Essay on 3 Key Practices for Building Effective Teams: Gratton and Erickson

In their seminal paper "Eight Ways to Build Collaborative Teams," Lynda Gratton and Tamara J. Erickson are discussing the effective and reliable practices that can help perfectly adjust the gears in the complex and often tricky mechanism of teamwork. All the recipes for team success offered in the article look realistic, applicable and well-researched. Yet, three of them seem to me to be the most relevant and efficient and I would like to see them implemented into our team to ensure that it can work effectively.

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The first strategy that I see as highly productive is creating a "gift culture." While a "tit-for-tat culture" looks more time-saving and transparent, it might not be the best solution for a team aiming at high productivity and original thinking. I believe that sharing your expertise freely with your team partners, exchanging ideas and fostering each other's creativity (while seeing this as a gift of time), characteristic of a cooperative "gift culture," leads to the emergence of a synergistic effect: the team members become one organism that functions on a much higher level than the sum of its parts. The second strategy that I would like to see implemented revolves around supporting a sense of community. I think that common interests can help unite a team as no other strategy can. This is why it is crucial to hold informal meetings where team members can introduce themselves and tell their fellows about their hobbies and favorite pastimes. Such communication will not only create a very special friendly atmosphere but also give the team members a common field of reference which can be used when trying to find creative, out-of-the-box solutions. Finally, I believe, it is crucial to make the role of each member perfectly clear. For this purpose, the responsibilities of each team member have to be clearly defined and documented. This will allow every one of us to do some tasks individually without losing sight of the common goal.

But even when the teamwork is organized following the most logical principles, the disagreements are bound to arise. To resolve them, the following steps could be taken. First of all, the sides involved should present their arguments to the team so that other team members could offer solutions. Secondly, similar problems should be looked up online and the solutions found reviewed - learning from the experience of others is a sign of maturity. Finally, all the team members involved in the situation could be asked to look at it as positive experience as it reveals the most vulnerable spots which have the potential to become bottlenecks. All in all, every disagreement can be solved with the help of dialogue and a positive attitude.

Reference

Gratton, L., & Erickson, T. J. (2016, November 15). Eight Ways to Build Collaborative Teams. Retrieved March 26, 2020, from https://hbr.org/2007/11/eight-ways-to-build-collaborative-teams