Amy Edmondson, author of Teaming, recognises that modern business requires teams to get used to working together quickly.
She says: “A team is an established, fixed group of people cooperating in pursuit of a common goal. But what if a team disbands almost as quickly as it was assembled? What if you’re a member of a temporary project team formed to solve a unique production problem? Or part of a group of managers with individual and shared responsibilities?”
Here are her tips for jump-starting collaboration:
Speak up
Establish honest, direct conversation between team-mates. Get people comfortable with asking questions, acknowledging errors, raising issues and offering ideas.
Listen intently
Get everyone to commit to understanding their colleagues’ knowledge, expertise and ideas.
Integrate different points of view
Get the team clear on the range of opinions and ideas present in the group, and look for consensus on a collective way forward.
Experiment iteratively
In today’s fast-moving, uncertain business environment, people tend to overanalyse – or alternatively, take big risks without properly considering the outcome. It’s better to take an iterative step-by-step approach, learning as you go.
Take time to reflect
No matter how busy you are, its important to regularly take time to look back on your processes and outcomes to learn and improve.