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Team identity is the cornerstone of effective team working. Even if you are clear about your team’s purpose, membership, culture and context, it is vital that you check that all of your team members share a common understanding of these elements of team identity.

People are organised to work in teams to achieve a common goal. This notion of shared purpose is the defining element of teams at work. The benefits of a clear, unique identity include:

• Security and support: Human beings are social animals with a need to relate to those around us. Strong team identity provides feelings of safety, security and support which enable us to do our best work.
• Direction: Team identity provides clarity of purpose and direction for the work of team members.
• Efficiency: Team identity enables organisations to order work in ways that reduce duplication of effort and enhance synergy.

Activity to define your team purpose

If you require an activity to define your team purpose, please select here.

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Most teams have relationships with a range of other teams, both within the organisation and in other agencies. This complex web of inter-team working is what enables the team to both achieve its task and to contribute to the wider organisational purpose.Effective mapping of the ‘team community’ around each team enables alignment of goals, more efficient use of resources and the creation of strong team identity within a relevant framework.

All team members need to have a common understanding of their team’s position in relation to other teams and organisations with whom they interact.Differing views about the team’s relative position in the team community will lead to inefficient use of resources and the creation of barriers between teams which may inhibit effective inter-team working.

To develop a common understanding amongst all team members about the position of the team within the wider organisational world in which it is located, you should:

• Work with team members to draw a community map.
• Identify which relationships are working well.
• Identify which relationships need to be developed in the future to ensure team success..
• Regularly review the team community map with all team members.
• Ensure that new team members are made aware of the team community map.

The team community map you create with your team members here will be useful in other activities as you progress through your journey such as aligning team objectives, increasing role clarity, improving inter-team decision making and communication.

For an activity to develop your community map, please click here 

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Why focus on team objectives?

• Teams are the vehicles for translating individual knowledge, skills, experience and effort into organisational performance.
• People are organised to work in teams to achieve a common goal. This notion of shared purpose is the defining element of teams at work.
• Teams with clearly defined and agreed objectives give their individual members a greater chance of being effective and creative in their work.
• Well-formed team objective provide the means to monitor and celebrate success. The resulting sense of pride amongst team members increases motivation and makes future success more likely

Developing team objectives 

• To ensure that everyone is working to an agreed set of team objectives, you should:
• Lead a team discussion to develop team objectives.
• Check that all team members are committed to the achievement of these objectives.
• Review team objectives regularly with all team members: either informally at the end of selected team meetings,or by using the Team Objectives Checklist,
• Ensure that new team members are made aware of the team objectives.

For guidance on how to have a team discussion around creating objective, please click here.

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The value of Aligning team objectives are:

• Teams are the means by which individual knowledge, skills, experience and effort are translated into organisational performance.
• Close alignment between individual, team and organisational objectives is vital to guarantee success at all three levels.

To ensure that your team objectives are aligned to individual objectives and organisational requirements:

• Lead a team discussion to check alignment.
• Check if individuals’ existing objectives are aligned with team objectives and, where necessary, work with individual team members to improve alignment.
• Check if the team’s objectives are aligned with your service or organisational level objectives.
• Regularly review the alignment of team objectives with all team members.

For guidance on how to align the team objectives, download the template and follow the instructions below:

• List the team’s objectives in column 1 of the template, then distribute to team members, inviting them to complete what they can – particularly the section on alignment of individual to team objectives.
• For each team objective, check the alignment to service objectives/priorities in column 2.
• For each team objective check the alignment to organisational aims or priorities in column 3.
• For each team objective list the action required to check/confirm alignment in column 4.
• For each team objective allocate the action to be taken by a named Individual in the team.
• In due course follow up allocated actions and review with individuals and the team.

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A fundamental purpose of teams is to bring people with different knowledge, skills and experience together to create a synergy of skills and effort. The effect of their combined effort will be greater than the sum of their individual efforts.

The essence of effective team working is diversity; planned utilisation of individual differences avoids misunderstandings and duplication of effort.

Teams with role clarity will be more confident and motivated in their service delivery and communications; they will therefore meet their objectives more efficiently.

In effective teams all team members can describe:

• How their work contributes to the overall purpose of the team.
• Their own role and how it relates to other members of the team.
• Which members of other teams they need to interact with and for what purpose.

To ensure that everyone is clear about how their individual roles are aligned to team objectives, you should:

• Complete the Alignment of team roles and objectives template, circulate to team members for input and incorporate their feedback.
• Lead a team discussion to review and finalise the template.

• Note: It is important to understand that this coordinating responsibility does not require the individual team member to take delegated responsibility for achieving the objective – only for coordinating the planning and monitoring work. The accountability for delivery of the objective remains with the team as a whole.

Identify all the other roles involved in achieving the objective, for example:

• Information source: providing specific information required to achieve the objective.
• Delivery of specific task: contributing to the achievement of the objective.
• Training or supervision: training others in the team in relation to work involved in delivering on this objective.
• Monitoring performance: collecting and analysing measurement data to ensure required outcomes are being achieved.
• Linking role: linking to other teams or organisations that will contribute to the team’s achievement.

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Why focus on team decision making?

In complex situations, where different sources of expertise are required, teams make better decisions than individuals.

Extending involvement in decision making to all those who are able to contribute relevant knowledge and experience reduces risk and increases innovation.

Involving team members in decision making increases their commitment to implementing those decisions, even if they disagree with the final decision.

Effective team decision making happens when:

• The right people are involved in each decision, based on the needs of the decision and the available knowledge, skills and experience.
• Team members are clear about who will be involved in which types of decision.
• All team members feel they have the opportunity to contribute their knowledge, skills and experience in the decisions that are made about their work.

Activities to increase involvement in decision making

• Create a team decision making profile: Work with team members to clarify who needs to be involved in different types of decision and to define roles.

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Why focus on team communication?

The communication of information is crucial to the effective achievement of all team tasks. Incomplete or inaccurate information causes delays, makes the work of team members more difficult and leads to frustration and often the failure of the team to achieve its task.

Team members also make judgements about the team’s potential success and status based on their perception of the amount of information that is given to the team to enable it to achieve its task. Lack of information will lead to lack of confidence, lack of motivation and potential failure.

Information in organisations is a source of power. Distrust within teams and between teams often arises because people feel that information has been withheld or used in a manipulative way.

Regularly reviewing the effectiveness of information flow (communication) can, in itself, allay fears. Sometimes individuals even decide that they actually need less information in certain areas.

Effective communication takes place when each team member:

• Receives all of the information they require to carry out their job role.
• Has access to information that challenges them to think about adapting their role or ways of working.
• Has a common understanding of the information they receive with the person who communicated that information.
• Additionally, effective team communication requires the team as a whole to share understanding of important information and to know how to access specialist information held within the team.
• Effective team communication requires a climate of psychological safety, sufficient team member interaction and good levels of information sharing.

 Activities to improve team communication

• Carry out a team meeting audit: Work with team members to ensure that the team is investing in the right meetings.
• Evaluate team meetings: Review the effectiveness of team meetings and develop plans to improve productivity and engagement.
• Review information sharing: Work with team members to improve the quality and flow of information within and between teams.