Kiddy and Partners

Do you need a team?

1 "Are those five or six individuals really better off working together than apart?" Stuart Duff, asked. "In business, you see many teams that are not genuine but simply a group of individuals reporting to the same person. They actually slow down because they have been brought together. In football, no one person scores a goal; the striker cannot exist without ten other people on the pitch."

Set conditions for success

2 "The common misperception is that teamwork happens on the shopfloor — our research suggests that's only about 25 per cent," said J. Richard Hackman, Professor of Social and Organisational Psychology at Harvard University and author of Leading Teams: Setting the Stage for Great Performances. "The 50 per cent difference between a team that does well and a team that does poorly is what happens before the team even meets: making sure it is composed right, small enough, that the mission is clear. The other 25 per cent is what happens at the first meeting."

Who is in the team?

3 In the accident and emergency department at St Thomas' Hospital in Central London, clearly defined roles are crucial, Chris Kennedy, the general manager for acute medicine, said. "We have 400 patients a day and 98 per cent leave within four hours. It works because the clinical lead, manager and a matron have different expertise, which they bring together to solve problems."

Mr Duff said: "Spend time identifying where individuals are uniquely talented. Great 'ideas people' are not great finishers and vice versa. The best teams know what they are good at and rely on others to be good at different things."

Small is beautiful

4 Opinions on the optimum size of a team range from six to twelve. "We frequently see teams so large that co-ordination is a near impossibility," Professor Hackman said. "The number of relationships that need to be managed in a team of 20 is huge. A team of 40 can't do anything."

Do great minds think alike?

5 "Great teams are built on diversity," Lynda Gratton, Professor of Management Practice at London Business School, said. "Innovative teams have different mindsets brought by taking men, women, people from different age groups and nationalities," she said.

However, a shared outlook can be beneficial, according to Michael Greenspan, of Kiddy & Partners, a business psychology firm. "At some of the highest-performing businesses in the world, people are remarkably similar in their traits and behaviours," he said. "Goldman Sachs and General Electric are exceptionally homogeneous. We read a lot about the dangers of 'group think', but there are risks to a team of having people whose views are too different."

Bring in a deviant

6 "The strongest leaders bring in someone who will oppose them and say what no one else is willing to say," Professor Hackman said. "Don't fall into the trap of surrounding yourself with people who all think the same way." However, an extreme deviant — a "team destroyer" — is better off as an external consultant, he added. Mr Duff said: "Too much optimism, and everyone chases after one thing, without thinking through the consequences. Introvert, negative people are not easy to work with. They sit quietly then chuck in something that stalls the meeting. But they are often the most helpful in raising standards in the team."

The launch is everything

7 As a cabin services director with British Airways, Toni Richards manages long-haul flight crews who have never met each other. "You walk into a briefing with 15 people who you don't know and have 20 minutes to walk out motivated and bonded as a team," she said. "The briefing needs to be informative and upbeat and set out expectations and goals." The right task will "ignite" a team, Professor Gratton said. "It could be a question or a challenge."

Be a decisive leader

8 "Teams that underperform tend to have an underlying leadership battle," Mr Duff said. Setting a strong direction and making sure that clear procedures are in place are also crucial, Ms Richards said, citing a case in which BA staff quickly assisted a passenger taken ill.

Team dynamics take time

9 Research shows that the longer that teams work together, the better they perform, Professor Hackman said. However, focusing on the task is more important than spending time teambuilding, according to Dr Greenspan. "Teams can be successful with 'good enough' dynamics," he said. "Organisations often look for exceptional dynamics too early." Internal competition is a "killer" of teams, Professor Gratton said. "You want people to challenge each other, but you don't want winners and losers — people stop talking to each other."

Communicate properly

10 Mr Kennedy's A&E team has regular short briefings together and with other departments. He said: "In a hospital, it is easy to get bunkered in your particular area. But no part of A&E works in isolation. You have to know what is going on."