Leadership Barometer 86 Better Teamwork





Better Teamwork



This article blends well known processes with horse sense born of experience that will allow any team to perform better.

The Tuckman Model



A critical time for any team is when it is forming, when the team is trying to figure out its role and goals. Members are not sure of their status or contribution at this point, and personal bonding is a key element to the eventual success of the team.

It is advisable for the group to go offsite for some initial teambuilding activities. Many leaders avoid this step, because often team building activities involve a kind of game atmosphere that does not feel like “work.”









This step is the logical consequence of the first three steps. The bulk of the time a team is together will be spent in the performing phase, and the quality of the work will be dependent on how the first three steps are handled.

Two Key Building Blocks

The two most basic things required for any team to become a high performing unit are 1) a common goal, and 2) trust. If you put these building blocks in place, all of the rest of the team dynamics (like excellent communication) will sort themselves out.

If either of these conditions is missing, the team will sputter and struggle to meet expectations.

Insist on Respect



Everyone knows the barbs are only jokes, and they laugh, but deep down there is always some damage.

Smart groups have a conscious norm that they will enjoy humor in meetings but never make a joke at someone else’s expense. It may seem like a small thing, but over time this practice can really help improve the function of any team.

Set the Expectation

Setting expectations is easy to accomplish. The leader just needs to insist on agreed-upon behaviors and remind people when they slip up.


Look for these behaviors and keep track in a few meetings with some hash marks on a piece of paper. You will be astonished how pervasive this problem is and also how some people are addicted to the practice. Then, solve the problem and begin enjoying the benefits of better teamwork.

I have coached hundreds of teams and find that there are patterns that lead to success and other patterns that lead to extreme frustration and failure.

Most Common Problem

There is one condition that rises above all the others when it comes to dysfunctional teams. When some members of the team believe other members are not pulling their fair share of the load, the team is going to have major problems.

This problem is so common there is even a name for it. The practice is called “social loafing,” where one or more people slack off and let others do more than their portion of the work.


Create a Charter


3. A set of agreed upon behaviors that the members pledge to follow


The most powerful item is #4, and it is the one that is most often omitted from a charter. The reason it has power is that when the team is forming usually all members have good intentions to pull their weight for the good of the team.

If team members agree that letting the team down by slacking off and having others pick up the slack will result in some unhappy consequence (like being voted off the team, or having no points on an assignment, or having to do extra clean-up work, or some other penalty), they are far less likely to practice “social loafing.” If they are tempted to goof off, then the penalty they have already agreed to is applied, and the bad behavior is quickly extinguished.

Most teams without a good charter end up in the frustration of having one or more people believing that they are unfairly doing more than their fair share of the work. When a good charter spells out the expected behaviors and the penalty for non-compliance before the team experiences a problem, it greatly reduces this most common of all team maladies.


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