Key elements that are important to any effective team

The foundation of any good business, or any successful project, is a strong team who understand how to work well together. After all, the stronger the teamwork the more productive the team is, and the more productive a business is the more money it will inevitably generate. Any project without an effective team behind it will be easy to identify as it will be clearly reflected in the quality of work produced.

Steps and elements required to promote an efficient team

Break down those walls and get social

A team exists outside of your defined business objectives, so get social! Nobody is expecting you to become best of friends with your teammates, nor do you have to be. That being said, getting to know your team outside of the business setting is key to encouraging and promoting increased productivity between you and your team.

Following on from this, break down those physical, or metaphorical, walls. Work together in a shared space, allowing you to bounce ideas back and forth off one another while working. If your team is based remotely, then set up a meeting or a zoom call for all of your team to be in while you work on your project together.

Make decisions together

All decisions within your team should be made together and heavily based upon open dialogue in which all team members are able to voice their ideas and solutions to problems. Team members should be confident and comfortable sharing their views with their team at all times. A sense of Psychological safety is imperative to a fully functioning team, no person should feel like they have to keep their voice to their selves; there are no wrong answers or stupid questions, nor does anybody's opinion matter more than somebody else's.

Communication and collaboration

There is no one element that creates an effective team on its own; but without effective communication there is no team. Communication is not just about informing your team about what you are going to do, but you also have to make sure that you keep your team updated and never assume that just everybody has the same information in which you do.

Collaborating, listening, offering insight, respecting your team's views and ideas are just some parts of the jigsaw puzzle which is effective communication. All of these will lead to a more motivated and friendly environment for your team to work under, and the use of collaborative tools such as Google workspace can help to further enhance this. Working together on the same document at the same time can really help to improve teamwork as you can see the project being worked on together at the same time instead of having to send new and updated versions back and forth between each other.

Establish rules

Getting some basic rules established early on in a team is most effective, but they are not final; be open to altering or changing rules if they cause issues or hinder work. You can choose whether to write them down, or whether to just discuss them, and this should not be incredibly formal or serious.

You still want to make sure that the environment remains friendly , but some simple rules can help to keep productivity high, and everybody should be asked to contribute to these rules.

Some basic examples could be:

  • We will be open about any and all frustrations we may have.
  • When we meet, we will all be present.
  • We will inform our team beforehand if we will be unable to attend.
  • No phones during work hours.

Taking the next steps

There is no one correct list/rules for creating an effective team, and whoever you ask will have a different view on it. Just in the same way that no one element on its own will create an effective team, but instead it is a culmination of many different elements slotting together to create the best team possible. The steps/elements listed above are just a few of the most important ones for you to incorporate and get started with, however I highly recommend you do not stop here and look further into other steps you can take, I recommend the two links below in particular for further reading. 


The five elements of successful teamwork

Five practical steps for promoting effective teamwork


James Shears

Agileering.co                                                                                                                                                                                                  © 2024 Build with Thrive  Architect.