In such a competitive world, differences in quality and price between different companies may be in a “head to head”, however, there is a differentiating element that can allow one company to be better than the other and this is the VALUE.
However, this item is closely linked to the performance of the company’s work team, which is responsible for generating this value. For this, there must be highly competitive and effective teams.
We could say that a Highly Effective team is one that manages to meet the goals that are proposed in time and with the quality expected by the customer, the question that arises is, what are the main characteristics that this team must meet?
Next we will name some of the most important ones that the team leader must take into account:
- Have a well defined goal
All team members must know clearly what the goal is
- Clear and effective communication
Effective communication allows the team to make the necessary decisions in a timely manner which generates security regarding what should be done, when to do it and why
- Open mindedness to new learning
All members of the work team must be willing to learn new things, new methods, new tools that can be applied in the projects that are being developed.
- Active Participation
It is essential that each of the team members have an active participation, which means that they must not only have specific tasks to perform but must feel involved in the discussions of the problems and in the decisions taken. This will generate that the members perceive that they are part of the work team.
- Commitment
An atmosphere of commitment must be generated, not only with the activities to be developed, but also with the partners as the achievements belong to everyone.
- Innovation
The exchange of ideas within the team generates new ways of seeing and solving problems. An efficient way to innovate is to have multidisciplinary teams in which the members have different academic formations and professional experiences that operate together with a common objective.
- Celebration of Achievements
The celebration of achievements is another motivational factor of team members. When the goals are achieved with the expected quality, celebrating as a team makes each of the members feel they have contributed to something important.
- Excellence
Is to seek excellence for continuous improvement, is to find excellence in relationships between members, in responsibility with work, in the results.
In addition to the above, there is a term that I personally believe is the most important for a team to move from the Comfort Zone to the Exceptional Zone and is “Accountability”.
That is, to be responsible for the actions I perform within the work team; is to assume the responsibilities in the results obtained. How do we know where each of the members of the work team is? We will see it in the following graphic:
We can see that from the line down is the “Victim Zone” where the team member is not consistent with their work, is not responsible, makes excuses and just waits for things to happen.
From the line up we find the “Protagonist Zone”, where the team member recognizes the reality of things, assumes that reality, finds the solutions and performs them, does not wonder if it can or can’t be done, instead, how can he do it possible.
To achieve highly effective teams, as leaders we must ensure that all members of the work team are over the line.
“Leadership is the art of influencing people to perform small acts of excellence for a long period of time”
In Etairos we work every day in the development of these characteristics to have highly effective teams
Written by:
Alvaro Jose Lopez Aguado