J. Richard Hackman (1940-2013), a professor of social and organisational psychology at Harvard observed: “The more common reason for sub-standard work group performance is that managers make serious mistakes in designing, supporting and leading teams. Too often they gather some people together, toss it a task and hope for the best. That is not good enough. Creating the conditions for team effectiveness, it turns out requires that managers know some things and know how to do those some things.”

Taking a cue from Professor Hackman, in this article we will attempt to go through what managers must know.

Effective team work is both profoundly simple and difficult at the same time. The factors that affect success in team work occur both within the team itself and in the work environment in which the team must function. In the writer’s opinion, Susan Heathfield, a management and organisation development consultant, has given 10 tips which describe the environment that must occur within the team for successful team work to take place.

Let us call them Twelve Critical Cs. The questions are directed to the manager and he must be sincere in answering them.


1. Clear expectations:  Have you clearly communicated your expectations for the team’s performance and expected outcomes? Do your team members understand why the team was created? Is the organisation demonstrating constancy of purpose in supporting the team with resources of people, time and money? Does the work of the team receive sufficient emphasis as a priority in terms of the time, discussion, attention and interest directed its way by executive leaders?


2. Context: Do your team members understand why they are participating on the team? Do they understand how the strategy of using teams will help the organisation attain its communicated business goals? Does the team understand where its work fits in the total context of the organisation’s goals, principles, vision and values?


3. Commitment:  Do team members feel the team mission is important? Are members committed to accomplishing the team mission and expected outcomes? Do team members anticipate recognition for their contributions? Are team members excited and challenged by the team opportunity?


4. Competence: Does the team feel that it has the appropriate people participating? Does the team feel that its members have the knowledge, skill and capability to address the issues for which the team was formed? If not, does the team have access to the help it needs?


5. Charter: Has the team taken its assigned area of responsibility and designed its own mission, vision and strategies to accomplish the mission. Has the team defined and communicated its goals, its anticipated outcomes and contributions, its timelines and how it will measure both the outcomes of its work and the process the team followed to accomplish their task? Does the leadership team or other coordinating group support what the team has designed?


6. Control: Does the team have enough freedom and empowerment to feel the ownership necessary to accomplish its charter? At the same time, do team members clearly understand their boundaries? Are limitations (i.e. monetary and time resources) defined at the beginning of the project before the team experiences barriers and rework? Is the team’s reporting relationship and accountability understood by all members of the organisation? Has the organisation defined the team’s authority, to make recommendations, to implement its plan?


7. Collaboration: Does the team understand team and group process? Do members understand the stages of group development? Are team members working together effectively interpersonally? Do all team members understand the roles and responsibilities of team members, team leaders? Can the team approach problem-solving, process improvement, goal setting and measurement jointly? Do team members cooperate to accomplish the team charter? Has the team established group norms or rules of conduct in areas such as conflict resolution, consensus decision-making and meeting management? Is the team using an appropriate strategy to accomplish its action plan?


8. Communication: Are team members clear about the priority of their tasks? Is there an established method for the teams to give feedback and receive honest performance feedback? Does the organisation provide important business information regularly? Do the teams understand the complete context for their existence? Do team members communicate clearly and honestly with each other? Do team members bring diverse opinions to the table? Are necessary conflicts raised and addressed?


9. Creativity: Is the organisation really interested in change? Does it value creative thinking, unique solutions and new ideas? Does it reward people who take reasonable risks to make improvements or does it reward the people who fit in and maintain the status quo? Does it provide the training, education, access to books and films and field trips necessary to stimulate new thinking?


10. Consequences: Do team members feel responsible and accountable for team achievements? Are rewards and recognition supplied when teams are successful? Is reasonable risk respected and encouraged in the organisation? Do team members fear reprisal? Do team members spend their time finger pointing rather than resolving problems? Is the organisation designing reward systems that recognize both team and individual performance? Is the organisation planning to share gains and increased profitability with team and individual contributors? Can contributors see their impact on increased organisation success?


11. Coordination: Are teams coordinated by a central leadership team that assists the groups to obtain what they need for success? Have priorities and resource allocation been planned across departments? Do teams understand the concept of the internal customer—the next process, anyone to whom they provide a product or a service? Are cross-functional and multi-department teams common and working together effectively? Is the organisation developing a customer-focused process-focused orientation and moving away from traditional departmental thinking?

12. Cultural change: Does the organisation recognize that the team-based, collaborative, empowering, enabling organisational culture of the future is different than the traditional, hierarchical organisation it may currently be? Is the organisation planning to or in the process of changing how it rewards, recognizes, appraises, hires, develops, plans with, motivates and manages the people it employs? Does the organisation plan to use failures for learning and support reasonable risk? Does the organisation recognize that the more it can change its climate to support teams, the more it will receive in pay back from the work of the teams?

If a manager can get these 12 factors right, success and a rewarding sense of team work will follow.

(Lionel Wijesiri, a corporate director with over 25 years’ senior managerial experience, can be contacted at [email protected])