Characteristics of Teamwork

Have you ever been a member of a high performing, smooth running team? If you have, it's an experience that you are never likely to forget. Probably people trusted one another, worked cooperatively, enjoyed the task, and achieve goals higher than anyone may have imagined. Effective high performance teams have several characteristics as listed below:

Clear Goals: Clear goals are critical to ensure that everyone on the team is heading in the same direction. Much time and money, and energy – to say nothing of motivation and enthusiasm – are lost when everyone on the team is not aiming for the same outcome.

Defined Roles: Usually members of a team have a fairly clear idea of what their roles are and it is only during these times of crisis when role clarification poses a problem. But role issues may also come up during problem solving, when new roles may be required. They may also occur when the crisis is thought to be too daunting to manage or outside the team’s scope or when there is a lack of clarity about who what does.

Open and Clear Communication: Open and clear is probably the most important characteristic for high performance teams. Working to improve their communication with other team members will increase trust, decrease problems and rework, and build healthy interpersonal relationships.

Effective Decision Making: Effective decision making is essential to a team’s progress. Teams must have a grasp of various decision making methods, their advantages and disadvantages, and when and how to use each. Teams that choose the right decision making methods at the right time will not only save time, but they will also most often make the best decisions .

Balanced Participation: Without participation, you don’t have a team; you have a group of bodies. Balanced participation ensures that everyone on the team is fully involved and that each team member joins the discussion when his or her contribution is pertinent to the team assignment. It also means that everyone’s opinions are sought and valued by others on the team.

Valued Diversity: A diversity of thinking, ideas, methods, experiences, and opinions helps to create a high performance team. Whether individuals are creative or logical, fast or methodical, the effective team recognizes the strengths each person brings to the team.

Managed Conflict: Managed conflict ensures that problems are not swept under the rug. It means that the team has discussed members’ points of view about an issue and has come to see well managed conflict as a healthy way to bring out new ideas and to solve whatever seems to be unsolved.

Positive Atmosphere: A team must have a climate of trust and openness and a positive atmosphere indicates that members of a team are committed and involved. It means that people are comfortable with each other to be creative, take risks and make mistakes. People who are enjoying themselves are more productive than those who dislike what they are doing.

Cooperative Relationships: Team members know that they need one another’s skills, knowledge, and expertise to produce something together that they could not do as well alone. There is a sense of belonging and a willingness to make things work for the good of the team. The atmosphere is informal, comfortable, and relaxed.

Participative Leadership: Participative leadership means that leaders are good role models and that the leadership shifts at various times. In the most productive teams it is difficult to identify a leader during a casual observation. In conclusion, a high performing team can accomplish more together than all the individuals can apart.