When is a team not a team? When it’s really a group! Real teams have a clearly defined mission for which they hold themselves mutually accountable and produce a collective work product. Just because people are gathered to do something does not automatically make them a team. It takes intentional effort to move from being a group to a team.
A few distinctions between a team and a group include:
- Team members exchange individual accountability for mutual group accountability and shared group responsibility
- Teams identify and reach consensus on their common goal and approach while a group looks to the leader to define the goal and approach
- Teams are small enough that they can connect and communicate easily and frequently
An example of a group is direct reports that meet with their manager but have individual performance requirements. The president of a company and his executives are a group unless there is focused effort to build trust, achieve results and mutual accountability. An example of a real team is a project team that succeeds or fails together based on the results of the project. There are project teams that are groups not teams.
It’s helpful to recognize that there is a difference between a real team and a group. Sometimes a group is good enough. Next week we will cover some of the approaches to building teams.
