When asked recently what makes a team great, I responded that building, growing, and sustaining a great team is harder than it seems, especially for some leaders. For me, much of team success involves preparation. In the words of Benjamin Franklin, “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.”

Leadership Tip
Prepare your team to have the best chance possible to succeed.

Focus on these top five areas to get your team to be great:

Never think the team has made it. – Complacency is a disaster waiting to happen. Good week, good month, good quarter is irrelevant. Learn from your successes and your shortcomings. Adjust as you move forward. Stretch your goals to achieve more.

Have bench players ready. – You never know when you’ll need someone to step up, but you will need that person eventually. Therefore, invest in each person’s development. Fix your weakest link and have professional growth and development plans for everyone. Get serious about formal mentoring in your organization.

Perform as a team. – Individuals who try to do too much on their own are missing the concept and the benefits of being part of a team. Mutual respect, cooperation, communication, and collaboration all contribute to building trust and teamwork; they’re essential to your team’s success.

Individual performances do matter. – Everyone must do his or her job within the team to achieve maximum results. That goes back to individual development, which includes understanding the big picture. Encouragement and recognition also help.

Never give up. – If you get behind or things aren’t working out, do something different. Keep the team’s goals and vision alive. Introduce new concepts. Failure should not be an option.