The Power of Teams
So What Is A Dynamic Power Team?
One of the areas that we concentrate on when helping business owners triple their business is the skill of building dynamic, power teams. They are essential to cope with the extra workload that you’re going to be taking on.
It is a team where the members trust each another, who all work towards a common goal, who hold one another accountable for making things happen and support each other where they can. It was Kurt Lewin, a social psychologist and change management expert from the early 1940s, that is credited with coining the term "group dynamics” and it’s these behaviours the are reflected in the dynamic power team. Further research has found that when these teams are working together, its members are nearly twice as creative as an average team, making them a great asset for any company.
How Do You Build A Truly Excellent Team ?
To fully understand how to build your truly excellent team, we need to first look at examples of poorly functioning teams and some aspects that are holding them back. The act of bringing together the brightest people you know together, is no guarantee they will work together well.
For example, you may have one person who is very critical of their colleagues’ ideas. After a while, their attitude stops others speaking up and they keep those possibly innovative ideas to themselves. Then you may have someone doesn’t have the confidence to contribute at all, and instead just agrees with the other ideas that are being put forward, especially from those more dominant members. Another person may be the joker, constantly crashing the momentum of a particular discussion with quips and jokes. Humour is never a bad thing in the workplace but when it’s inappropriate timed, it can lead the serious thinking astray.
So Where Does The Leader Fit In ?
Every effective group needs a strong leader, who encourages contributions from all members, quietens down the dominant people and gently controls the joker’s humorous inputs by encouraging them to add to the discussions instead of sabotaging them.
To create an effective team that work together you first need to know your team. Taking the time to discover their story, why they want to be part of the team, the passions they hold and how they can contribute. Crucially, you need establish their weaknesses and challenging situations that can turn their lights off. Once you know your team, you need to arrange for them to get to know each other and it’s during this stage that you can mutually select a group leader and assign the roles that are necessary to achieve the common purpose and mission of the group.
Forming, Storming, Norming and Performing
This is the Forming stage, the first part of the model that Bruce Tuckman developed in 1965, where the team comes together and starts to build trust with each other, essential if the group is going to perform at the excellence level you’re looking for.
As they start to work together, in the second part Tuckman’s model called Storming, this is where you may see differences and frictions arise. You need to ensure that any problems are tackled quickly and effectively as, if they are allowed to fester, they will adversely affect the team. As the name suggests, this is the most difficult time for a new group and if it isn’t handled correctly, can lead to splintering and even breakup of the group. However, it is also the most rewarding because when the individual members manage their own differences and reach compromises with each other, they become that harmonious team that you wished for.
Then they have driven into the Norming stage, where they settle and start producing the outcomes you were wanting. Often, while working well in this stage, the team may discover innovations and efficiencies you hadn’t thought of, creating an even better set of results for you. All the time you need to be encouraging open and frequent communication within the group and providing continual feedback both to the group and to each individual within the group. During this stage, the team members develop and grow their skills and characters, becoming an even greater asset to your business.
This is the Performing stage, where they become a team you can be proud of, a team that loves working together and a team that produces results above your expectations. These are teams that are identified by high levels of independence, motivation, knowledge, and competence. They have a high respect for each other make collaborative, mutually arrived at decisions, all directed to accelerating their progress toward the goals and mission that you originally set for them. They have become dynamic and powerful contributors to your business.
Here at Be Astute we love helping ambitious business owners like you create high performing teams, that provide a great environment for their personal development as well as the development of the company, that then help you to achieve and even accelerate your big plans of tripling the size of your business.
If you would like to discover more about how we can help your growth, then click on the button below to contact us or take our Digital Quiz to find out where you stand and where we might be able to help.
Together, we can help you create those dynamic, power teams that will help you triple your business.