Team Values Pt 2 - Defending the Team

Your team should be the most important thing to you.  Even if they annoy you and tick you off - they are still your team!  Your team can be either the making or the breaking of your success as a manager.  As a manager your performance is determined by the results and outcomes that you are able to motivate them to produce.

One hugely important aspect of this is - loyalty.  You being loyal to your team and your team being loyal to you.

The easiest way to demonstate your loyalty to your team is by the way you treat your team and talk about them in public.  Team members take to heart what they hear their bosses saying about then.  So be very careful - what you say, when you say it and whom you say it to.

(Image: http://www.flickr.com/photos/denise-ann-wells/4456677616/)

Team Values - Pt 1

Knowing why your team exists and why the team exists is important.  It is important because it creates a bond between the team members and it also provides both boundaries and a sense of grounding.

To give the team a sense of unity and working together it is a good idea to create some team values and a philosophy of approach.  Team values provide both the methodology and the core purpose for acting.

Here are a few thoughts on team values -

1. Position.  Values are not rules but a set of guidelines that help team members to understand what is required of them as both an individual and a team member.
2. Performance.  Values help team members know what their performance assessment criteria are.  Team members know the difference between individual performance and team performance.
3. Purpose.  Values help to bond the team toward a single focus and reason for being.  Team members understand why the team exists.
4. Management.  Team values can empower the manager to lead and guide the team.  The combined team sets the values and the manager guides and holds to account each team member to ensure they remain on track.

Tomorrow the when, how and who writes the values.

(Image: http://www.flickr.com/photos/40383565@N06/4285112117/)

Builing the Ideal Team

Teams don't just happen.  Teams are the sum total of a decision someone somewhere in an organisation has made.  The ideal team is one where you can start with a clean slate.  No rules, no history and no axes to grind.

Yesterday I had the opportunity to work as a part of a team of highly talented and motivated people.  So how does a team like that come about and what makes the team great?  Here are a few key points.

1. Variation of skills and abilities.  Great teams have people who are skilled in different ways.  On our team we have key players in their various organisations who have the ability to create significant change within their local organisation.
2. The ability to get along.  The team only comes together quarterly.  That means the team members never see each other at any other time or stage.  So when the team gets together there is limited time to spend mucking around.  Having people who get along on the team is vital.
3. People who know people know people.  The team we have was formed through friendships first, shoulder taps second and recommendation of others third.  Getting the right mix of personalities and skills can be hard.  My recommendation is that rather then adding someone to the team just so they can do work can be more harmful than helpful in the long run for the overall health of the team.

One team that I always think was formed well and operated with excellence was the administration team put together by John F Kennedy.  That team dealt with The Bay of Pigs affair, the Cuban Missile Crisis as well as Cold War political pressures.  JFK's team was pulled together with people of various backgrounds and with different talents to deal with the biggest issues in the world at that time.

So - what do you need a team for?  And who will you pick?

(Image: http://www.flickr.com/photos/chestertonfootball/4912484622/)