Characteristics effective team. 5- Mutual accountability- Effective
Characteristicsof an effective Team:1- Commitment towards team’s goals-All the team members should be committed towards team’s success and theirshared goals. They are motivated to achieve the top level goals. They focus onachieving the team’s goals rather than individual goals. A clear sense ofpurpose unifies the group. The goal should not only be clear, it should also beimportant for each member of the team. 2- Open Communication and Feedback-Team members should willingly give and accept constructive criticism andprovide genuine feedback.
Actively listening and freely communicating withoutany hesitation also creates effective work environment.Effective teams communicateproactively. They provide information before being asked. They also takeinitiatives and provide guidance and suggestions to other team members as well.
3- Team composition-There should be appropriate team composition and team members should be awareof their roles and responsibilities. They should understand beforehand what isexpected from them and thus make effective contributions towards achieving theteam goals. 4- Encourage differences in opinions-Teams with diverse opinions come up with new and creative ideas. Diversity inteams encourages different opinions with helps in getting the “out of the box”ideas.
Members are valued for their unique skills and talents. Diversity inthinking, problem solving, and different experiences also create an effectiveteam. 5- Mutual accountability-Effective teams celebrates the success together as well as faces the failurestogether. They take responsibility as individuals as well as teams for theirmistakes.
6- Informal-The atmosphere of effective teams tend to be informal and comfortable workingenvironment where people are involved and interested in everything related to theteam. 7- Risk takers-The teams willing to take risks are also effective. Risk-taking attitude comeswith confidence. Confidence on yourself and team members are of utmost importanceto face the consequences of the risks undertaken. 8- Leadership-Functions of leaders shift from time to time. This depends on the situations,need of the team members and their skills and expertise. The leader helps inmaintaining appropriate behavior and positive norms. 9- Emotional Intelligence-An effective team possesses not only technical skills but is high on emotionalintelligence as well.
Also, teams high on EQ than IQ are highly productive andare better performers. 10- Effective decision making-Agreement on a decision is very significant. Before selecting a method or atechnique, the pros and cons should be considered. The team members shouldconsider the option or method which is the most advantageous. Awareness ofvarious decision making methods also helps a team to work effectively andefficiently. Howan organization can create team players?Generally, the manager tries to motivate theindividuals by the three most popular ways:1- Properselection2- Employeetraining &3- Rewardingthe appropriate team behaviorsThese above mentioned elements will improve and guaranteepeople being extremely cooperative in the association. These points arediscussed below:1- Hiring the right individuals:Some people already have interpersonal skills to be effective team players.While hiring, it is important to ensure that apart from technical knowledge,the candidate has other necessary skills to fulfill their roles.
There are waysto check if a particular candidate is a team player or not which includes testswith different type scenarios to see how an individual would behave in a teamand how participative he is in a team. But some candidates don’t possess theseteam skills when employed. In this situation, the manager has three options:either to train the candidate or transfer him/her to another unit which doesn’trequire much of team work. And the third option would be not to hire thatcandidate.
2- Different ways of trainingemployees: Training exercises can be used to show theimportance of team accomplishments and the satisfaction derived from team work.Workshops can be arranged for the employees to improve their skills. Theseskills may include communication, problem solving, negotiation, conflicthandling etc. Group development model can also be used which includes fivestages forming, storming, norming, performing and adjourning.Team building exercises can also beused which creates openness and trust among employees. 3- Proper rewarding system:Any organization’s reward system should be such that encourages the cooperativeand not competitive environment. Promotions, pay raises, incentives and otherforms of recognition should be given to employees who work effectively asindividuals as well as in teams.
The individuals should also be placed inpositions in which they can use all their potential and strengths and positionsthey are best suited for. Apart from this, creating a climate of trust is alsovery important. Members of the team must trust each other because trust willfacilitate cooperation and a sense of confidence that people will not takeundue advantage of their efforts. The7 key elements to building a great team:1- The right people-This is the primary element of building a team which means filling the teamwith right people. A particular mix of people is required, e.g.
– a particularmix of introverts and extroverts, an excellent leader, an excellent assistantleader and a middle manager type, etc.2- Commitment-Every member of the team should commit to the goals of the team and its sharedvalues, mission and vision. Before forming a team, it is important to have amission and vision statement which will ensure that the team will work towardsthe same goal and are on the same page at the same time.3- Communication-Every team member should be able to share their feelings, opinions and emotionsfreely.
Communication depends on trust. When there is enough trust, people willcommunicate openly. It creates a positive work environment. Open communicationalso helps in accepting constructive feedback which helps in continuousimprovements which ultimately improves the performance of the team members.4- Complementary Strengths-People have different skills at which they are good at. It becomes necessary tocomplement and appreciate different skills.
Everyone has a unique skill andstyle of working. Different skills complementing each other boost the morale ofthe team members.5- Shared values-When the values of a team are same, there will arise fewer conflicts among theteam members. The team members having the same work ethics will work in harmonythan those who share different values.
6- Cooperation-There are few factors which a team should have to maintain cooperation amongthem i.e.- respecting each other’s time, creativity, feedback, team spirit andaccuracy.7- Conflict Management-Having differences in diverse teams is not a big issue. The main thing is howwe handle those conflicts. A team must always try to improve its working sothat there are fewer conflicts. PepsiCoshowing exemplary teamwork:”Peopleare everything and the success of an enterprise usually comes down to onething: the Team”, Indra Nooyi said. To keep her teamhappy and motivated Indra Nooyi send letters to the parents of her employees,thanking them for letting their children work with PepsiCo.
This keeps heremployees motivated which increase their performances.PepsiCo’s organizational culture indicates thecompany’s commitment to maximizing the strength of its human resources. Itsemployees are encouraged to focus on excellence in a collaborative way. The threemain characteristics of PepsiCo’s organization culture are:1- Performancewith purpose2- Realworld leadership3- Collaboration Among these three, Collaboration isof extreme significance. Cooperation and Teamwork is a fundamental part ofPepsiCo. The organization believes that joint efforts accomplish incredibleexecution.
While PepsiCo perceives the qualities of individual representatives,its corporate culture manages the utilization of its qualities throughcollaborative efforts. Teams are used through the organization which createssynergy in human resources instead of relying just on individual human efforts. ThePepsiCo Experience of teamwork:In October 2013, a diverse group of PepsiCo workersfrom a few nations made a trip to Afogados da Ingazeria in upper east Brazil tohelp grow and improve the lives of local farmers and communities affected bysevere drought. This was an innovative, skill-based program supported byPepsiCo Global Citizenship.The PepsiCorps Brazil volunteers were divided intotwo teams. One volunteer team worked with non-profit organization to help buildmarketing and communication capabilities to help farmers have easy access tomarkets.
The second one worked with community association that operated fruitsprocessing facility and sells its products to government. The PepsiCorpsvolunteers conducted statistical survey and created marketing and promotionstrategies to increase business, reduce costs and expand their business.PepsiCorps is created by a group of PepsiCo workers.The first PepsiCorps team was sent to Ghana in 2011.
In 2012, two teams: onewas sent to India to work on drinking water project and the second was sent toAlburquerque to work on sustainable agricultural project.Carrie Wells, an employee of PepsiCo and a volunteerat PepsiCorps, was sent to Ghana in 2011 where she taught hygiene to elementaryand junior school students and also worked on water projects with the entireteam. She shared her experience, “MyPepsiCorps experience taught me to understand and leverage the collectiveskills of a team, envision the end state and tactically move forward until youreach your goal.”The power of Teamwork is very frequently cited byPepsiCorps participants as major lesson learned.Derika Legg, a sales director, travelled toRajasthan in 2012, where she worked with local non-governmental organization toimprove access to safe drinking water and she shared her experience as, “the word collaboration took on a newmeaning as a result of her participation and we are so much smarter as a teamthan as individuals.”
