What are your tips for building a great team?

Originally answered Jan 8, 2019

1. Serve and support team members, delegate appropriately, and don’t micromanage
2. Lead by example and model desired behaviors
3. Recruit, mentor, and promote great people who will fit into your team, including people with complementary skills and attributes
4. Learn from those you lead and those who lead you
5. Identify the strengths of each team member and take advantage of those strengths whenever possible
6. Don’t be threatened by team members with more knowledge and skills
7. Develop team members, encourage them to move on to better opportunities when they are ready, and celebrate their ongoing success
8. Be both nurturing and demanding — treat people with respect while requiring excellence
9. Praise team members when they do well, and thank team members every time tasks are completed, no matter how minor or routine
10. When team members fail to meet expectations, provide coaching to help them succeed

• Don’t wait for annual performance reviews or send negatively-worded messages
• Promptly and forthrightly provide feedback, offer assistance, and monitor performance until it improves
• If expectations are still not met, help poor performers find a role that better fits their capabilities

See also:

• What Google Learned From Its Quest to Build the Perfect Team
• Coalescing a New Team — Creating Ties That Bind
• Team communications and relationship building
• More on teams