| A team can, as a general rule, achieve more than | | | | practises great listening. What I have found in my |
| any one individual could working alone. At the | | | | experience is that the enthusiasm created by a |
| same time, successful teams do not create | | | | team can also result in people being more |
| better results by chance. So how can you create | | | | interested in getting their points across than |
| a more successful team? | | | | listening to others. Make listening a key |
| Give it a clear purpose | | | | component if you want successful teams. |
| Any team that you create needs to know what | | | | Support each other |
| it has been set up to achieve. Without a clear | | | | The great benefit of teams is that they eliminate |
| purpose or outcome, a team will simply drift, | | | | the feeling of isolation. They also act as a way of |
| waste time and energy trying to second guess | | | | supporting each other when things are not going |
| what it is trying to achieve. Make the purpose or | | | | so well for one or more of the team. Encourage |
| outcome crystal clear to the team in as much | | | | the team to provide support to each other. |
| detail as you possibly can. | | | | Be a role model |
| Create dependency | | | | If you are the designated leader of the team, |
| If the purpose can be achieved by one person | | | | focus on being a role model. By modelling the |
| working on their own, there is no need to have a | | | | behaviours or attributes that you want others to |
| team at all. For a team to be successful there | | | | adopt, you set the tone for the rest of the team. |
| needs to be a dependency on each of the team | | | | The Bottom LIne |
| members to deliver that final outcome. | | | | As a leader, you have a key role to play in |
| Practise great listening | | | | building successful teams. So what steps do you |
| Much is written about the importance of | | | | need to take to enhance your team leadership |
| communication in teams. While this is important as | | | | success? |
| a general principle, it is also vital that the team | | | | |