Business teams are assembled to tackle a task, manage a project, find solutions or create plans. Team members are chosen based on individual expertise, experience, knowledge and the ability to plan strategically. Putting together the perfect team does not automatically ensure success. Teams fail for a variety of reasons, though a little forethought can prevent it.
It is important to clearly define the role of each team member, and to lay out the expectations for each role, along with the responsibility each role has to the task. Without clearly defined roles, a team member may take on a task that does not suit his expertise. This sets up him, and the team, for failure. It is also important to define leadership roles. A team needs to understand who to approach when there are questions or decisions that need to be made. Without a clearly defined leader, poor decisions can be made that will contribute to the demise of the project.
Team members need to interact in a productive way. Though each member may be an expert in his field, he also needs to be an expert in communicating with fellow team members. Mutual respect is mandatory for a team to maintain cohesion and achieve results. If team members butt heads due to mistrust of each other's capability, results cannot be achieved. Team members must feel a loyalty to the team as well as to each other.
Lack of Vision
To achieve success, a team needs to know its goal. The team needs a clearly defined mission statement that is easily understood by every member. Without understanding the purpose for the team, members will quickly lose enthusiasm and motivation. Sometimes a team starts out with a vision, but because team members interpret it differently, the vision gets muddied. Team members with different visions will work differently and cohesion is lost. To counteract this problem, be sure that goals and visions are clearly stated to the entire team at once. During the course of the project, regroup to discuss the continuing validity of the vision. If the goal needs to be adjusted, make the corrections together so everyone is on board and can progress.
A team may have the perfect plan to reach its goal, but unless it can manage the time needed to put the plan into action, failure will occur. Work on special teams is often conducted in addition to regular job duties and responsibilities. Scheduling time for an extra project needs to be methodical and reasonable. Team members must also make the time commitment needed to complete the responsibilities assigned. When working on the project, interruptions need to be minimized so that team members can focus on the the task at hand.
A strategic plan based on market data or other analysis is only as good as that data or analysis. The original vision may be based on certain market conditions or criteria, but if the market changes during the process, the data is no longer valid. The team will fail in its mission not because team members are inefficient, but because the processes are no longer based on the correct data.
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