About 2 years ago I created 12 on-line Team Building & Development sessions for a company. We called it ‘Helping Teams Work’. It was meant to be short, less than 5 minutes, & give 1 concrete action step people can apply to their work on teams…

They liked it & I enjoyed trying to make content that did not require me to be present.

Below is the 1st of 12 ‘Helping Teams Work’ content sections.

Team Leaders’ Biggest  Team Meeting Mistake

Give members the chance to get to know one another, build trust, voice expectations & goals, establish credentials, discuss desired roles, raise concerns, etc…

This approach is viewed by some as a waste of time instead of a necessary step in creating high-performance teams. When teams have problems later, everyone gets frustrated and things come to a halt.

• In the 1st team meeting, slow down, schedule some ‘get to know others time’
• Schedule this time in the Agenda. Even if team members know each other well, STILL make time for it.
• Resist the temptation to push for a lot of task-oriented work at the initial meeting.

Concentrate on soliciting the “Voice of the Team” and establishing the foundation you’ll need to successfully complete your Project.

Remember: when it comes to creating a successful team, its “pay me now or pay me later.”

What do you think?

What works for you to build the team early on?