If you want to build a top team, forget team building ropes courses or wilderness adventures. These activities do bring people together; they are usually fun and participants feel great afterward. But once people get back into the workplace and encounter real problems to solve, the carry-over learning fades quickly.
Building effective teams is an on-the-job task. People learn to work together best by tackling real, substantive, challenging tasks as a team. They learn about each other, depend on each other, and develop an understanding of how to help each other.
Through research and my experiences working with executive teams, I’ve learned what is necessary to build top teams. To get the most from their team, team leaders need to:
- Establish a clear and compelling direction
- Create an appropriate structure
- Select the right people
- Support the top team
- Provide development
Establish a clear and compelling direction
According to research by Harvard University psychologists Richard Hackman and Ruth Wageman, leaders of outstanding teams gave far clearer direction than average or poor-performing teams. Team…
