No team is perfect. Not everyone can get along with everyone and just like every team, problems can occur. But to make a successful team it’s important to keep these problems to a minimum, help the team to bond and make the working environment a positive one to be in. So, “how do we do that?” I hear you ask…below we have come up with a few key qualities any team needs to adopt to be successful.

Communication
This attribute is arguably the most important as without it, a team can’t work collaboratively or effectively. But with communication, a team can be unstoppable. This is because once a team gets sharing their ideas and opinions and taking onboard other’s comments, it enables the best work possible to be done as it allows each member of the team to have an input and also it enables the team to keep on track of progress by constantly talking to one another, keeping those wheels turning. No communication could lead to a team failure as you increase the risk of misunderstandings, missing deadlines and causing conflict.

Goal & Result Orientated
Setting goals is a really important part of a team’s success as it gives them something to aim for together, and it’s important that the whole team agree on the criteria. Once the goals have been set, a plan can then be put in place on how they’re going to achieve those goals as a team, and what each member needs to contribute. This can introduce a bit of healthy competition as they will have individual targets to hit in order to hit the team target, so they all have their own part to contribute individually but ultimately, they’re all aiming for the same thing.

Be Fair
When distributing individual tasks out to each member, it’s important that the workload of each member is as equal to every other member as possible otherwise people will start to feel overworked or less important than other members. Therefore, when distributing these tasks, it’s important each member understands their role and responsibilities and what impact their role has on the team target, so they feel they are contributing and making a difference.

Play to each other’s strengths, not weaknesses
Successful teams bring out the best in people, not the worst. Each member will have their own strengths and weaknesses, and you can use this to the team’s advantage. For example, if team member A was good at data input and team member B wasn’t, it would be more time effective for team member A to do the task instead of letting team member B struggle with a task that’s not suited to their skill set. People also tend to thrive at things they’re good at and it boosts their morale and keeps them motivated as they feel they’re doing a good job, but by giving team member B the task, it could have the adverse effect and lower their confidence and could make them feel like they haven’t contributed to the team as much as they wanted. Therefore, it’s really important to incorporate team member’s strengths when distributing tasks.

Support
Working together and being a team means supporting all members through the good and the bad. If another member is struggling with workload and you have a spare hand, help them out. This makes teams far more productive and also helps to build that important team bond. Support isn’t just from the team itself either. Support can be received from the company, so if someone is struggling or wants to develop further, the company may be able to offer resources to help and support improvement and development.

Diversity
No two people are the same, and it’s this uniqueness that you need in your team. The more people you have from varied backgrounds, cultures, ages, characteristics etc. can only enhance your team as these factors influence the way people think, their approaches, their knowledge, their skill set etc. The more diverse your team is, the more likely it is to come up with new and different ideas and also to cover all the skill sets required to reach that team target.

Leadership
Every team needs guidance, and this usually comes from a leader who has earned the team’s trust and respect. To be the team leader you must be responsible for managing them appropriately, motivating the team, keeping up team morale, supporting each member, ensure things are ticking along as they should be and step in when they aren’t. It’s also important the leader keeps the team updated so they don’t feel below the leader or less important because each member of a team is just as important as every other member.

Organisation
This skill can be hard to master, but essential for the smooth running of any task. It’s often up to the leader to set the example to the team. The leader should organise the plan of action and ensure everyone is on track, and each member should then organise and manage their own workload. If you don’t organise yourself and your workload, you run the risk of missing things, overrunning on deadlines and ultimately not hitting your personal or team target, which could then have a knock-on effect on your confidence and team spirit.

Team Bonding
This is an important part of any team, as having fun with your work colleagues can lead to a much more positive working relationship. This will also reduce conflict in the office and will make the office a much more enjoyable place to work. If you don’t have fun with your colleagues and it’s all just work, then this can lead to team members being demotivated and deflated which can reduce productivity. So, bonding with the team and having fun has benefits for everyone!

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