The principles of successful teamwork

Enabling collective success

What makes a group of people work well together?
Is it their individual skills, their personalities, their motivation, or something else?

We will explore the conditions that enable successful collective work, drawing on examples from business.

We will challenge some of the common assumptions and reveal the factors that make a difference.

We will also examine how we can apply these insights to our organizations, and how we can foster a culture of collaboration.

How to build and sustain a winning team: Principles and practices

You have learned that teamwork is essential for achieving your goals and dreams. But how do you create and maintain a successful team?

Here are some principles that you need to follow:

Communicate easily and freely : Encourage team members to provide their opinions and feedback. Foster an environment where disagreements and tensions are addressed in a positive manner.
Respect the speech and the free expression : Acknowledge the emotional participation of team members and avoid questioning or undermining it. Emotions can be valuable sources of motivation and trust-building.
Help each other out whenever possible : Promote a collaborative mindset, emphasizing the importance of supporting one another and asking for help when needed. Emphasize that teamwork is about collaboration, not competition.
Know the abilities and limits of each team member : Appreciate the diversity and complementarity of skills and talents within the team. Assign tasks based on individual strengths and limitations.
Involve in decision-making : Include team members in the decision-making process, respecting their preferences and suggestions. Avoid imposing ideas or methods on others.
Define a precise structure : When necessary, establish a precise structure to organize work and prevent confusion or conflict.
Share resources and knowledge : Emphasize the value of pooling forces, sharing information, and collaborating with team members. Synergy and multiplication of results are achieved through teamworks.
Ensure homogeneity of objectives : Strive for alignment among team members regarding requirements and objectives. Appreciate the complementarity of skills and diversity within the group.

“The heterogeneity of skills is a factor in the richness of exchanges, the creativity of the group, and an effective division of roles. Within a team game… each teammate seeks the prestigious personal move which ensures both his success and that of of the team.”
Roger Mucchielli

Too much heterogeneity in a group can harm its success and quickly become a source of tension, with very assertive, opposing or even antagonistic personalities.

Conversely, excessive competition for issues of status, leadership or remuneration can seriously harm cooperation between group members.

The optimum to be achieved is therefore a delicate balance between competition and collaboration.

Understanding the different roles in a group: Leader, Follower, Detractor, Neutral, and Inactive

Leader: Guide the team, motivate members, and maintain a global perspective. Connect work units and integrate their efforts.
Followers: Listen to the leader, perform individual tasks, communicate with teammates, and provide progress reports.
Detractors: Challenge leader decisions through intellectual debate. Transition to a follower if convinced.
Neutral: Focus on project-related tasks without expressing strong opinions. Facilitate discussions and display flexibility.
Inactive: Require leader intervention to re-engage. Lack motivation and seek an exit.

Roles in a group

The leader
- Listens, observes, analyzes and mixes the work of his team members
- Must motivate and ensure that the work is done
- Acts as conductor
- Connects work units, “integrates” them as best as possible
- Has a non-technical global view
The follower
- Listen to the leader’s instructions
- Performs unit tasks with little connection with others
- Can communicate with everyone to progress in their work
- Makes frequent reports
The detractor
- Important role because it allows you to question the leader’s decisions
- Usually only chats with the leader
- Acts only in intellectual terms to push for change… or end up being convinced, and become a follower
- Often singled out despite its importance
The neutral
- Does not take part in decisions
- Acts only in project terms and not intellectually
- Does not care about the repercussions of decisions
- Generally easy to open discussion
- Flexible in terms of investment because you can work a little on everything
The inactive
- Member on the bench, voluntarily or involuntarily
- Need to be restarted by the leader
- Interest in the project / objective generally zero
- Wait for things to happen
- If he tries something, he doesn’t know why
- Look for the exit as quickly as possible

Business cases : The power of teamwork in Cross-Cultural negotiation

IBM and Maersk launched TradeLens, a blockchain platform for global trade. They faced technical, legal, and regulatory challenges, and had to persuade other industry players to join. They communicated openly and respectfully, respected each other’s emotions, helped and asked for help, knew each other’s abilities and limits, divided the labor after agreeing on the objectives and structure, shared their resources and knowledge, and celebrated their team success. The TradeLens project showed the teamwork principles effects in multi-cultural negotiation.
Airbus and CAS signed a $35 billion deal for 300 aircrafts. They had to balance their interests and deal with political and economic uncertainties. They adapted to new processes and norms, were flexible and patient, negotiated issues separately, built trust and rapport with humor and storytelling, avoided direct confrontation or criticism, used indirect or suggestive language, and respected the local customs and etiquette. Communication skills in cross-cultural context were demonstrated by the Airbus-CAS deal.
Google Cloud and Renault Group formed a strategic partnership to digitize Renault’s industrial system. They had to create value for both parties and find creative solutions to overcome obstacles. They used a collaborative approach, explored creative solutions, used objective criteria and benchmarks, communicated clearly and transparently, addressed their stakeholders’ interests and concerns, and maintained a positive attitude and a long-term perspective. The use of a value-creating strategy was evident in this deal.

We have seen that successful collective work is not a matter of luck or coincidence, but a result of creating the right conditions for collaboration.

These conditions include having a clear and shared vision, embracing diversity and dissent, fostering trust and psychological safety, and celebrating failures and successes.

By following these principles, we can unleash the potential of our teams and achieve amazing outcomes.

We know firsthand the power of collective work, and how it can transform not only your business, but also your life.

Remember that as a manager, you are not alone. You have a team of people who are ready to support you and work with you. Together, you can make anything happen.

In summary, How to apply the principles of teamwork to create Win-Win outcomes

Effective Communication: Encouraging open and non-discriminatory communication within the team, emphasizing active listening, constructive feedback, and positive conflict resolution.
Embracing Emotional Participation: Recognizing the value of emotions in team dynamics, leveraging them for motivation, trust-building, and camaraderie.
Mutual Support: Promoting a collaborative spirit where team members help each other and seek assistance when needed, emphasizing the strength of unity over competition.
Skill Recognition: Acknowledging individual strengths and limitations, assigning tasks accordingly, and valuing the diversity and complementarity of team members’ skills.
Inclusive Decision-Making: Involving team members in decision-making processes, respecting their preferences, and fostering a sense of ownership.
Structural Clarity: Defining clear and realistic structures when necessary to prevent confusion or conflict.
Resource Sharing: Promoting information and resource sharing to create synergy and enhance team performance.
Homogeneity of Objectives: Ensuring alignment among team members regarding goals and requirements while valuing diversity.
Understanding different roles in a group :
- Leader: Responsible for guiding the team, motivating members, connecting work units, and maintaining a global perspective.
- Follower: Listens to the leader, performs unit tasks with minimal cross-connection, communicates with team members, and provides frequent progress reports.
- Detractor: Challenges leader decisions, engages in intellectual debate, and may transition to a follower role if convinced.
- Neutral: Maintains a project-focused and non-intellectual role, facilitating discussions and displaying flexibility in task engagement.
- Inactive: Requires leader intervention to re-engage, typically lacks interest in the project, and seeks an exit.

“The ratio of We’s to I’s is the best indicator of the development of a team.”
Lewis Ergen

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