What does an effective team need?

Shared objectives:
Thanks to a clear and shared definition of objectives, the team can focus their energy towards common purposes.

Leadership:
Effective leaders coordinate the work of the team, they have great communication skills and involve all members of the team.

Commitment:
All members of the team have to be actively involved and the Team Leader has to be able to require everyone’s contribution.

Individual merit:
An effective team appreciates and acknowledges the individual’s contribution.

Open communication:
Members of the team have to feel free to openly express themselves and there needs to be enough time to share and discuss information.

Decision-making power:
The work of the team should focus on issues that can influence and concern the decision-making of a team.

Process:
The processes define how people cooperate together, how the work is structured, and how it is distributed; as well as the general rules of Team Work.

Mutual Trust:
The creation of trust depends on how the Team Leader and the members of the team relate to each other. It is important to know what impact behavior and aptitudes have on mutual trust.

Respectful diversity:
The members of a team have to feel like they can be free not to agree with each other or to be different from one other without being reprimanded.

Conflict Management:
Unresolved conflicts lead to a worse performance by the team. The presence of conflicts is normal but, when they arise, they should be faced in a constructive way.

(Fran Rees, 1991)