No “I” in Team

We’ve all heard the saying, “There’s no ‘I’ in team.” What that means is that teamwork isn’t about a single person, it’s about working together to achieve a common goal. When you’ve got a great team behind you, you don’t worry about your business if you’re sick, on vacation or dealing with important family matters. I certainly don’t because I have great confidence in my team. They know what to do, even when I’m not there.

We’ve put systems and procedures in place to ensure that (almost) whatever the situation, the people in the office and the field know who is in charge of what, who knows the answers to certain tricky questions, and where to look for information. Here are some tips to ensure that your team can carry on without you, when necessary.

Defined Roles & Responsibilities: Everyone on the team should understand their individual roles and responsibilities and how they fit into the larger picture. A maverick salesperson may work best on his or her own with little supervision, while others thrive in a group environment where feedback comes regularly from the group. What’s important is that everyone knows what is expected of them and where they fit in the puzzle. When all the pieces fit, each individual’s unique strengths unite to make the team a powerhouse.

Team Purpose: Constant feedback keeps any team on track. The act of reminding the team of how and what they can be doing better, and receiving feedback from them as to how they could improve the process is important. Don’t wait until a problem occurs to make a course correction. Your team should meet regularly (whatever regularly means to your team) to discuss progress toward its goals. Every team is different, so reminding the team of their purpose and receiving updates from them doesn’t need to be formal or overly structured. A quick check in each day and a team meeting once a week is often just right for some teams. Other teams may need less frequent check-ins. The leader’s job is to keep them on track.

Know Their Needs and Motivations: Your team is a puzzle full of pieces. There are lots of ways to put them together. Each way yields a result, and some ways give better results. When you get to know your team, you get to understand their needs. Knowing your team means investing the time to understand what motivates them, how they think and how to get the best from them. By embracing the different personalities, you get the best from them.

Reward the Team: Acknowledgement and reward honors the work of the team. People love recognition, so take time to give your team rewards they deserve. Don’t take performance for granted, even if you believe the team is just doing their job. They could be doing the job anywhere, and remain loyal to leaders and companies they feel respect their skills and effort. Buying lunch on a busy or stressful point in a project, or arranging a team outing builds camaraderie.

Celebrate: Celebration at the end of a project or reaching a goal is different from a reward. Celebrations reflect on the process and what your team has done well, as well as what it could improve. Remember what allowed you to reach your goal as part of the celebration of success – the often-tremendous effort of the team – not you as the leader.

Be a Great Leader: Great leadership builds great teams – leaders make decisions (often difficult ones), set high standards and look for ways to improve. Leaders are only as successful as their teams and the great ones know that with the right team dynamics, decisions and diverse personalities, everyone wins in the end. Building great teams is a balancing act between finding the right people, giving them enough direction and freedom to experiment, fail and (hopefully) succeed.

Successful teams require attention. When your team members feel like they are part of something larger than themselves, their collective energy brings extraordinary results. If your team isn’t delivering, ask yourself why. Are you, as the leader, too much or not enough involved? Could you be gone for a week or two weeks without the team falling apart or losing focus? Just sayin’.