Great things can occur when a team works together. Ask Greece.
The 2004 European Cup win by Greece's national soccer team stunned the entire world. The expectations of the team were low going into the tournament. Greece had never won a major tournament game and would have been content with one win.
Many of the Greek players were not well-known outside of their country, unlike other established teams that boast a roster of international stars. The Greeks compensated for this by their collective brilliance and smart tactics. The greatest success was achieved through strong teamwork.
Startup teams are able to overcome difficulties and achieve great results when they work well together. Teams need the right skills and experience to excel. The most important factor in a team is not the individual skills and experience of each member, but the way they work together as one.
Alex Pentland is a professor at MIT and has researched work teamsusing a high tech, data-driven approach. Each member of the team wore an electronic badge that collected data about their interactions for his research.
Pentland found that the best teams are energetic, have equal participation in conversations, and communicate regularly with one another, not just with their leader. Pentland concluded that communication patterns are more important than intelligence, personality, or skill as a predictor of team success.
To thrive as a group, you must work well together. This belief is so strong that I founded Growth, an online platform to support the development of teams and their members.
It is possible to learn and practice better communication and team functioning. These are three ways to improve your team's performance.
1. You can check out
Meetings are a great place to get down to business. Meetings are a great way for teams to improve their team functioning.
Team members should take a moment to check in at the beginning of each meeting. Each member can share briefly what they feel, important events in their lives and any concerns that they have before the meeting begins.
This type of sharing at the beginning of meetings helps team members develop stronger relationships and better understand each other.
2. Define the values of your team
How your team works together is determined by the values of your team. What do you value most in your team? Honesty and transparency? Friendly work environment Hard work? Respect?
A team's ability to recognize and agree upon its values can help it grow in self-awareness. Members can gain a better understanding of one another's views and discover conflicting values by discussing these values.
Your team can refer to your value list for guidance in making important decisions and resolving team conflicts.
3. Select a goal for team development
My experience shows that the best teams always strive to improve. You can do this by setting a team goal. Your team might want to improve their sharing of information. They may also want to provide constructive feedback to each other.
The development goal of your team will help you determine your direction for growth. It's essential to have open discussions with your team before you can come up with a goal. If you want your team to buy in, it's important to have their support. Otherwise, they won't be motivated by the goal.
You can talk about ways to achieve your development goals together if you have a team. You can then check in as a group to see how you're doing.
Grow can be used by teams to help them with their continued development and practice. Contact us to learn more about Grow and how it can help your team.
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Rudi Ramin originally published this article on LinkedIn
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By: Jopney Lein Sotomayor
Title: Startups Need Strong Teams
Sourced From: grow360.com/blog/startups-need-strong-teams
Published Date: Sat, 30 May 2020 02:55:00 +0000