1. Take time early on to welcome your team on-board.

Understand that every time a new person joins the team, the team dynamics will change. Take a few moments to welcome and introduce everyone (whether it’s your first time together or just one person is joining for the first time). Create a clear start or launch; team relationships are key to sustainable team building.

2. Establish a clear purpose.

A team needs to have a clear and undeniable purpose. That purpose is like an umbrella under which all activity happens. As the leader, you need to protect the team from “other things” that will attempt to find space under your umbrella. A team with a clear purpose will be more efficient and effective in real- izing results.

3. Develop trust and cooperation among your team members.

Trust is the cornerstone to an effective team. Trust is built pro- gressively, so build in opportunities early on for team members to achieve outcomes. Achieving these quick goals will dem- onstrate individuals’ strengths through contribution and cre- ate trust through productive, progressive successes (as well as identify gaps). These small achievements will also initiate mo- mentum and energy within the team toward its purpose.

4. Develop interpersonal relationship understanding.

Team building is often achieved through “stickiness” of people. This adhesion to one another comes in lots of ways. One is ad- versity (gulp, we don’t want that) and another is through the strategic development of interpersonal relationships. This can be accomplished by engaging in team-building activities for fun, structured learning, and even through project-based work. Check out our store for some great team-building activities that can help you achieve this outcome.

5. Establish group norms and expectations early on.

Always take time early on in the formation of your team to spend some time agreeing to ways in which the team will func- tion. Essentially you are building a team service-level agree- ment around things like: how we communicate, time frames, how consensus is built, and what are the “ground rules” of be- ing on this team. In addition, team designers can spend time investigating and agreeing to behavioural expectations like: trust, listening, safety, etc. A great tool for that is the Full Value Contract (a tool that helps build your Project Charter).

6. Develop a safe place to share ideas and information.

Communication is the lifeblood to your team. The desire to share ideas, knowledge, experience, etc., is often the tipping point between a successful team/project and a flop. As the man- ager or team designer it is your job to ensure that everyone feels comfortable with sharing and that the other team members re- spond appropriately.

7. Authentic engagement starts with you.

It seems that humanity will always rise to the lowest common denominator. When building a team, you need to set the stage and pace for acceptable outcomes within your team. Setting that bar in a challenging but achievable spot in the beginning is vital. Then, as you progress and gain momentum, challenge your team to inch the bar higher and higher. Engagement is not a destination but rather a collective investment of pushing/ pulling for more.

8. Get out of the way (after a bit).

Team building happens not exclusively by implementing great activities together. It happens organically when you frame op- portunities for the team to realize results, sometimes through 11 stress and adversity. One of the ways that you can help to fa- cilitate this is to lead as more of a consultant while your team is “problem-solving.” If the team always has you resolving the issues, they will not develop “stickiness” or grow transferrable skills for future issues.

9. Keep track of the undercurrent that can rip you into very deep water.

Your team members are people. People have feelings. Not everyone is great at sharing their feelings. Some people’s feelings will get the better of them and begin to cause issues for you if they get upset. Keep track of how people are feeling; get to know your team and their individual feelings. Being proactive in managing these feelings will pay long-term dividends.

10. Time is a key measure for teams.

There are lots of great measures to gauge if your team is suc- cessful (i.e., dollars sold, memberships achieved, etc.). But as a team designer time is your biggest consideration for team building. Understand when it is time to inspire your team, time to reign in your team, time to adjourn the team, etc. Ineffective teams have had their time disrespected at some point within their development—right timing what you do as a leader will be the single biggest influence in your team-building success.

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