Business organizations are looking for ways to build effective work teams to reap the benefits of improved quality, faster production, lower costs, or higher revenue. To build better teams, the organization must begin by deciding what the levels of management sponsoring the work or project teams are willing to do to achieve the desired success.
Once management is willing to make the necessary commitment, team leaders can be selected who are willing to make the commitment to achieve the expected results of the team. Here are eleven action-oriented responsibilities managers should review and then look for leaders to hold accountable to.
- Offer good interpersonal communication skills, leadership responsiveness, barrier reduction, and commitment to team success.
- Provide a purpose or mission for the team and a list of available resources and limitations to team empowerment.
- Set realistic productivity expectations for team and member accountability and responsibility.
- Evaluate team performance regularly and provide feedback on what the team is doing well and where improvement is needed.
- Help the team develop their ground rules for group behavior and team meetings.
- Help the team develop its achievable goals and achievable plans that include measures for quality performance and team success.
- Allow opportunities for individual and team member growth in assignments, projects, and problem solving.
- Select the right skill mix and diversity in team membership and ask for their input if membership changes are needed.
- Suggest occasional role rotation and cross-training among members for team growth and to avoid loss of momentum if a member is temporarily unavailable.
- Encourage the participation of all members continuously and explain the interdependence between them as resources.
- Make sure training options are available for team building, communication, meeting management, idea generation, diversity, problem solving, decision making, trust, conflict resolution, quality improvement tools and other necessary skills for team members.
The willingness to fulfill these eleven responsibilities will mean leaders who can lead teams towards achieving the expected team results. Committed managers who sponsor teams will find that they have better teams with a high track record of achieving desired success rates for organizations. This means that organizations find that they are not looking for ways to build effective work teams. Instead, they are reaping the potential benefits of better quality, faster production, lower costs, or higher revenue.