What Type of Team Do You Have?
Teams come together for various operational reasons. Knowing why you bring your team together will help clarify its purpose and motivate members to bring their best.
In the book, Senior Leadership Teams: What It Takes to Make Them Great, Wageman et. al. lay out the four main types of teams in terms of their core function.
Informational Teams
Informational teams come together regularly to share information and keep key organizational leaders informed such that they have what they need to do their jobs. It's an alignment-building mechanism — the presence of shared information will keep everyone in the organization moving in the same direction.
Consultative Teams
Consultative teams are just what they sound like — team members act as consultants to you, coming together to provide information and advice based on their expertise, to help you make decisions.
Coordination Teams
Coordination teams are where the interdependent nature of the work of the various team members starts to be acknowledged and optimized. This type of team comes together to fit the various puzzle pieces in place so that a holistic picture can be seen and operations can be as efficient as possible.
Decision-Making Teams
Decision-making teams require the most cohesion and trust. They encompass information-sharing, consulting, and coordination activities, and on top of that, exist to make truly collaborative decisions in the strategy of the organization.
Does your team understand which of the above functional purposes it has? This clarity is essential to avoid misunderstanding and the trust erosion that comes after that. If members think they're there to be a consultant, but you want them to show up as partners in decisions, there will obviously be a gap. Or vice-versa — Team members believe they're part of a decision-making team, but your expectation is that you’ll make the decision after their consultation.
Getting clear on which type of teams you need and making that clear to members is key to leading them well and accomplishing your strategic mission.
Perhaps you have a large information-sharing team among all senior leaders in your organization. Does your senior leadership team operate as a coordination team or a decision-making team, or does it depend? Where can you add clarity so that your team can thrive?
