SECRETS TO SUPER TEAM WORK- managing 4D teams


Getting the right people to work the right way is half goal achieved
                                                                                                         
The basic concept of TEAM i.e. 'together empowered to achieve MEGA', is cognizant. Interestingly the word TEAM in today's hair-trigging corporate world is associated with 4D's : dynamic, diverse, dispersed, and digital. Well-integrated 4D Teams act as a force multiplier, with the delegation of tasks to such teams the outcome is synergic, thus providing a competitive edge to the firm. Mark Miller in his book ‘The Secret of Teams’ says successful teams develop and enjoy esprit de corps; it’s the “secret sauce” of high performance teams; the essential ingredient. “This is the heart stuff.” 4D typically share many distinguishing characteristics; including sense of ownership and self generated commitment, effective decision-making,  higher levels of participation and collaboration, problem solving attitude that focus on positive outcomes, and a culture of mutual collaboration and support. ­ So you got your ingredient bunch right, now the recipe to successful team work needs to be done. So here are the 4 secrets to super team work:

     1.      Providing Direction and creating Trust: The heart of every super team is the right direction that strengthens, orients, and associates its members. It is binding to have clear precise goals, the direction to head in, and the plan to work upon or the teams cannot be motivated what are they working towards The goals should be challenging enough but not impossible to achieve that the team is left demotivated. 4D teams achieve greater levels of innovation, resourcefulness and commitment by learning to maintain the level of relationship and trust among the team members. Involvement, contribution and interaction among team members lead to formation of team norms, beliefs, and shared values, giving rise to a team culture which acts as the social adhesive helping to maintain productive and healthy dealings. Profound trusting relations, coupled with powerful routine interactions, set the suitable environment for the 4C's: cooperation, collaboration, commitments and the coordination essential to achieve competitive excellence. On 4-D teams, direction and trust is quite crucial because it’s easy for multifarious members from varied backgrounds to hold differing views of the group’s motive.
2.      Empower for a win-win : Empowered 4D teams have greater levels of responsibility and authority over the tasks they undertake, providing them the autonomy to plan and manage work, involve in  decision-making and problem solving. The key to empower is defining result-oriented team goals, setting broad parameters for achievement of goals, development through training and coaching and fostering open communication.
3.      Invest in people and processes: 4D teams comprise of members with a steadiness of talent and skills creating an equilibrium. A 4D team sees diversity in knowledge, views, and opinions, as well as in age, gender, and race, which help teams to be more creative. Teams benefit from having a melange of cosmopolitan and local individuals as they bring technical knowledge and skills and expertise applicable in various situations, while the localites bring regional knowledge and in-depth information into an area’s politics, culture, and tastes. Once you have aligned the right set of people, and you have delegated them with their tasks, it is now imperative to keep a check on the processes. A well-defined process is the key to growth, because  systematic and organized processes makes it easier to get new contributors on board and manage speed.
4.      Egg on with Feedback: The most suitable feedback is specific and immediate. When you see something appreciable, commend your team right then and tell them what you liked. “I really liked the zeal when you attended that last customer; it even made me get involved!" Being precise lets them know exactly what behaviour and work attitude is suitable. Proficient feedback requires as many communication channels as possible. Open and transparent communication with employees helps them share their viewpoints and concerns.
5.      Reward cuz' they're worth it: When a task is done well and is not recognized, the lack of recognition demotivates team members. Rewarding positive behavior assures higher productivity and direct employee motivation. However, over praising can be counterproductive as well -could influence egos and personalities. The knack is to create an equilibrium and accolade only when it’s deserved.

Individual proficiencies are great, but they hold least value without the collective capabilities. You can have a winner team who actually never wins a game. Team of winners do not comprise of  members who are the best, brightest, super-skilled on the planet, rather they're made up of a group of people who identify their competency, acknowledge the strengths of the other members, and utilize that knowledge to collaborate and win with every mission! The concept of  4D winning teams is to have complementary people and skills working in conjunction with each other to achieve common objectives. The very essence of business is to cooperate and collaborate together to accomplish common goals.



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