The 6 Keys to Successful Teams

1. Size Matters. As they say, too many cooks in the kitchen...Teams larger than 10 become difficult to maintain, in relationship development and role assignment/responsibility. Size depends on the team's purpose, but for self-directed work teams, recommended size is no larger than 6-8.

2. Specific purpose. It's compelling, everyone knows what it is, and they agree on it. It has a time or event deadline to clarify success and completion. The task is doable within the time frame set.

3. Strong foundational structure. Shared vision, shared goals, and common working approach, all achieved as a team. Roles are clarified by team and responsibilities are shared, including the grunt work that no one wants to do. Meetings are orderly and agendas are regularly set.

4. Organizational Support. Upper management and functional divisions recognize and support the efforts of the team. The team has enough autonomy to make decisions as necessary.

5. Mutual Accountability. The best teams go beyond being accountable to one another to the point where the actively encourage one another to grow and develop. At the minimum, individuals need to trust one another and hold each other accountable for getting the work done, with reasonable consequences or recrimination when someone fails. Without the accountability, they're just a bunch of individuals working on their own tasks---not a real team.

6. Expert Teamwork Coaching. A team coach brings an outside perspective free of political ties that bind insiders, and forces the enabling structure that is too often neglected by teams that self-design. A team coach gives a new team a kick-start in structure, definition and guidance, and helps the team stay on course. By modeling facilitative and coaching behaviors and providing support to individual team members as a neutral third party, a team coach benefits all team members from beginning to end.

Do you have others we could add to this list? Let us know.