What makes a successful team?

Seeing the headlines from the Aston Villa game last weekend made me think…..

One of many headlines following Aston Villa’s win last weekend to mention Ollie Watkins as the “star player”

If you didn’t know, you’d think Ollie Watkins had single-handedly won the match for the Villa Team. Actually, while he did score two goals (a great achievement), his were the second and third goals of the match. So the game was already won by the other goal, the first goal of the match, scored by Ramsey. Or, was it the Villa defensive players that “won” the game by preventing Newcastle from scoring any goals?

And this certainly gives us something to think about when dealing with a team at work, whether part of the team, managing the team directly or making observations of the team. Whilst you might have one or two really visible, extroverted “strikers” who are the obvious winners when the team succeeds, it is highly likely you also have some quieter, less obvious, players who the team couldn’t do without.

So, what makes a successful team?

There’s certainly plenty of theories out there, from the older models from the likes of Tuckman and Belbin to more recent models such as those from Lencioni.

For me, the most important elements in having a team succeed are knowledge, collaboration and the ability to bring these together.

And this is how I work with in house HR teams. I might be brought in as a single Consultant to deliver a particular project or piece of work but its rare I can do this completely on my own. I will always need input from within and across the organisation, from the existing HR team and, often, other colleagues from the wider organisation such as IT, Finance and more.

To find out more about working with me to deliver your HR wishlist projects and how I can empower your team with knowledge and collaboration to improve their HR service deliver, just get in touch