Team Building

Former Deputy Provost Dru Marshall shares her top 10 tips for building a successful team.

As a recognized and respected academic and sports leader, former U of A Deputy Provost Dru Marshall, '82 MSc, '89 PhD, knows a thing or two about building successful teams. But that success didn't come without a learning curve.

"When I started as a coach, I thought it was important to set a particular tone, so I had a 'command and control' style of leadership," says Marshall. "Now, I think it's more important that there's a sense of collective leadership within a team-that people have a sense of self-responsibility, that they're empowered to act in a way that they think is best for the group."

Whether working with academic leadership on strategic initiatives, or leading university and national field hockey teams to gold medals, this evolved philosophy has served Marshall well in her career. Here, she shares her top 10 team-building tips:

1. Communicate the Vision - Team members should understand what their final destination is and be able to visualize it in order to achieve the goal.
2. Share Values - Set values as a team-they will guide team members' behaviour as they work together to achieve their goals.
3. Make a Plan - If the vision is the final destination, the plan is the team's roadmap to getting there.
4. Shared & Individual Goals - Establish individual goals, which, when combined with the collective, help achieve the team's overarching vision.
5. Reflection & Refinement - Learn from every experience, positive or negative. Reflect on them and refine your leadership approach in the future.
6. Value Differences - Everyone has a unique gift. The best leaders bring out that gift in each individual, helping them reach their full potential.
7. Tension is OK - Sometimes the best decisions are made amidst tension. Just be sure to resolve conflicts early to avoid being distracted or derailed by them down the line.
8. Team Identity - Whether you establish a team creed or adopt a team symbol, it reminds individuals not to be self-focused, but rather part of a greater whole.
9. Have Patience - Team-building isn't something that happens overnight; it takes time to develop team dynamics, and to work efficiently and effectively together.
10. Work With Weak Links - Be careful not to underestimate so-called weak links. Rather than trying to work around them, give that person the opportunity to contribute and excel using their natural abilities.