Understanding Teams

It will take teamwork to cure cancer, maximise all student’s learning, invent what comes after television, and create peace throughout the world. The truly committed co-operative group is probably the most productive tool humans have

- Johnson and Johnson (1997: 25)

Facilitating work teams and building a positive culture is an important part of leadership and management. Understanding what teams are and how they work, and the factors that can inhibit or enhance teamwork, form the foundation of leading a high performing team.

What is a team? How is it different from a group?
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We often use the terms team and group interchangeably, however there are some subtle differences between the two. 
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A team is a group of individuals who work together to achieve common goals. People in a team depend on each other and share information, resources and skills, and seek to combine their efforts in the best way possible to achieve agreed outcomes. 
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A group, on the other hand, consists of people who may share ideas, learn from each other and even help each other but their focus is on their individual goals and self-interest. Insurance agents working in the same department who have independent revenue targets, with clients assigned by geographical location, are a group rather than a team. 
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The winner of the AFL is clearly a team.

Teams are groups of employees organised to work together to complete a whole or a distinct part of a product or service. Individuals in teams get meaning from their work. 

​What is a high performing team?

A small number of people with complementary skills who are committed to a common purpose, performance goals, and approach for which they hold themselves mutually accountable. ~ Katzenbach and Smith

High performance teams are those where 

• there is a high personal commitment to the achievement of challenging, common goals; and

• everyone is accountable for each other’s performance, personal growth and success.

Think about a time when you have experienced a really good (or really bad) team. What did they do or not do?