8 Basic Strategies for Effective Team Building

August 5, 2007 · View Comments

Team building skills are essential for every aspect of life. Whether your a manager, entrepreneur or just setting up a neighborhood park clean up, basic team building skills can determine the success of any project. Needless to say, many projects and events have failed because team collaboration and team work was sacrificed for individual grand standing and personal achievements.

Belonging to a team sets you up for greater effectiveness that you never could accomplish on your own. Organizations and groups that promote teamwork create environments that lead to greater productivity, creativity not to mention a feeling of ownership. Here are 8 basic strategies for effective team building:

Common Goal

The success of any group project is that there must be a clear single goal. Many teams fail when there are multiple agendas. Teams and organizations that succeed are those that have communicated a common purpose and goal.

Clarity Goal

With all communication clarity is a must. Great communication keeps team members from aborting the core of the project due to lack of understanding of the overall purpose. Frequent communication of the project purpose can be vital in keeping the team on track.

Commitment From Each Team Member

For a group a people to function as a productive team, there has to be a commitment from each team member to the team. This can be the fall of many team projects when there is a lack of commitment.

Do What You Do Best

The purpose of assembling a team, is to group together individuals that have specific skills to accomplish a specific project. The purpose in which an individual is selected is based on their skills that they bring to the task. When putting a team together, there are two ways to look at this approach. You can select those that you can guarantee their performance or mingle in new members to set the tone for productive team collaboration.

It’s Not About YOU!

The hardest attitude to grasp in playing a role on a team is that “it’s not about you.” It not about your resume, what others will think, it’s about playing a role to accomplish the goal or task that has been given. The hardest challenge to any project lead or manager is getting a group on individuals to function as a team and place their personal ambitions to the side.

You’ve Got to Talk to Each Other

Not only is communication of the project goal vital, but frequent updates of the task is important. With multiple tools at our fingertips like email, mobile phones, wiki’s, and project management software, to not communicate is a sure sign of lack of commitment from team members.

Work as a Team, Play as a Team

You can tell when teams have spent time together both in a working and social environment. Successful teams can anticipate what others will do and how they will respond. This can only happen by being together. Any person that is responsible for building teams will factor in the importance of spending time together both on projects and in non-working events.

Everyone Can’t Lead

Every task must have a project lead. There are many ways to choose a lead. Some managers choose to select by an individual’s area of expertise or their ability to communicate and manage projects and people. The ideal situation is to delegate to an individual that is skilled in both areas.

What areas as a team player can you improve on? What areas in your work or personal life can you see the value of team building?

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photo credit: sidehike

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{ 8 comments }

Team Building August 13, 2007 at 9:12 pm

Very well put. Thanks for sharing these basic yet often overlooked strategies. I enjoyed the read.

team building November 18, 2009 at 6:17 am

Work as a Team, Play as a Team is one of the most strategies of team building.I would love to follow many of them.

kay February 28, 2010 at 6:34 pm

Thank you so much, this helped me tremendously in a power point presentation on effective strategies for team building.

vessel sink April 28, 2010 at 12:35 am

Work as a Team, Play as a Team will be best among the business,sports.There are many ways to choose a lead.Some managers choose to select by an individual’s area of expertise or their ability to communicate and manage projects and people.

David Finch May 9, 2010 at 3:33 pm

I couldn't say it better!!

wireless dog fence May 11, 2010 at 11:03 pm

Work as a Team, Play as a Team is most essential for any sports,organization or company while Commitment From Each Team Member is most essential.

nile cruises July 6, 2010 at 11:50 pm

When putting a team together, there are two ways to look at this approach. You can select those that you can guarantee their performance or mingle in new members to set the tone for productive team collaboration which leads to better result.

nile cruises July 7, 2010 at 6:50 am

When putting a team together, there are two ways to look at this approach. You can select those that you can guarantee their performance or mingle in new members to set the tone for productive team collaboration which leads to better result.

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