How To Build A Winning Team

How To Build A Winning Team

By:


An essential quality and skill a good CEO must possess is the ability to develop, enhance and sustain a strong team. As the captain of the ship, you would need to be a teacher, coach and mentor to the team members working with you.

This is easier said than done. There are certain steps you and your team must take if you want to grow together as a high-performing team. The process starts right from the selection stage.

Select a good team worker
When recruiting a new team member, make sure you test the qualitative characteristics of the candidate as well and not only his/her quantifiable skill sets. For instance, a strong team member needs to display an ability, willingness and flexibility to work as part of a team. If he comes across as an aloof, egotistical person at the interview stage, you can be certain that he will not be able to gel in with your team, even if he possesses the best skills.

Check loyalty and team spirit
Secondly, check the candidates resume to carefully to see if she has changed jobs too frequently. A person who works well in a team and enjoys her position within the team is less likely to change jobs at regular intervals and will have stronger loyalty toward the team and the organization she works for. The candidates loyalty toward the past company is a good indicator of the sets of values and work ethics she possesses.
If you are selecting a team leader, remember to test the persons communication skills, positive attitude, amiable demeanor and focus and commitment toward meeting targets and deadlines. Check if the candidate has been awarded or recognized for his team management abilities in the past company.

Instill essential team characteristics
Once you have selected the right people and set up your team, work toward instilling the following characteristics in your team:

Clarity the team must be clear in its objectives and communication.
Commitment the team members must be committed towards meeting their deadlines and targets with collective efforts.
Communication the communication between team members must be smooth and regular.
Absence of cynicism negative views, negative energies and defeatist attitudes are a strict no-no.
Diversity the team members can be brought in from divergent task disciplines and you can thus create a cross-functional, multi-tasking team. Such a team where members are efficient in their respective disciplines and are willing to learn about other disciplines, proves to be a winning team.
Productive conflict allow disagreements and debates within the team only to the scale where the output is productive. All team members need not necessarily agree on everything but it is important that they agree on a collective decision.
Project-orientation the team members, even if from cross-functional disciplines, must be well aware of the project they are working on, its requirements, objectives, challenges and deadlines.
Scorecards keep a scorecard of the best performers, the average performers and the laggards of the team. You will need to spend extra effort to motivate and train the laggard members to help them upgrade themselves and keep pace with their fellow members.

Apart from upgrading the team members, you need to keep upgrading your leadership skills and coaching skills as well. Remember, the team will look up to you for guidance, support, encouragement, motivation and rewards. Hence, as the CEO, it is your responsibility to keep yourself abreast with the teams functioning, attitude, responsibilities and commitment towards meeting targets.

Join a reliable CEO Group in Atlanta or CEO Coaching association where CEOs, general managers and executive coaching experts get together and discuss and share practical and proven insights into managing business, building teams and achieving targets. A CEO Group is a great way of associating with people who are in similar situations and get some honest, matter-of-fact suggestions on how to make your team more productive and cohesive.

About the Author:
Tom Bordon is a freelance writer who has extensively written about CEO group in Atlanta and executive coaching sessions. His articles focus on guiding CEOs, COOs and top level executives in making new business plans, and strategies in a CEO coaching.



Article Originally Published On: http://www.articlesnatch.com


Tags: , , ,

|

Loading...
Related....
Videos...

Recent Team-Building Articles

Comments

Still can't find what you are looking for? Search for it!

Loading

Site Navigation:

Copyright 2005-2011 ArticleSnatch, LLC - All Rights Reserved.
Privacy Policy | Terms of Service.