Working in teams is nothing new. Businesses across all industries often employ this way of working to maximize productivity, and as a means of tapping into specialist skills individual possess. A team structure allows opportunities to be maximized and threats minimized. And with minimal management intervention, it can be a long-term way of working, as well as answering a specific need or issue.
Reviewing Team Structure
There is no golden rule for when or how frequently a team structure should be reviewed. It is not necessarily a time-limited way of working, although team-working is a means of answering a need.
Reviewing the process should be ongoing, with every member of the team reflecting on their input and where the project is being driven.
There are times when objectives are achieved and goals met. When this happens, the team needs to be reviewed to see where they head to next. It may be that a particular team is disbanded, and their skills subsumed into other projects.
Or it may be that something is going wrong. Productivity falls or targets are being missed. Clearly, a review of team practice is needed at this point.
Questions to Ask to Prompt a Review
There are several key questions you can use to decide if the team structure is an approach that is still effective;
#1 Have the visions, aims, objectives, targets or goals been accomplished?
It may be that the team was set up to answer a certain need. If that need has been met, in which direction is the team heading?
#2 What are the strengths of the current team?
Understanding team members and their skills is important. The review should look at whether everyone is working to their skill set, or if there are skills lacking. As business and projects change, is your team structure changing to meet these new needs?
#3 What is the leadership capacity?
There is still a management structure within the team and this must be reviewed to ensure its effectiveness. Is the leadership demonstrating a consistent ability to meet demands placed on the team?
#4 Is the team structure supporting future growth?
Perhaps the most singular important question a review of a team structure must answer. Every business has defined overarching goals. And everything the employees and teams do should be striving to meet these goals.
In Summary
A team is a group of people working towards a common goal. It may be that they have been tasked with solving a problem, developing a new product or creating a marketing campaign to revitalize a service that the business offers.
Some team structures are naturally time-limited, such as those answering a problem. But other teams are part of the overall business structure.
By failing to regularly review and assess whether teams are pushing toward the future growth of the company, the business could possibly struggle in a competitive marketplace.
With less hierarchy, a team structure within your business could be the catalyst to driving business growth. But only if the teams are regularly reviewed and changes made.