How to build a Business Team – Team Structure and Membership
It would be difficult, if not impossible, to find a company that does not wish to increase its productivity. While its certainly true that technology has and will continue to improve productiveness, old-fashioned ideas and concepts, properly applied, can bolster an organization’s output by leaps and bounds.
Effective teamwork is the key to success at every level throughout an organization. By sharing their combined skills, knowledge, talent and resources, and by utilizing the proper tools, teams can solve most any problem. Its easy to say “We’ve got a great team,” or “We support and encourage teamwork within our organization.” But in which ways do you support your teams? Which team tools do you give to them with which to work? What training have you given to your team, in terms of how to better work together and be more effective in their collective effort?
The team approach can be used as a problem solving tool, and/or can be used to take a product or service from its conceptual stages, through development, and into production.
Teams can be christened at any time, and often arise out of problem solving meetings or brain storming sessions. Team meetings usually take place within the walls of an organization, and are held at regular intervals. Teams usually consist of a multifaceted membership. For example, teams often contain members from different departments within an organization such as planning, engineering, marketing, design, and costing. A team may also include a member from another company, such as a vendor or a customer.
In order to fully utilize and best take advantage of the group of people who have gathered, in concert, to resolve a problem or to pursue an opportunity, one must look not only at the teams membership, but the teams structure and organization. Teams need to be well organized and properly structured before they can work together at their full potential.
The following roles and responsibilities must be assigned and realized by your workforce teams. While it is not necessary to fill each roll in every team meeting, many of these roles must be fulfilled more often than not, and all are needed at least occasionally. It is best to assign these roles to the appropriate individuals as new teams are developed, rather than leaving these self-evident responsibilities to be fulfilled on their own. In small teams, some people may need to take on two or more of these roles.
The Team Leader Sets the agenda/logistics for the meeting, opens the meeting, and is responsible to guide, motivate and empower the teams membership. The team leader serves not only as a coach/consultant, but is a participant as well. The team leader must be both a good listener and a good counselor. Finally, the team leader must solicit consensus from the team, assure accountability, track commitments, and push for closure on team issues and decisions.
Team Participants must participate freely on the team. They must listen to, analyze and respond to the topics at hand, and must also make and fulfill commitments. Participants must help the facilitator to maintain objectivity, and keep an eye on the recorder’s accuracy. Team Participants must help maintain teamwork, and help to keep team meetings on-course.
The Team Recorder is to produce minutes, and get clarification when necessary. The recorder supports the facilitator, records basic ideas, reviews minutes, and updates team members who have missed meetings.
The role of the Facilitator is ensure that all can and do participate in the team meetings. The facilitators job is to keep the meeting on course by focusing on the meeting’s process. The facilitator must defend members from attack/ridicule, and objectively guide the meeting.
The Time Keeper is to start and end meetings on-time, and ensure sufficient time for all items on the meeting agenda. The time keeper must also assure that each item on the agenda adheres to its allocated time.