Teamwork – Part 2: Building Better Teams (DRESS)

Mon 26 Mar 2018

In this series of two blog posts we will look at two key elements that detract from or contribute to effective teamwork

Factors that inhibit and how to deal with them.
Principles of building better teams, simple guidelines.

This week we will look at:

The DRESS Model and Building Better Teams

There are five guiding principles to setting up and building better teams. We call it the DRESS Model:

Direction
Responsibility
Encouragement
Support
Structure

Teams need a clear vision, direction and purpose. More than that, visible leadership to communicate that vision and steer the ship. Individuals in the team should be very sure of their roles and responsibilities and wherever possible be doing be what they do best. If you’re the leader, remember that you can and should delegate, but also be visible.

Responsibility is about proactively measuring progress. Both of the whole team and individuals meetings. Start with a review of the actions from the last meeting and progress in the areas relevant to the meeting. You should review the team’s performance regularly and look for areas to improve.

Bad feedback is easy to give and very common. How often do people encourage collegues when things are going well? Celebrate successes, be they individual or collective and recognize contributions of individuals. Positive feedback is only effective when it’s specific. Highlight exactly what was good. It means it can and will be repeated.

Training, supporting and mentoring will be big motivators as well as upskilling your team. How you share information will impact performance. Communicate new developments that may help individuals and the team as a whole. Sharing resources and knowledge increases productivity across the team.

Teams are just a mini company within a company. They need all the same infrastructure. Clear rules of conduct, a charter even for how the team works, rewards itself, celebrates success and deals with under performance. Objective setting and appraisals need to be regular and effective. Schedule regular opportunities for face-to-face, virtual and telephone contacts to increase clarity of communication across the team.

I hope this series of posts has been useful. Obviously, there is a lot more to the subject, perhaps this will whet your appetite to work with Sun and Moon!