Daydreaming

I was sitting at my desk and trying to figure out a few things. I assume that these things are common for people leading teams and managing projects. However, does anyone really have a _good_ answer or does it depend on the individual or individuals making up the team? I would say that it’s a mix of both; using a foundation you can find a base understanding, but you then have to take the plunge learning to swim on your own, without the arm-floaties. So one of the questions I found myself asking was: What makes a great team?

To be entirely honest I’m uncertain as to what makes great individuals, but I do know the fundamentals of a great team. I’ve been on multiple “winning” teams in the past. You can see great teams all the time. Usually these teams are highly functional with seemingly independent parts. However, those parts are usually very much related to each other. Often the members of that team will collaborate and have a base knowledge about the other members tasks. This makes almost all of them useful to each other. Here are some characteristics of a great team:

• Understanding of their part in the team
• Accountability
• Willingness to help others
• Open Collaboration
• Open Communication
• Ability to have fun in the team

The successful teams that I’ve been a part of have had most or all of these traits. Surely there is difficulty in trying to pinpoint who, in the team, possesses these characteristics. Even more difficult would be trying to find people to bring into the team where you have no previous knowledge to base your perception on. That being the case, how can you accurately judge someone to find their true abilities. More interestingly, how do you gauge that persons ability to sink or swim when put into a team?