Leadership and Team Assessment, Training & Development
Effective teamwork is key to the successful operation of your organisation and a strong team will make it through the hard times that may lie ahead. This section will help you understand how teams work and how you can make the most of yours.
Understanding teams
Good teamwork doesn’t just happen. Conscious effort is needed to help groups of individuals work together as a team. Teams can experience difficulties working together at times, but this is a normal aspect of group or organisational life. Good team performance and positive team relations need to be developed and maintained and certain features or ‘building blocks’ enable teams to work together well. Before looking at these you might want to reflect on your own experience of teamwork.
To understand what makes a good or difficult team think back to teams you’ve been part of. These could be teams at work, as a volunteer, in education, sports or social groups. Which stands out as a good team? What made that team good? Do any stand out as ‘bad’ teams? What made that team difficult?
The building blocks for developing teams
There are 11 main building blocks to developing and maintaining a team that works well together and achieves high performance. These are briefly listed then each one is described in greater detail below:
Let us look at how each building block can be developed in a team. It’s helpful to identify the team’s strengths and weaknesses as a starting point to see which are the priority areas for development.
Developing each building block
1. Clear objectives
There are mutually agreed aims and objectives, everyone has a clear understanding of these. To develop this:
Review the team’s mission and objectives. This will sit within your organisation’s overall strategy and plan.
Hold a team planning day (you may want to try a simple team planning exercise).
Produce a user-friendly team plan.
Write a brochure publicising the work of the team.
2. Balanced roles
There is a good balance of skills, abilities and aspirations. Team members have a clear understanding of each individual’s role in achieving overall team objectives. To develop this:
Analyse the roles people take, and discuss ways they can develop their role.
Provide opportunities for development such as delegation, job rotation, project work, rotated chairing and leadership.
Include team roles (link to team roles page to come) in individual development plans.
Find out more in Team roles.
3. Effective processes
There are good processes for making, communicating, implementing and reviewing decisions. There are effective information systems and coordination of resources. To develop this:
Review existing procedures. Formalise anything you might need to (for example a structure for team meetings, a team induction pack).
Agree on how you will set the team agenda. Produce this in plenty of time.
Have clear minutes that act as a reminder and inform people who weren’t there.
Link team processes (such as team review) to individual appraisal and personal development.
Produce an easy reference list of team procedures.
4. Good communication
Meetings are productive and there is effective communication up, down and across the organisation. To develop this:
Discuss how to make full use of different communication methods – electronic, message books, notice boards, phone, team meetings etc.
Include a brief ‘check in’ at team meetings. Each person has two minutes to tell others what is a priority for them at the moment. (Any ‘issues’ that arise can be put on the agenda for the current or future meetings, or dealt with outside the meeting).
Include an information slot at team meetings.
Give individuals responsibility for liaising with key groups or agencies and keeping the team informed of any important issues.
Invite people from other teams and agencies to address the team on matters of common interest.
5. Appropriate leadership
The team trusts the team leader and feels that it is led in an appropriate way. To develop this:
Hold a team discussion on your understanding of leadership.
Encourage different team members to take a lead on specific projects or tasks.
Give each other feedback on leadership and other qualities.
If you are formally the Team Leader look at your leadership style in supervision and ways you can develop.
Assess your stage of team development and adapt your leadership style according to the relevant stage.
6. Support and trust
People help each other by listening, evaluating, offering ideas, encouraging experimentation and giving support. To develop this:
Allow time to discuss different individual perspectives and develop shared values.
Develop open communication - what is said publicly should match what is said privately.
Provide opportunities for joint problem-solving, sharing work and learning.
Act the way you’d like to see others act – for example, share your concerns, listen well, give constructive feedback.
Find opportunities for social contact – such as coffee, lunch, sandwiches after team meetings.
Encourage team responses to individual problems.
Encourage people to share achievements and show appreciation.
Celebrate team achievements.
7. Openness and conflict
People express themselves openly and honestly. There is a willingness to work through difficult situations or conflict constructively. To develop this:
Develop team ‘ground rules’ that value being open and giving constructive criticism as well as praise.
Find a good balance of being supportive and being challenging. (An overly supportive team can become too cosy with little learning. On the other hand, too much challenge can feel threatening.)
Facilitate some ‘getting to know you’ exercises. See Team building events for more on this.
Jointly appraise team performance.
Give positive feedback and constructive critical feedback.
Make sure feedback is evenly distributed and not aimed at only one or two people.
Openly discuss differences before they develop into a major conflict.
If there are major conflicts invite a third party to facilitate discussion.
Allow people to express frustration or anger openly and respectfully. Otherwise, it can come out indirectly.
8. Mutual cooperation
There is a readiness to be involved and committed. Individuals’ abilities, knowledge and experience are pooled and used by the team. There is acceptance of each others’ strengths and weaknesses. To develop this:
Provide opportunities for the whole team to have an input – for example in team planning.
Enable different team members to work together on larger projects.
Clarify each person’s role or input on joint projects.
Encourage experienced people to support or coach less experienced team members.
9. Individual development
‘Mistakes’ are faced openly and used as a vehicle for learning. Individuals are given opportunities to develop new skills and experience. To develop this:
Pick up on team-related issues in one to one supervision and appraisal.
Make sure each team member has a learning and development plan linked to team and individual job objectives.
Recognise and reward achievement.
Make sure training and development are included in team plans.
Use team meetings as an opportunity for learning and development.
Use your own and external expertise to hold team training days.
10. Sound inter-group relations
The team enjoys good relations with other teams, departments and agencies, each valuing and respecting the other. To develop this:
Hold a team ‘open-day’.
Develop joint projects and planning where it could be helpful.
Hold an occasional joint team meeting.
Have a joint social event.
Ask other teams for feedback on your team’s performance. Give feedback to them if they ask for it. Remember to start with the positive if they do.
Appoint team members to liaise with other teams or agencies.
Provide opportunities to shadow members of another team, and vice versa.
11. Regular review
The team regularly reviews its performance and goals and alters its priorities and practice in the light of review. To develop this:
At the end of each team meeting hold a five-minute feedback session on what has been helpful or unhelpful.
Develop processes for reviewing how far you are achieving team objectives and standards.
Invite other teams, external agencies or service users to comment on the team’s performance.
Bring in a third-party observer to comment on team performance.
Putting the building blocks in place
A mature team might have all the building blocks in place, whereas a new team, or one going through changes, is likely to have gaps. This is partly because teams also go through stages of development. Recognising and understanding these stages can help the team move through them.
Getting help
If you need support with team development activities you may want to engage a skilled facilitator to work with you. Think about organising team-building events or working through the stages of team development.
Leadership style
Team leadership plays a major part in a team’s success or failure. Leading a small operations team may not compare with the challenges of leading a large complex organisation. However, it is worth viewing it in the context of leadership in general.
Team leaders need to be able to:
quickly unite a team/organisation around new or revised goals in a fast-changing environment
take on board diverse and often strongly held views amongst funders, trustees, staff, service users and partner agencies in developing strategy
develop innovative teams who can quickly take advantage of new opportunities
preserve team spirit and optimism in times of resource scarcity.
There are many different approaches to leadership that link team development with high performance. For example, a popular action-centred leadership model outlines three major leadership functions – achieving the task, developing the individual and building the team. These three functions are interdependent: you can’t achieve one without the others.
The style adopted by the leader will have a major impact on the performance of the team. Daniel Goleman and other leadership researchers suggest that leaders should adopt a different style depending on each given situation and the development level of the team.
Teams go through stages of development as they move from ‘forming’ to maturity. A major role for the leader is to help the team develop through stages until they reach high performance. Helping teams through these stages include adapting your leadership style. In the early stages, a more directive approach helps to build safety, trust and confidence in the leader’s ability. As teams become more effective, a more participative style of leadership becomes appropriate. Responsibility and leadership can be shared amongst team members.
The Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu said of leadership:
“As for the best leaders, the people do not notice their existence. The next best, the people honour and praise. The next, the people fear; and the next, the people hate. When the best leader’s work is done the people say ‘we did it ourselves’.’’
Developing team leadership skills
The Leadership section suggests skills for leadership including:
building trust
demonstrating courage
challenging
providing focus
communicating effectively.
Can these skills be learnt?
Many words have been written on whether leadership is an inherent quality or a set of skills that can be learned. The huge number of leadership development programmes in existence suggests that leadership skills can certainly be learnt given the right conditions. Through developing these skills we can also enhance less tangible leadership qualities such as personal awareness, presence, self-confidence.