How to build a great team
Stepping into a leadership role to build a brand-new team is an exciting opportunity and a significant challenge – especially if your soon-to-be team’s made up of people from different departments, varying levels of seniority and maybe even new hires. Bringing people with a mix of backgrounds, experiences and expectations together is no easy task but, if done well, will set a new team up for success. Here’s my advice on creating a strong (and collaborative) team culture from the get-go.
In my experience, too many C-Suite leaders see team formation and bonding as ‘someone else’s job’ and act as though they are too busy for it. The advantages of paying attention to building a great team at the start are massive – it means you can set a clear vision, create a cohesive and positive culture, and set roles and objectives that everyone can adhere to. This certainty, and the care you’re taking, will also help to build team psychological safety. Headline-making research by Google suggests that if you take care of all these elements, you should have the building blocks of a great team.
1. Create a team charter
Get these into place early on by establishing a team charter. At its simplest, this includes the purpose of the team, its objectives or goals, the roles and skills (who’s doing what), and the rules and activities. When I work with teams on creating a charter, I encourage them to keep the contents to one easy-to-read slide. More than this, it stops being memorable. Create a team charter in a workshop with everyone involved, to ensure that it feels as though it’s owned by everyone.
2. Figure out what needs fixing
As the team leader, you should start by sharing any elements of the purpose and goals that need to be fixed. For example, those which are guided by what the business sees your function’s purpose as, what objectives you’ve been set by the CEO and your views on what needs to be done to achieve these.
3. Appoint a facilitator
These elements can then become the container in which their ideas and suggestions can grow. Encourage really broad, interesting thinking before starting to refine. You will get more value from the day if you hand facilitating over to a colleague from outside the team or pay for a facilitator, so that you can be present, listen and participate, rather than having to figure out logistics.
A facilitator will also be good at making sure senior team members don’t dominate and will use exercises and approaches that allow all to contribute. Your target is for the team to feel, by the end of the workshop, as though the charter belongs to everyone and it’s something that they are individually happy to stand behind.
4. Be the role model
Once you have your charter, which will bring clarity on key issues, the hard work really begins! Now you need to role model what it’s talking about, refer to it a lot (consider having it as the opening slide of all team presentations and meetings forever), and change it where it’s not serving the purpose (again, with the consultation of your team). As your team’s role in the company grows and your purpose becomes clearer and clearer, share these wins and developments with your team to keep them engaged. These actions will all help to create a great team in your early days. There are some more resources below to help further.
3 resources to help with a new team:
How to strengthen your bonds with individual team members: https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescoachescouncil/2018/09/05/10-easy-ways-to-strengthen-your-bond-with-your-team-members/
How Google’s Project Aristotle research revealed what makes a great team: https://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/28/magazine/what-google-learned-from-its-quest-to-build-the-perfect-team.html
The facilitation services I offer to help teams to develop a charter: https://katiebest.com/leadership-development/
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