Effectiveness in Teams....Don't Spin Your Tires!

Have you ever been in a car that was stuck in the mud and it was just spinning it's tires? It's frustrating!

Let's be honest: there are a lot of organizations, churches, and groups that are simply spinning their tires and are stuck! No one wants to be on one of those teams.

Just like a car can get stuck in the mud so also teams can do things to keep their group weighed down and paralyzed.

I have done some research concerning how to be effective with a team. Here is some proven researched data.

1. Organizations are becoming multi-level and multi-disciplinary organisms built for fluidity. Hierarchy in leadership stifles effectiveness. Shared decision making has been found to be more effective.

2. Smaller teams are best. If you have too many voices nothing can get done. Research points that team members peak at effectiveness when there is on average 4.6 persons in a group. If you have more than eight persons it is difficult to move forward.

3. Teams that work together longer are more effective.

4. Performance is the engine that drives a team. If there is no performance ethic you are not a part of a team.

5. Communication is one of the most important team concepts. It is estimated that 70% of medical errors in the medical field are due to issues of communication.

6. Team based learning is a growing concept and model. The lowest team scores are on average higher than the highest individual scores on a test. Teams can accomplish more together!

7. Trust is critical in team effectiveness. Trust is positively correlated with increased creativity as conflicts get resolved.

As the world in which we live changes so also we must change and adapt to remain relevant. Team research is a fairly new concept only coming to light within the past two decades, but it is having a huge impact on the understanding of how to run a group of persons. Now, virtual teams are the fastest researched commodity as we live in a fast paced technological world. Leaders in a virtual world are now having to become more diversified in their skills and giftedness. The best way to remain relevant and effective is to develop people that have skills and gifts in other areas and get them on YOUR team!

What teams are you on (sports, work, church, etc)? Are they effective? Why or why not? How can you become a more effective group of persons?