A good team is a team that is productive. It’s a team that enjoys working together. It’s a team that works better because of every member in it.
It can start with a good leader.
Everybody remembers working with a good leader. They’re the ones you always walk away from feeling a bit better. They’re the ones you respect because they always respect you. They help you when you need help, and they treat you like a real person.
A good leader can help create the environment for a good team to develop by encouraging positive behaviours, and providing a structure and framework that helps members focus their time and energy.
Here are 8 things that can help:
Treat people as you'd want to be treated
It’s called the golden rule for a reason. It’s the base way of being decent to other people. Don’t give someone a task you wouldn’t be happy to do yourself.
Find out where people want to be getting experience
If you can give someone a task that is something they want to be getting better at anyway, they’re more likely to give it their all.
Give people clear tasks with all information needed to complete them
Allowing someone to own a task gives them autonomy and pride once it’s complete. They can also get on with it in their own time without relying on information from others.
Recognise achievements
Humans are pre-wired to see the negative, it helps us find and see threats. But it means we generally have to make some effort to see the positive. It’s easy to overlook someone doing a good job. Celebrate the little wins. The big wins take care of themselves.
Provide a clear path of career progression
If a career progression is possible, make sure it’s clear how to achieve it. Provide a structure that someone can work towards. If there are business or budget restrictions on promotions, make sure the structure takes that into account so there are no last-minute surprises. Spotify's work on a technical career path is pretty inspiring as an example.
Provide a clear vision of how individual tasks fit into a bigger picture
People feel engaged when they feel part of something that’s bigger. They like to see what their work contributes to. When they see that each are working towards the same goal it helps people feel part of a team.
Encourage collaboration in the team
Having a team that works well together produces better output than the sum of each member of the team. The ability to share ideas, accept criticism and to minimise personal ego helps a team collaborate. Encourage it and make collaboration a thing the team talks about. It goes a long way to making a good team.
Get to know them personally
It makes a big difference when you treat someone as a real person who has a background, family and a history. Get to know the members of a team so you can understand them better. It will help to understand why they behave as they do.
Remember, all people are different and each team will work as well as the people it's made up of. There's no magic formula.
But bearing a few of these points in mind should help to create the right environment for good team to develop.