Have you ever noticed how finicky teams are? You put together teams for different projects and one is friendly and effective, churning out ideas like there’s no tomorrow and managing to get in a few laughs before wrapping up the meeting fifteen minutes early.  Meeting with second team - built from the same company - is a bit like herding cats.

If you have any sort of leadership position, you need to know how to build a good team. Although there are never guarantees where individual people are concerned, experts agree that there are some basic management secrets that can increase the odds that your next team will be terrific rather than terrible.  These secrets can basically be grouped into the four Rs: Research, Regard, Response, and Results.  At DivaDesignWorld, we know these techniques work because we have assembled a team of dedicated designers, developers and writers.  This team is qualified, dedicated, and produces results, making the DivaDesignWorld team effective.

The first R, research, is crucial before your assemble your team.  You need to research each person individually to determine whether they are qualified for the project or work you want to accomplish.  You may also want to research whether that person has worked on teams in the past. If they have, it might be useful to get a sense of how they functioned as a team.  You also need to research how various people have interacted in the past.  If two of your potential team members have worked on a project together - with disastrous results - you may want to think twice before putting them to work together again, unless something has dramatically changed.

Next, you need to check the regard each person has for the work and for other members of the team.  To figure this out, you will need to approach each member of your potential team and figure out what their personal level of interest is in the project you want to see completed.  Each person you choose for the team should have a personal interest in the project and a good regard for others on the team.  If they don’t, productivity will likely be low and conflict high.

Next, you need to check the responses of each potential team member to your project.   When you talk to someone about the team, you have to be prepared to step back and really listen.  Stay alert for body language, too.  If you approach and employee and talk about building a team to talk about the latest budget and that person starts shuffling their feet and saying “Gee, I’d love to, but is the meeting really at 9 in the morning?”  that person is telling  you their response to the team is not great. If that person says “Will John be in charge of the project?  Really?” they may be sending you the signal that they are not willing to work well under John’s supervision. Checking the response of each person ensures that all your team members will be interested and enthusiastic enough to participate.  

Finally, check results.  When you have assembled your team, you need to make sure that each member is pulling their weight.  Not everyone will produce great results all the time, but ideally each person should be doing a fair share of the work.