What a good team looks like

What a good team looks like

Need to hire more staff or put a team together to spearhead a project? But you’re not sure what a good team looks like? Here are some tips to help you assemble a good team:
1. Social intelligence: A good team will consist of people who have good technical skills (they know their work well) as well as social intelligence. This is when people are aware of what’s happening around them. For example, if someone is uncharacteristically snappy with you, you’re unlikely to think, ‘Wow, what a rude person!’ and start yelling at them, because you know that he/she isn’t normally rude to you. Something must be the matter for them to be snappy, so you try and help by being kind and asking if they’re okay. That’s one example of being socially intelligent, you’re in tune with others in your team.
2. Leaders and followers: Not everybody wants to be a leader. Some people are quite happy taking instruction from others and doing their bit. If you have a team that’s too heavy on leaders, they could get impatient with each other and compromise the work. But, if you don’t have enough leaders, you won’t have people challenging each other’s ideas and theories and your company won’t be innovative (creative). The trick is to have a good blend of doers and thinkers and to have one main leader that can guide the ship.
3. Common goals: If everyone in the team is working towards the same goals, it’s easier to collaborate to achieve the goal. If everyone is working on their own different projects and they’re not centred towards a common goal, people will be pulling on resources and trying to outdo each other.
4. Effective communication: A good team will listen to each other with an open mind and help each other out. Even if it’s helping the others understand their point of view which differs to theirs. Without effective communication, a team is both deaf and dumb.

Every good team consists of these four characteristics. A good team can achieve amazing results but a bad team will cause a project to fail. Choose your team members well to ensure your project is a success.