As with any great recipe, a great dream team is reliant on the right balance of good ingredients. Too much salt or pepper and the end result is horrible!
The Ozzy team (as you might already know) has a mixture of characters, personalities and different strengths. Ozzy himself is a good captain of the ship and he has some great tips on how to create a winning dream team.
STRONG LEADERSHIP
A team leader requires quite a wide range of skills from being able to hire the right people, keeping the team motivated and being able to delegate as required. The team will look to this individual to offer guidance in a number of ways, so a strong belief in what you’re doing is essential! Ozzy likes to take a firm but fair stance, he also loves to reward a hard-working team. We appreciate biscuits, cakes and ice cream on hot days!
INTROVERTS + EXTROVERTS
A mix of these two personality types can help create a more productive team to create a more productive team. All of one or all of another can cause problems! Knowing who is who and more importantly which one you are can help too! Its also a good idea to make sure the team know how to communicate with different types of personality so they don’t get frustrated with one another.
HUMOUR
Humour inspires trust and intimacy which leads to improved team interactions, so why not start your meeting a little earlier so everyone gets a chance to catch up / share a little banter?! There’s no harm in bringing along some pastries too and make the team meeting a little more relaxed so everyone actually wants to be there.
SHARED GOALS
Understanding the common goals of the team can help keep members on track. At the start of each meeting, try stating how each person’s job feeds into achieving the shared team goals. Understanding how important each person’s role is can help bring your workgroup together. It’s a good idea to have a whiteboard or display somewhere in the office which shows what each person is working on and towards too, this way everyone can be reminded that your all busy, all working and sometimes that ‘quick job’ might not get done as its isn’t a priority.
PROACTIVE COMMUNICATION
Encouraging the proactive exchange of information, support and assistance between your team members will improve productivity as problems are dealt with before they become an issue.
EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE
A study carried out by Anita Woolley of Carnegie Mellon University in Pensylvania found that higher emotional intelligence (understanding the thoughts and feelings of others) lead to greater team success than the IQ of individuals.
So there you have it, Ozzy’s words of wisdom, we hope they come in useful!