What Makes Up a Successful Team?

What exactly is meant by the word “team”? A team can be defined as “a small group of skilled people who work together toward a common goal or purpose”. The most effective teams are those that consist of no more than 20 people. If a team grows larger than that, it becomes increasingly difficult to get everyone in agreement to work toward a common purpose and goal. A team also is composed of skilled people. If you think of a sports team, the most obvious example of teamwork, the coach strives to place the most skilled players in the appropriate positions. A person whose skills are insufficient for that position is either moved to a more suitable position or is removed from the team altogether.

An effective team also works closely together. Interdependence among individuals is a key characteristic of successful teams. If a group of people don’t need to work closely together and they don’t depend on one another to complete a task or reach a goal, then there really isn’t a need to form a team. A team’s success is largely determined by the team members’ ability to work interdependently. A key hallmark of a high-performance team is that all members work toward a common goal or purpose.

Reprinted from the LMI Total Leader™ Journal published for Leadership Management International, Inc. by Rutherford Communications.