Teams don’t succeed just because they want to. They don't succeed because someone has a great idea. They don't succeed because everyone is well intentioned. They don't succeed because they have a great cause or the members are paid well. Teams DO succeed because they have the right balance of the key characteristics or skills in their members. These skills are Manager, Visionary Planner, Expert, Worker and Motivator.

The Manager is someone that organizes the group, the one that attends to the process and people. The Visionary Planner is instrumental in creating the goal and developing the plan. The Expert has experience in the specific project area. This may have been gained by schooling but is often gained by experience. The Workers are the people that are actually doing work. The Motivator is someone to rally the people and help people feel appreciated and that the goal is of value. Motivation needs to be done with sincerity.

Naturally, each member of a team may play several different roles. On successful teams all of these positions are fluid, being passed and shared by most of the team members. And of course, matching people’s natural abilities and personal preference to the jobs or tasks they will do is how teams create and increase personal and team energy. But we usually don't have to match people to their job; they naturally select what they like. It is when we are assigning tasks that this is the concern.

A great example of this comes from volunteer teams, since they do not have a choice which team players they get. In this group, I am clearly the Manager. I call the meetings, run them, type up the notes, and distribute them. The Visionary Planner role is not in any one person’s hand. It is done by a group brainstorm. The final goal is chosen mostly by consensus. In a work situation, the goal, unfortunately, is usually assigned.

We are all Experts. Since we have been having Earthday events for several years, we all have gained a certain expertise and we know what works and how it works. We are all Workers too, though several of us workers have very specific jobs areas.

As the Manager, the task of motivating can fall in my lap quite a bit. Sometimes participants’ motivation is internal and intrinsic. The motivation then might come from us having done this before and knowing that it was great and satisfying and another event will be the same. Some time the choice of the event is motivating. On a sport or academic team the role of the Motivator is usually pretty clearly seen.

But the best example I have seen of motivating comes from a consulting client of mine. They have created an office of trust, where everyone is empowered to contribute, so everyone has ownership in the office’s mission of improving dental health through care and education. Everyone loves working there; they work hard and have fun. In this case the system is the motivator.

There are several types of teams – work teams, ad hoc project teams, sport or academic team. If a work team is not producing then you can see it and hire or rearrange the team members. Project teams are more sensitive to this role issue. Since many project teams are ad hoc they may lack the right composition and flounder. An astute manager is central to building a well rounded team. On the sport or academic team the roles are more clearly defined as well. So if a sport or academic team is not producing then they usually replace the team manager of just suffer.

The key team roles that we discussed are Manager, Visionary Planner, Expert, Worker and Motivator. Bring this list to your next team meeting and have the team members’ match up the roles they fill on your team with the ones listed. Which of your office team members has natural ability for each of these skills? Do you see any holes? Are there too many in one area and not enough in another? Do you see ways that your team can work together more efficiently?

For help developing your team using the team roles, stages of a team, characteristics of team, and team communication, contact us at Thinking Skills.