Communication is Knowledge

In order for a team to even have a chance of being successful, it must possess several characteristics. First, the team must develop effective intra-team norms that allow open communication, develop roles, and create a sense of purpose within the team (Gratton & Erickson, 2007). Second, teams must focus outward from their inception (Ancona, Bresman & Caldwell, 2009). Teams must have both of these characteristics if they wish to be exceptional.

            The driving principle of teams is simple, two heads are better than one. Teams bring together a group of individuals and hope they can become more than the sum of the individuals. Simply combining individual’s knowledge and skills is not enough. One plus one will always equal two; teams must find a way to make it equal more.

            It sounds impossible, especially when viewed literally, but ask yourself a question. How many times has someone said something that gave you an idea, which then led to someone else having another idea? The final product is something far beyond the addition of expertise and it comes from communication.

            Learning to share ideas with others and discuss and refine ideas as a group, in short communicate, is a lifelong pursuit. It is skills so basic we assume everyone can do it; the reality is most of us are horrible communicators. Setting norms to help us communicate is the first step to team success.

            The second is moving beyond your team and communicating with others. The whole point of teams is bringing people together, so why limit ourselves to an arbitrary team?  Each person on the team has a network of knowledgeable, skilled people. Reach out to them, involve them, and use their knowledge and resources. Doing otherwise is intentionally handicapping your team.

            Teams are about knowledge and synergy. The first key to successfully using teams is communication. The second is to ignore the boundaries of your team and use every tool available. The problems teams solve span the breadth of the world, and each team’s resources can as well.

References

Ancona, D., Bresman, H., & Caldwell, D. (2009). Six steps to leading high-performing x-teams. Organizational Dynamics, 38(3), 217-224. doi: 10.1016/j.orgdyn.2009.04.003

Gratton, L., & Erickson, T. J. (2007). 8 ways to build collaborative teams. Harvard Business Review,