Two things are particularly important to building effective teams and groups:

1. That a specific, deliberate process be worked through as a group so that performance and interactions are not based on assumptions and past experiences (see below).

and

2. That individuality is not sacrificed as part of the team process. Team members and team leaders do not give up themselves and their own unique personalities and skills, rather they blend with others in an additive way that contributes to the team's overall purpose.

See "Alignment at the Group/Team/Department Level"

An Example of a Team Development Initiative

While working with the top management team of 7 individuals, including the mid-sized company President, there was discussion about a major project which would significantly influence their market and would also have a wide-ranging impact on manufacturing as well as other staff functions.

In the midst of a conversation about remaining work to be done, the consultant asked the question "where does the leadership for this project lie ?" The President quickly said that he holds everyone accountable for their part, while everyone else said that the President was the leader of the project-- to which the President said "I'm not the leader, I'm just checking on progress".

Then the consultant asked if there was a critical path plan developed, since startup was only several weeks away and there were various loose ends. It turned out that there was no coordinated plan and everyone was making a series of assumptions about 'who was doing what'.

This urgent project was used as a centerpiece for developing this team. As a team, the group went through a sequence of getting very clear about what the project Mission was and what the milestone Goals and measurables were in order to achieve startup. The team clarified their assumptions about the Roles that each of them had in the project. Then they, as a group, created a huge flow chart of remaining work to be done and kept this posted on their conference room wall throughout the remainder of the project, so that it could be used as a way to manage and communicate status of remaining work.... This was one of many important Practices that the group developed. Their own Relationships and interactions were enhanced through a process of exchanging expectations as well as what they need/don't need and get/don't get from one another as pertains to the project.

The result was a successful project startup. The management team then decided that this process would be worthwhile in addressing their overall leadership functioning as a team. Deliberately working through the model of Mission-Goals-Roles-Practices-Relationships enabled this top management team to execute their leadership in a more focused and effective way.