How to Build a Successful Team

People in teams collaborate best when they are up-front about their problems and when their leaders make team priorities clear. To cultivate team spirit, aim to cut down on squabbles, improve decision making and set no more than three goals. Leaders should rehash their goals with their subordinates. As job search site Ladders CEO Marc Cenedella says, “Until they start making jokes about how often you repeat it, they haven’t internalized it.”

“Building a successful team is about more than finding a group of people with the right mix of professional skills.”

Managers need to espouse team values by rewarding desirable behavior and punishing adverse acts. Promote only employees whose actions match the team’s values. Model respect for the rest of the team. Robin Domeniconi – CEO of the fashion company Thread Tales – asks her subordinates to put the “most respectful interpretation” on others’ words. “You can say anything to anyone, as long as you say it the right way,” she said. “Maybe you need to preface it with, ‘Can you help me understand why you don’t want to do this, or why you wanted to do this?’”

“If team members don’t feel respected, they won’t be motivated to bring their best ideas – and their best selves – to work.”

Individual members must follow through on their commitments to the team, and leaders must hold them accountable. In performance reviews, Tobi Lütke – chief executive of the e-commerce platform Shopify – uses the metaphor of a “trust battery” to illustrate that anything a team member does will either charge or drain trust.

While the principles of promoting teamwork sound simple, execution can be difficult, so many CEOs advise using specific techniques. According to Seth Besmertnik – CEO at the search engine optimization firm Conductor – 80% of a good leader’s job is holding good feedback conversations. To prevent making others feel defensive, “stay on your side of the net.” Avoid giving the impression that you know someone else’s thoughts or motivations. Rather than complaining about a team member’s late arrival and accusing him or her of a lack of interest, try saying, “I’ve noticed you keep showing up 20 minutes late, and it makes me feel as if you don’t care.” Minor adjustments in phrasing can put difficult conversations on the right track. Email can easily result in misunderstandings, so limit disagreements to two emails – and then solve the problem in person or on the phone.