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When Teams Work Best6,000 Team Members and LeadersTell What It Takes to SucceedBy Frank LaFasto and Carl Larson

Published by Sage Publications, 2001ISBN 0761923667

IntroductionTeams are everywhere in business and industry,and in government, schools, hospitals and profes-sional associations — indeed, almost everywherewhere people gather to get things done. But someteams work better than others. What does it take tomake teams work effectively?

To answer that question, more than 6,000 teammembers in a variety of organizations were sur-veyed. They assessed their teams, their team lead-ers and each other against a common set of crite-ria and responded to open-ended questions. Fromthe safety of confidentiality, they identified what en-courages teams to success and what discouragesthem into failure.

Five crucial areas emerged.

1. Team MembersA successful team begins with the right people.What qualities distinguish people who make effec-tive team members? The survey points to six fac-tors. The first two fall into the category of workingknowledge, while the other four are about team-work itself:

• Experience. This is the first thing a teamlooks for in its members. Whether the team isabout to embark on cardiac surgery, mountainclimbing or building an airplane, members look forsomeone with practical knowledge relevant to its

objective. Individuals rapidly discover that thereare members of the team who know and speakfrom experience and others who don’t know andsimply speak.

• Problem-Solving Ability. As a team’s workprogresses, another quality begins to surface. Irre-spective of their level of experience, some mem-bers of the team are good at clarifying the prob-lems that inevitably arise, bringing them into focus,getting them understood and devising solutions.

• Openness. When team members describethe teammates who contribute most to attainingthe team’s goal, the characteristic that shows upmost frequently is openness — the willingness todeal with problems, bring up issues that need to bediscussed, help create an environment where peo-ple are free to say what’s on their minds, and pro-mote an open exchange of ideas.

• Supportiveness. The second teamwork factorpeople see in effective team members is support-iveness, the desire and willingness to help otherssucceed.

• Action Orientation. Good team membersmake a deliberate effort to make things happen,rather than passively waiting and hoping others willdo something about the problems or opportunitiesat hand.

• Personal Style. Good team members have apositive personal style. They motivate others, offer

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positive energy and new ideas, have an infectious en-thusiasm about the work, get along with everybody andmake others feel comfortable. They aren’t cynical, de-fensive or hard-to-work-with whiners who throw coldwater on everything.

2. Team RelationshipsMany teams fail because although the individuals maybe highly knowledgeable, competent and well-inten-tioned, as a group they don’t build productive relation-ships. The research shows that good relationships areconstructive for both parties, are productive, are char-acterized by mutual understanding and are self-correc-tive — both parties are willing to make adjustmentsthat will improve the relationship.

Interestingly, the research shows that people tendto think they’re better at relationships than they reallyare. In self-assessments, people rate themselves muchmore favorably on relationship capacity than their col-leagues do.

To foster team relationships, members must be-come adept at giving and receiving feedback. Feed-back is a gift — received in the proper frame of mind, itallows us to find out something about ourselves thatothers already know and gives us the opportunity to dosomething about it.

But too often feedback is threatening. It’s impor-tant, therefore, that people give feedback constructive-ly. That involves committing to the relationship bydefining their place in the relationship rather than overit. They also have to optimize safety by committing toavoid doing anything that makes the other person feeluncomfortable as well as working to understand whatthe other person has to say.

It’s also important that the discussion be narrowedto one issue at a time. Defensiveness must be neutral-ized by understanding what issues cause defensive-ness in others and agreeing to avoid those subjects.

3. Team Problem-SolvingA major part of any team’s work consists of solvingproblems to advance the team toward its goal. Teamproblem-solving, however, is often an uncertain andcomplex process.

The survey shows that three key factors differenti-ate effective from ineffective teams. The first is the de-gree to which team members are focused in their ef-

forts. Effective teams are very clear about what they’redoing at each moment of their work, while ineffectiveteams are unfocused, with their effort diffused.

Good problem-solving teams also operate in apositive climate. They’re relaxed, comfortable, informal,fun and warm. They have ways of making their mem-bers feel accepted, valued and competent. Personalagendas aren’t elevated above the team’s goal.

Finally, they have open communications. If some-thing is interfering with the team’s performance, it getstalked about. In an ineffective team, by contrast, com-munication is closed — inhibited by an aversive leaderor the memory of painful experiences in which suchdiscussions were managed poorly.

Effective team problem-solving requires a five-stepprocess:

• Identify the Problem. What’s the single questionwhose answer is all the group needs to know to ac-complish its purpose?

• Create a Collaborative Setting. Agree on princi-ples for discussion, such as being fact-based andbeing tough on the issues but not each other, and bringout any assumptions or biases that are associated withthe question being considered.

• Identify and Analyze the Issues. What issues, orsubquestions, must be answered in order to achievefull understanding of the complexities of the overallproblem?

• Identify Possible Solutions. What are the two orthree most reasonable solutions to the problem, andthe advantages or disadvantages of each?

• Resolve the Single Question. From those possiblesolutions, which is the most desirable?

4. The Team LeaderAlthough most people would agree that the right per-son in a leadership role can add the spark that drives asuccessful collective effort, defining the specific behav-iors of an effective team leader has been elusive. Fromthe written evaluation of 600 team leaders by those6,000 team members, the following six dimensionsemerged as critical for an effective team leader.

• Focuses on the Goal. The team leader must helpthe team achieve as much clarity as possible regardingits direction. He or she must help the team membersbelieve in that direction, whether the goal is of theirchoosing or handed to them, capturing their imagina-

When Teams Work Best By Frank LaFasto and Carl Larson

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tion and inspiring them to work hard to achieve it.• Ensures a Collaborative Climate. The team leader

must ensure a climate that enables team members tospeak up and address the real issues preventing thegoal from being achieved. Once a meeting has ended,for example, do team members meet informally to dis-cuss their real thoughts and feelings about an issuethat should have been addressed at the team table?

• Builds Confidence. We like to be around peoplewho strengthen our confidence, and team leadershave to do that by ensuring that results are attained,exhibiting trust in assigning responsibility, being fairand impartial, accentuating the positive, and sayingthank you.

• Demonstrates Sufficient Technical Know-How.The team leader should understand the body of knowl-edge directly related to the achievement of the goal.

• Sets Priorities. Teams fall apart when a leadermakes everything a priority. The leader must help peo-ple to focus on the crucial initiatives.

• Manages Performance. Team leaders must chal-lenge unacceptable performance and deal forcefullywith non-team-playing members.

5. The Organizational EnvironmentIt’s crucial that the organizational environment be pro-ductive rather than create roadblocks to success. Thatinvolves three elements:

• Management practices must set direction, aligneffort and deliver results. Goal priority should be apreoccupation, reiterated frequently and passionatelyby the leader.

• Structure and processes must ensure that thebest decisions are made as quickly as possible by theright people. The right people are those most relevantto the issue, in terms of both technical knowledge andmanagerial responsibility. The right time usually meansearly enough to give the right people a chance to framea problem or an opportunity, and to explore critical is-

sues by gathering relevant facts. The right issue is aproblem or an opportunity that, if left unaddressed,places limits on achieving the goal.

• Systems must provide reliable and useful infor-mation and drive behavior toward desired results. Per-sonal, financial and psychological rewards must belinked to the group goal so that team victory is moreimportant than personal victory.

ConclusionAlthough our unique ability to think may be our gift ashuman beings, it’s our capacity to organize and inte-grate our collective thinking that will continue to deter-mine our evolutionary niche. More than ever, it’s im-portant that we refine and maximize this elevatingcapacity to work together. After all, no matter how re-markable our individual talents, only our ability to col-laborate will allow us to address and solve our mostmeaningful problems. e

ABOUT THE AUTHORS: Frank LaFasto is senior vice presi-dent of organizational effectiveness for Cardinal HealthInc., a multinational healthcare company. Carl Larson isprofessor of human communications and past dean ofsocial sciences at the University of Denver.

Related ReadingThe Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable,by Patrick M. Lencioni, John Wiley & Sons, 2002, ISBN0787960756.

The 17 Indisputable Laws of Teamwork: Embrace Themand Empower Your Team, by John C. Maxwell, ThomasNelson, 2001, ISBN 0785274340.

The Wisdom of Teams: Creating the High-PerformanceOrganization, by Jon R. Katzenbach and Douglas K.Smith, HarperBusiness, 1994, ISBN 0887306764.

When Teams Work Best By Frank LaFasto and Carl Larson

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