Build the perfect team

We all know that teams achieve more than individuals, here I provide my views on how this can be best achieved. Its not a definitive list and following will not guarantee success, team work involves a sprinkling of fairy dust which only you know if you can muster, there is a simple reason not all teams perform, not all people are compatible, but you can give your team the best chance to succeed.

• Clear Goals and Objectives - No team succeeds without an objective, its the one consistent, teams achieve success when each individual can maximise there own potential in achieving the same goal. A team is the outcome of a collaboration of individuals performing towards a single aim this is where the view that a high performing team of average people will always beat a low performing team of high performing individuals.

• Attitude, Attitude, Attitude - its the most important ingredient, get rid of any superstars with with wrong attitude, there is no way to fix it. Teams are all about the collective effect. Some people who excel in some areas make poor team players, this is fine, you still want them in your company. Just not in your perfect team.

• Create the Team Culture - all companies have mission statements, principles and codes of conducts. I like to create these in teams, it creates identity and can align with the corporate identity. At the beginning of big projects or deals, as a team set the rules, culture and principles you want to work together in. Aligning the expectations and mode of working makes a huge difference.

• Win, Win and then Win again - seems obvious, but a wining teams tends to keep winning, avoid tying everything to a single objective, set mini wins. Make a list of all the things you want to achieve to enable that big objective and have a bit of a celebration when you tick off each milestone on the journey to the main end goal.

• Complementary skills - Lots of tools out there from the change Index, Myers Briggs to help assess the mix of your team. You don't want a team full of high change index as all they will do is constantly move goals and reassess objectives - nothing will get done - having a balance enables you to get the best out of your changers and challengers but with the stable influence of

• Fun - Over stressed and oppressed teams don't achieve much, keeping the fun element is always a good idea, I love role play as a way of solving some of your team challenges. Productive with a few laughs. As an idea get some hats made up with all the job titles of your customer/client if your working on a big deal, then get half the team to pitch. Putting yourself in your customer/client shoes is never a bad idea and this method is far more useful than just dry running a presentation or pitch and you can see how well you know your customers.

The nirvana of the perfect team is always being strived for but hopefully these tips get you just that little bit closer.

Posted by:

Peter Mitchell