"Coming together is a beginning, staying together is progress, and working together is success" - Henry Ford
In order to survive the sometimes vast solitude of the ocean depths many marine creatures group together and work cooperatively to increase their survival rates. The bottlenose dolphin is one of the most social creatures on the planet, forming pods for mutual advantage and operating as a collective intelligence. When feeding, a group of bottlenose dolphins will surround a large school of sardines, circling until the sardines form a tight pocket. The bottlenose dolphins then take it in turn to swoop directly into this ‘bait ball’ to catch a fish. The others continue to circle in order to keep the sardines compacted together, ready for the next attack.
This cooperative teamwork has been adapted and perfected to ensure the group achieves the optimum success rate. Individually a dolphin catches one fish; together they capture a plethora of them!
A team can never reach optimum functionality without the right mix of people, personalities and abilities. It is the characteristics of several individuals that create the perfect recipe for success. Dr Meredith Belbin, a respected author and researcher on team interaction and behaviour identified that a balanced team consists of nine roles and that different personalities naturally incline towards certain ones.
These are:
- Plant: Creative, imaginative and unorthodox. They solve difficult problems and come up with many ideas.
- Co-ordinator: Mature, confident and a good chairman. They clarify goals, encourage decision making and delegate well, motivate others and make the best of team resources.
- Monitor/Evaluator: Clear-headed, strategic and perceptive. They see all possible options and are effective decision makers with the ability to judge accurately.
- Implementer: Disciplined, reliable, conservative and efficient. They turn ideas into practical actions and are excellent organisers.
- Completer/Finisher: Painstaking, thorough and anxious. They find errors and omissions quickly and strive for attention to detail, with an excellent ability to deliver on-time.
- Resource/Investigator: Outgoing, enthusiastic, communicative and adaptable. They are good at exploring opportunities and developing contacts.
- Shaper: Challenging and dynamic. They thrive on pressure and are highly motivated, with the drive and courage to overcome obstacles.
- Team worker: Co-operative, mild perceptive and diplomatic. They are good listeners, building on ideas or suggestions and averting hostility.
- Specialist: Single-minded, self starting and dedicated. They provide knowledge and skills that are in rare supply.
No matter how productive each individual in a team may be, without a strong and effective leadership it can spiral into disorganisation and confusion. Effective teams have strong leaders as they:
- Get people involved and instil a sense of commitment
- Make members see the benefits of teamwork
- Allow people to perform on their own initiative
- Look for people who want to succeed
- Encourage and adopt honest and open communication
- Acknowledge achievements and celebrate them accordingly
Good team leaders should help team members feel positive about themselves. When goals are achieved a leader ensures the success is shared and celebrated by the entire team and not promoted as an individual’s achievement. If, however, performance is poor the leader should take responsibility for such, as they are seen as the core of team performance and productivity.
Strong, interdependent team members coupled with an inspiring, well focused team leader can achieve far more than that of a lone individual but without clear aims and one common goal a high potential team will flounder through confusion and lack of direction. If a team is unsure of what is expected of them, then they will lack motivation for the cause. Goals should be challenging and SMART (specific, measurable, agreed, realistic and timely). Of all the things that teams find the most important factor of their success, surveys have shown that direction and purpose consistently comes out on top as the most vital ingredient.
Without it, a team will truly feel lost at sea.
|
