Effective Teams by Jason Levine

The Human Resources section on About.com has written out a nearly perfect way to set up an effective team. They call it "The Twelve C's". Here is a shortened, modified version of the Twelve C's

• Clear Expectations: Has the leader of the team clearly express his or her expectations for the team’s performance and expected outcomes? Do team members understand why the team was created? Has the leader set goals and deadlines for team members?
  



• Context: Do team members understand why they are participating on this team? Do they understand how the strategy of using teams will help the organization attain its communicated business goals? Can team members define their team’s importance to the accomplishment of corporate goals? Does the team understand where its work fits in the total context of the organization’s goals, principles, vision and values?



• Commitment: Do team members want to participate on the team? Has the leader encouraged team members?

• Competence: Does the team feel that it has the appropriate people participating?
  



• Charter: Has the team defined and communicated its goals; its anticipated outcomes and contributions; its timelines; and how it will measure both the outcomes of its work and the process the team followed to accomplish their task?
  



• Control: Does the team have enough freedom and empowerment to feel the ownership necessary to accomplish its charter? At the same time, do team members clearly understand their boundaries?
  
  


• Collaboration: Does the team understand team and group process? Do members understand the stages of group development? Are team members working together effectively interpersonally? Do all team members understand the roles and responsibilities of team members? team leaders? team recorders?
  



• Communication: Are team members clear about the priority of their tasks? Do team members communicate clearly and honestly with each other? Do team members bring diverse opinions to the table? Are necessary conflicts raised and addressed?



• Creative Innovation: Is the organization really interested in change? Does it value creative thinking, unique solutions, and new ideas? Does it reward people who take reasonable risks to make improvements? Or does it reward the people who fit in and maintain the status quo? Does it provide the training, education, access to books and films, and field trips necessary to stimulate new thinking?

• Consequences: Do team members feel responsible and accountable for team achievements? Are rewards and recognition supplied when teams are successful? Do team members spend their time finger pointing rather than resolving problems? Can contributors see their impact on increased organization success?



• Coordination: Are teams coordinated by a central leadership team that assists the groups to obtain what they need for success? Have priorities and resource allocation been planned across departments?
  



• Cultural Change: Does the organization recognize that the team-based, collaborative, empowering, enabling organizational culture of the future is different than the traditional, hierarchical organization it may currently be? Is the organization planning to or in the process of changing how it rewards, recognizes, appraises, hires, develops, plans with, motivates and manages the people it employs?

About.com could not have described effective team building any better. I feel as though all of those "C's" are extremely important, and if they are all followed, one could really establish a very successful team!