Criteria for Judging Team Effectiveness

How can you distinguish a mediocre team from a high-performing team? According to Harvard researcher Richard Hackman, who has been studying teams for over 20 years, high-performing teams meet three effectiveness criteria:^[12]

• The team must consistently produce high-quality output.The team's products and services must consistently meet its customers' “standards of quantity, quality, and timeliness.” A high-performing team may not succeed in its efforts all of the time, but it does succeed most of the time.

• The team must promote the personal growth needs and well-being of team members. In high-performing teams, all team members feel as though they are better off because they are part of the team. Although some work groups frustrate members and block their ability to contribute and learn, high-performing teams motivate team members and offer ample opportunities for each member to contribute and learn.

• The team must grow and learn as a unit. High-performing teams become “increasingly capable over time” as performing units. They take the time to reflect on their collective experience and learn from their successes and failures so that they continuously improve the team's performance.

Note that a team can succeed in the short term without meeting all three of these effectiveness factors. For example, a team can initially produce high-quality products or services without enabling all team members to grow or contribute to its success. However, if some team members don't feel as though they are learning or contributing to the team's work, they may become detached, relationships may become strained, and the team's ability to create high-quality products may deteriorate over time.

How large can an effective team be? The appropriate size of the team depends on how many people it takes to ensure that the team has the necessary knowledge and skills it needs to successfully accomplish its goals. For example, physicians Paula Mahone and Karen Drake led the 66-person team that made medical history by successfully delivering the McCaughey septuplets at the Iowa Methodist Medical Center in 1997. Each member of the team brought a specific expertise to the delicate task of bringing the seven babies into the world alive.