Building Teams the Mark of a Good Executive

Building Teams the Mark of a Good Executive
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Parents pushing team sports on their kids may seem like a crafty way to just get them active and out of the house, but most know that the skills of teamwork learned as a youth never go out of style.

Company executives also know that the benefits of team-building can pay off big when it comes to the bottom line. Employees working together for one common goal has always worked better than encouraging the individual stars to carry the load, and now executives have some high-end research to back that up.

Researches put teamwork to the test during studies that were published in 2005 in the Wall Street Journal, finding that in wide-ranging fields from medicine, to business to basketball, working together meant working better.

Harvard researchers found death rates in hospitals dropped when surgeons consistently worked together with the same team that included anesthesiologists, nurses and other technicians. The same successful results were found by Harvard professors regarding teamwork at Wall Street investment firms. A study from Santa Clara University found that NBA teams where players had played together longer won an average of five more games per season due to their “tacit knowledge” regarding their teammates.

The team approach may not appeal to every employee, but the anecdotal and fact-based research overwhelmingly shows that it’s an extremely important component of company success. Implementing team-building strategies, however, aren’t as simple as scheduling a meeting with refreshments. When an executive drops the ball on putting together solid team-building exercises, it can result in employee skepticism, frustration, and futility. If nothing gets accomplish, or worse, the exercises drive a wedge between workers, the chance for getting fresh ideas from employees is severely reduced.

Executives can stay on course with effective team-building strategies by following some simple rules:

Expect the Expected
An offense on a football team knows what its expectations are – score points. If the expectations aren’t clear for a team at work, you can bet it will fumble the assignment. The team has to clearly understand project goals, why the project matters to the company and must have the leadership, support and time to accomplish whatever task is at hand.

Keep it Real
Don’t try an reinvent the wheel or come up with goals that are unattainable. The bar should be set high for members of the team, but the bar shouldn’t be made of pixy dust and magic beans. Employees tend to scoff when an executive sets impossible goals, which signals defeat from the start. Making it attainable will keep employees motivated and on track.

Everyone Bats
There’s no I in Team is the oldest cliché in the book. Nevertheless, it’s extremely important that each member has defined goals and is participating in the process. A team, of course, needs a leader. After that, if there’s a pecking order of favorites the system can break down with cries of favoritism. The team members must be working together, sharing ideas, understanding their roles and feeling like they are part of the process. Donald Trump’s “The Apprentice” television show is a great example of how a team comes together – or falls apart – when faced with a particular project.