According to Ron Ricci and Carl Wiese, authors of the book, The Collaboration Imperative, high-performing teams have the following characteristics:
- People have solid and deep trust in each other and in the team's purpose–they feel free to express feelings and ideas.
- Everybody is working toward the same goals.
- Team members are clear on how to work together and how to accomplish tasks.
- Everyone understands both team and individual performance goals and knows what is expected.
- Team members actively diffuse tension and friction in a relaxed and informal atmosphere.
- The team engages in extensive discussion, and everyone gets a chance to contribute–even the introverts.
- Disagreement is viewed as a good thing and conflicts are managed. Criticism is constructive and is oriented toward problem solving and removing obstacles.
- The team makes decisions when there is natural agreement–in the cases where agreement is elusive, a decision is made by the team lead or executive sponsor, after which little second-guessing occurs.
- Each team member carries his or her own weight and respects the team processes and other members.
- The leadership of the team shifts from time to time, as appropriate, to drive results. No individual members are more important than the team.
