No complex organisation can function well without effective teamwork. Successful teams are those who achieve more than the sum of individual team members' efforts, where 1 + 1 + 1 = 4.
As social animals, we also benefit from the camaraderie that flows from team membership. However, despite teamwork's popularity, truly effective teamwork can be elusive.
Common characteristics of effective teams include:
- Clear purpose
- Open communication
- Informality
- Clear roles/task distribution
- Participation
- Shared leadership
- Listening
- External relations
- Constructive disagreement
- Style diversity
- Consensus decisions
- Reflexivity
The Keil Centre's Chartered Psychologists have more than 10 years' experience of applying their insight into organisational structure and culture, team dynamics and individual behaviour.