The Anatomy of the Perfect Team

"To reach the mountain top, you have to aim for the stars."

Obviously no team will be perfect. But if you and your team don't fit all the descriptions on this page, the SuddenTeams® Program from TeamTrainers^TM will save you money and hassle.

Performance
Members
Manager
Meetings

Performance

The team performs better than others on:

Surpassing targets for task due dates, costs, and quality.
Labor and materials costs.
Customer satisfaction.
Making consensus decisions without conflict or groupthink.
Worker morale, motivation and satisfaction.
Meeting management expectations.
Absenteeism and turnover rates.

Members

Do:

Make sacrifices to help other team members.Volunteer for team tasks and do them as promised.
Praise and actively support other members.
Disagree openly with the team without making personal attacks.
Freely admit mistakes as soon as they're made.
Practice active listening.
Mediate internal and external differences on their own.
Keep disagreements within the team.
Keep the team up-to-date on information or skills it needs in their specialties.
Keep the group focused on its values, objectives, and criteria for decisions.
Handle most or all of the team's administrative tasks.

Don't:

Refuse to share information.
Avoid (constructive) conflict when it's necessary.
Dominate group discussions.
Talk negatively about the team outside team meetings.
Resist or sabotage group efforts.
Refuse to compromise.
Put their own agendas ahead of the team's agenda.
Lose self-discipline in dealing with team members or stakeholders.
Blame others.
Have more concern about recognition of their individual efforts than about their teammates' success.

Manager

Leads by:

Giving the team its direction and boundaries, but not telling it how to achieve goals.
Making sure it has the same resources he or she would want to achieve what he expects of it: human, financial, equipment, materials, information, and training.
Staying out of day-to-day operations and decisions.
Encouraging the team to solve its own problems and conflicts.
Letting the team make mistakes to learn.
Involving the team early and often on all strategic decisions that might affect it.
Learning the team's values, and modeling them when dealing with the team.
Taking on team tasks when asked.
Keeping colleagues and superiors informed on the team's progress.

Has time to:

Think about strategic issues.
Question assumptions.
Learn.
Coach others on teaming and technical skills.
Champion customers, quality improvements, or teaming across the enterprise.
Take on special projects.
Perform line work he or she enjoys.

Meetings

Before and during meetings:

An agenda, meeting notes from the previous meeting (if any) and handouts related to the agenda are sent out in time for participants to review them before the meeting.
The meeting starts precisely on time—neither early nor late.
The agenda is followed closely, but allows for new topics to be addressed at appropriate times.
Rules to eliminate time-wasting are gently but firmly enforced.
The meeting ends early or on time with all agenda items covered.

After meetings:

Participants feel their views were heard and valued.
Participants support the decisions of the group.
Participants feel their time was well spent and want to attend the group's next meeting.
Actions are taken as a result of every decision.