time aside contribute. If not, they can come in as advisers of the team. Select only those that are relevant to avoid a big team.

Selecting and intensely assessing the team and then merging/putting them together is referred to as team building or development.

Wideman Comparative glossary of project management terms defines team building as a process of influencing a group of diverse individuals, each with their own goals, needs and perspectives, to work together effectively for the good of the project such that their team will accomplish more than the sum of their individual efforts could otherwise achieve.

As a leader, making the best of teams through team building is a valuable quality of leadership you should hold and practice.

However, having considered all the above, there’s more to it. Because you want to make sure that applicants selected are right for the team or have the right characteristics. There’s a set of questions to ask the applicants before taking them on fully.

Ask them whether they have worked on a successful task in a team before. If yes, what was their experience?

Ask them for an instance that was negative and how they handled it.

What and how did they contribute to the team?

As they answer, pay attention to the way the individual applicant replies. If they focus more replying with “I” then this might be a pointer that the person is selfish and is in lack of sharing.

Stages of team building

When a team is formed, it grows or progresses from an early to a mature phase irrespective of the nature of the team, as well as the task it is supposed to perform.

One of the most influential models that describe the stages of team development is one by Bruce W. Tuckman that was first published in 1965. It has provided a clear way of describing the dynamics of how people teams work together and helping the group members understand what is happening.

The following are the phases of Tuckman’s model:

Forming

During this stage, the team forms and identifies. They are still new and are beginning to meet for the first time. They have no idea of how things should be done or the way things should run. The stage is considered as complete when the members begin to develop trust among themselves and identify themselves as part of a group or team.

Storming

Here, members have now identified with the group. They have established themselves and are now more comfortable with one another. They have realized that the task they have been given is way more difficult than what they thought, and are now confident enough to air out their opinions, recommendations as we as challenge the team leader.

They are also not satisfied with the leader’s style of leadership and also began to doubt whether the task is achievable. Cooperation fails and a result, there’s lack of communication.

Norming

The team members realize that the task is achievable and begin to use their past experiences to find solutions as a group. They understand the reason as to why they have been put together as a team, accept to take on their roles, and do what is expected of them. They begin to find ways of solving the task.

Performing

Here, the team members have come to a complete understanding of what the task is and now know each of each individual’s strengths and weaknesses.

They are now working as a team and have clearly worked out their differences. They have distributed the work and the leadership is now being taken up by the team members considering the task at hand. The team has also begun producing results.

Dissolving or reorienting

The team dissolves after the task has been completed. However, the team might get back together to continue the project or embark on another one. Hence getting back to stage one (the process is a continuous cycle).