Our son has played competitive sports since he was 5 years old. He is now 20 years old and swimming on a top-ranked Division I college team. This early age of playing on sports teams may be of concern for some parents, but our son has enjoyed the competition and has benefited from a team environment. In fact, the soft skills he has learned while being on teams will play an important role in his future success.

During all the years he played sports on numerous teams, there were two coaches who stood out because of their different coaching styles. His high school basketball coach was dealt a hand of outstanding talent. At the beginning of the season, the players worked as a team and would shoot, pass, score, rebound and play defense. However, the coach would become angry with the players if they did not perform. In fact, he would take an entire team out of the game and yell at them on the bench. He would criticize a player in front of the other players. Each player became paranoid that he would be cut. By midseason, the team began to lose games. They lost their focus of playing as a team. They began to play as individuals so they could survive being on the team. Team members criticized one another and tried to be heroes instead of passing to one another and working together as a team to win. Members skipped practices. The team would come out on the court with their heads hung low. The team continued to lose as confidence levels decreased. What did this coaching style produce? A talented team, with a losing record.

The second coach was our son's high school swimming coach. He was dealt the hand of average talent. Just a few members possessed outstanding talent. Even though swimming is an individual sport, the points from each event add up to a team score. Talent depth of a team will win championships. This coach made every swimmer on the team feel that he played a role in the success of the team. He set individual goals with each swimmer. He provided positive feedback to each swimmer on small successes. He showed each swimmer how to improve in small ways-a little adjustment to a turn, start or stroke. And he provided positive feedback to the swimmer as he adjusted to the correction. He did not tolerate any swimmer downgrading another swimmer. Not only did he personally provide the reprimands, but he also coached his captains on providing peer reprimands if any swimmer was not being a teamplayer. There were team goals and traditions that he communicated often. The team celebrated successes at practice and team meetings. The coach prepared the swimmers physically and emotionally for their big meets. As swimmers were preparing for their shave and taper meets, the coach required each team member to wish every other team member good luck, in writing. This created peer positive feedback. And the results? Six straight state championships and certainly more to come.

Steps to Effective Teamwork
When focused toward a team goal, the individual efforts of each employee in the workplace are greater than individual efforts with no direction. In other words, the whole team is greater than the sum of all its individual parts. A company with a team culture will be more productive, reach its goals more often and have greater employee retention. The role of the manager is to coach the individual efforts of each team member toward being a whole entity.

Let's do a reality check to see if your team is functioning as a successful team. Below are the questions you can ask to evaluate if you have created a high performing team:

1. Is there a common goal? Any team member should be able to articulate the department goal or goals without going to a notebook in the desk. The goal(s) should be simple, understandable and measurable. The team member should feel ownership of the goal. In fact, team members should have been a part of the discussion and decision-making in creating the goal.

2. Are roles and responsibilities clearly defined? It is easier to have responsibilities in some consistent format such as a job description or project plan. The team member and manager together write the job description or plan, then share it with each team member so that there is an understanding of one another's role and responsibilities.

3. Is the team committed to the goal? If a team member is in need of assistance, the other team members step up to help one another reach the team goal. In doing so, individual needs are put aside and the team becomes the most important thing. Primadonnas are expensive and detrimental in a team culture.

4. Does each team member understand and appreciate various styles of all team members? A manager sets the example by valuing the contribution and style of each team member. Making fun of or criticizing a team member should not be tolerated. A consultant or a trainer is very helpful in giving a team a style assessment such as DiSC®, Psycho-geometrics^TM, Myers-Briggs Type Indicator®. These tools will help members understand different working styles and how to flex to another's style. They can also help with evaluating the effectiveness of the team and how well they work together.

5. Is there a high degree of communication within the group and with people outside the group? There should be visible signs that team members are communicating with one another and with other departments. Types of communication include e-mails, meetings, memos, and talking with each other in offices or cubicles. Also team members should receive training on giving and receiving positive and constructive feedback. Positive performance needs to be reinforced with team feedback. And negative performance needs to be changed with team feedback. Open communication will ensure feedback can be given.

6. Is there open communication to discuss and resolve problems? Conflict resolution training is crucial. This is such a crucial life skill that it is amazing our schools and universities do not make it a graduation requirement. The necessary skills of conflict resolution are active listening, non-defensive communication, how to ask open-ended questions to understand why the other party is concerned, and creating win-win solutions.

7. Is there a feeling of belonging to the group? A manager could ask each team member if they feel they're a part of the team. There is also some observable behavior that could indicate how they feel. All team members should feel that they want to come to team meetings and get-togethers. Sometimes a scheduling conflict might occur. However, there is a red flag if a team member consistently makes excuses why he or she cannot come, demonstrates resistant body behavior when he or she comes to the meeting, such as pushing the chair back from the table, and does not participate. Meetings could be intimidating to some members, which is why they may not participate in larger groups. However, if they participate in other ways such as smaller group discussions, e-mail or by phone, then there is still evidence of belonging. If several team members are not attending meetings on a regular basis, the agenda and timeframe should be evaluated.

8. Does each member feel valued for his/her contribution? Not only should the manager provide positive feedback but also each team member should provide positive feedback to one another. The most powerful motivator is verbal positive feedback, which is specific and timely.

9. Does the team feel empowered to influence decisions? A manager can evaluate team empowerment by what is accomplished when he or she is gone for periods of time. In the absence of a manager, team members should not be paralyzed in waiting for a decision or approval. Of course, there are some decisions that a manager needs to make. But the team should be able to assess the problem and its risk and come up with solutions to present to the manager. If this is not occurring, team members have been given responsibility with no authority.

10. Does the team celebrate successes? A manager needs to take time at the completion of the goal or project to celebrate the success. Suggestions include congratulation certificates or t-shirts, celebration momentos or a social gathering. Whatever the mode for the celebration, it should be done with the entire team together.

If there were some "no's" for the responses to these questions, a little more work needs to take place to develop your team. Isolate those areas that need to be improved. Meet with your team, have them assess their effectiveness in those areas with your input, and together come up with ideas to implement to increase the team's performance.

Hopefully, both you as a manager and each team member can answer "yes" to all of these questions. If so, you have a championship team that is high performing and achieving great accomplishments. Congratulations!

Sue Romero, owner of Susan Romero Consulting, Englewood, Colo., is a human resources consultant specializing in employee relations issues, manager coaching and management training. She has over 20 years experience coaching managers on enhancing their effectiveness. Visit her website at www.romeroconsulting.com.