Key Principles of Highly Effective Teams to Create Output and Synergy
“Snowflakes are one of nature‘s most fragile things, but just look what they can do when they stick together.”
Vesta M. Kelly
⚠️ Remember that this lesson is for scaling according to your status now and as your business grows. If you don’t have a big staff, you can apply the principles to yourself, your plans, and even your suppliers (in a gentle way!)
Blueprint for Team Success 🗺️
🪄 Synergy in a team environment is based on the concept that the collective capabilities of a team are significantly higher than the separate capabilities of each individual team member. In this context, several key principles or values must be in place to achieve synergy. This includes having a shared objective or common goal, effective communication, collaboration, and trust among team members.
🎯1. Shared Goals and Objectives
Shared objectives and common goals align the team and builds team unity and commitment. Synergy is created when all team members are working towards the same objectives.
- Clearly articulate your vision and objectives and make sure everyone understands them and that there is no ambiguity in this regard.
- Keep team members engaged by involving them in goal setting.
- Give your team a sense of purpose by setting aspirational goals which inspire your team to be successful and challenge themselves to perform better. Show how the overall success of the team has on the business.
- Establish what success in each role looks like. Ensure that everyone understands success in terms of what needs to be done, why and by whom. (Using the OKR Framework – explained below – helps with this.)
Unclear objectives and a lack of a common goal leaves teams without a clear picture of what success looks like. Arguments regarding interpretation, and conflicting priorities amongst individuals cause confusion and will result in team members pulling in different directions.
Synergy requires the existence of a common goal and shared purpose – without that, your team will flounder.
“A successful team is a group of many hands but of one mind.”
Bill Bethel
2. Effective Communication 🗣️
Effective communication is essential for building team synergy. Amongst other things, good communication ensures ongoing alignment of tasks and avoids any misunderstanding of team objectives, duplication of work and prevents important information or tasks being overlooked. Effective communication is the foundation of good leadership, transparency and trust, and overall business success.
- Maintain a flexible and open style of communication. Remember the driver, expressive, amiable, and analytics? Adapt your communication style and methods to the needs and preferences of each team member. While some employees might respond best to an authoritative, direct style of communication, others might respond better to an approach which allows for questions, answers, and discussion. Having a more flexible approach to communication builds credibility and trust.
- Establish the acceptable communication etiquette within your business that everyone respects. Some examples of communication etiquette:
- We treat each other with respect and speak to each other in a respectful manner.
- We focus on problem solving and remember that we are working towards a common goal.
- We respect each other’s time; we prepare for meetings and arrive on time; we don’t contact each other after hours or over weekends.
- We do not lie; we speak openly, and we acknowledge and accept that others have different ideas and perspectives to our own.
- Establish communication channels and opportunities for information sharing and feedback and define how these will work. For example:
- Assign the person accountable for sharing business information to teams and individuals
- Hold regular catch-up sessions with the team.
- Re-enforce messages shared during meetings with an e-mail / minute to confirm understanding. Minutes should reflect which tasks are assigned to which individuals. (This is especially important because not all team members will be present at all meetings.)
What (must be done / Action point)
Who (is responsible)
When (must it be done by) - Hold regular check-in sessions with individuals in addition to or outside of formal interventions (such as quarterly performance reviews etc.).
- Share important information or give relevant feedback as and when necessary, don’t wait for a formal scheduled meeting.
- Agree on means of communication to be used (such as written (e.g. e-mail), face to face (individuals or teams), phone calls, virtual meetings etc.) for different aspects of work or types of information.
- Facilitate forums for feedback and encourage a work environment of increased engagement and problem solving across functions and roles.
- Don’t rely solely on meetings to communicate.
- Provide, solicit, and accept feedback
- People and teams are more motivated and productive when they receive regular feedback. Affirmation that work is good and on track, is positive feedback which acts as a means of recognition and praise, while providing feedback for improvement allows for goals to be clarified, and for any other barriers to success being identified and overcome.
- Besides being the giver of feedback, it is important to seek / solicit feedback from employees. Feedback should not be limited to manager-employee relationships. Good leaders actively show their willingness to receive and act on feedback obtained from the team. Soliciting feedback from employees makes them feel valued and engaged. Employees are more likely to support goals or activities which arise from feedback provided by them.
“Effective teamwork begins and ends with communication.”
Mike Krzyzewski
Poor communication may be the result of or lead to any one or combination of the following:
- Poor leadership
- Poor management and co-ordination because of inadequate feedback loops
- Misunderstandings, confusion, conflict, and a lack of trust. A lack of trust results in employees becoming frustrated and disengage. Disengaged employees withdraw from sharing ideas or expressing concerns.
- Lack of interpersonal skills
- Objectives and milestones not being clearly understood by all team members.
🔗 3. Teamwork and Collaboration
A culture of teamwork and collaboration is an environment where each person in the organisation understands and believes that thinking, planning, decisions, and actions are better when done collectively.
Most leaders acknowledge the value people with different backgrounds, experiences and ideas can bring to their organisation. Unfortunately many organisations struggle to truly support the concept of teamwork and collaboration, with the majority of businesses still driving individual performance. Unfortunately, all too often, pushing individual performance and encouraging “healthy” competition encourages team members to do what they must to “come out on top”. Employees are rarely rewarded for their contribution to team success and for genuine teamwork and collaboration.
As the leader, you can create a culture of teamwork and collaboration if you:
- Make Teamwork and Collaboration Non-negotiable
You (and your managers) must communicate the expectation that teamwork and collaboration are expected. People who own work processes and positions are expected to be open to ideas and input from other team members. - Walk the Talk
Demonstrate teamwork and collaboration between each other and the rest of the organisation – even when things are going wrong, and the temptation is to find someone to blame and slip back into silo mentality. - Recognise and Reward Teamwork and Collaboration
Compensate and reward based on collaborative practices as much as individual achievement. - Make Teamwork and Collaboration a Selection Criterion
Enforce the concept that its effective team players who prosper within the company. - Storytelling and the Creation of Legend
Constantly refer to teamwork and collaboration success stories of the past, and how new stories are unfolding in the present. (“Remember the year we achieved… because we did….“). - Implement Team Building Initiatives
Use of meaningful interventions which allow team members to get to know each other better – help them understand and acknowledge their differences, identify their respective strengths so that you can build trust build trust necessary for effective collaboration.
“When spiders unite, they can tie down a lion.”
Ethiopian Proverb
4. Trust and Mutual Respect 💫
Trust is the foundation upon which all successful teams are built. Trust is believing in the abilities and intentions of other team members and having the peace of mind that you can rely on them. Respect is about acknowledging that others bring different skills, knowledge, and perspectives to the table. When trust and mutual respect coexist, they are more likely to share ideas, take risks, and support each other in achieving personal and team objectives.
Developing trust in your organisation requires you to:
- Be transparent by ensuring that all high-level information is visible to your team. Making information available builds trust and credibility because it shows you have nothing to hide and there are no hidden agendas. transparent communication helps them see the big picture and be more efficient.
- Be open and honest about successes and failures, goals, business activities and financial standing. Changes that could negatively impact the team should be shared openly and honestly.
- Share facts as and when you become aware of them.
- Use team communication channels rather than private e-mail chains to share important information or discuss important topics.
- Make use of networking tools (e.g. Trello or Slack) to allow all team members to contribute and follow important topics.
- As the leader, you must demonstrate trust in individuals and the team first to build and encourage trust between team members.
- Hold regular, meaningful team building activities and facilitated communal experiences to help create a strong sense of team trust and cohesiveness.
- Empower team members and then demonstrate trust and confidence in them.
- Be consistent in your words and actions, always.
“Surround yourself with a trusted and loyal team. It makes all the difference.”
Alison Pincus
Lack of trust is a common reason for team failure. In most instances, a lack of trust is a by-product or contributing factor to the other reasons negatively impacting on team synergy (such as poor leadership, interpersonal conflict, and poor communication).
🧮 Using OKRs and KPIs to Drive Team Synergy and Business Success
Earlier you read about the importance of sharing clear objectives to foster unity. OKRs and KPIs are tools you can use to express them in a meaningful way and measure the achievement of goals and objectives.
Objectives and Key Results Framework
The OKR (Objectives and Key Results) framework is a simple approach to defining business objectives and formulating what success will look like – the results. OKRs are based on big picture objectives, each supported by 3 – 5 results. OKRs can be measured and quantifiably scored, and most importantly, are ambitious in nature.
Once you have articulated the OKS for your business, you need to think about what the different functions / departments must do to meet those objectives. Look at this example:
📍 Objective: Increase profit by 30%
Key Result 1️⃣: Acquire 100 new clients
Key Result 2️⃣: Increase customer retention by 43%
Key Result 3️⃣: Increase digital / online presence
- Sales Department Objective: Acquire 100 new clients
- Customer Service Department Objective: Increase customer retention by 43%
- Marketing Department Objective: Increase digital / on-line presence
The next step is to develop the objectives and key results for each department.
An example for the Marketing Department would be:
📍 Objective: Increase digital / on-line presence
Key Result 1️⃣: Develop and launch a company website
Key Result 2️⃣: Create and manage a business Facebook profile
Key Result 3️⃣: Make use of GoogleAds
Key Performance Indicators
By using Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) you can measure team synergy and identify improvement areas. KPI’s use SMART objectives to break down the key results further into measurable tasks for individuals.
Result 1️⃣ Develop and launch a company website
- Key Performance Indicator: Create online marketing content aimed at the target customer base by [date]
- Key Performance Indicator: Create 5 different adverts to use interchangeable across various online platforms by [date]
- Key Performance Indicator: Deliver first draft of company website, suitable also for mobile devices by [date]
“Measurement is the first step that leads to control and eventually to improvement.”
James Harrington
Employee Engagement and Performance Management 🚦
Performance management programmes which involve regular measurement of Key Performance Indicators will drive business success though people and teams. A robust performance management system requires:
- Involving team in setting team KPIs and SMART objectives which provides the transparency and common goals necessary for team synergy.
- Letting individuals set their own SMART objectives supports greater levels of commitment.
- Measure progress regularly (e.g. monthly, quarterly, bi-annually etc.) this gives you the opportunity to identify and address barriers that may be hindering individual and team success.
- Use KPIs and performance management process together with development plans to improve team capabilities
- Use measurement sessions as feedback sessions and opportunities for coaching and development.
“Do not measure success (only) by today’s harvest. Measure success by the seeds you plant today.”
Robert Louis Stevenson
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