Team Formation

Sharing of the team mapping

Sharing the team mapping in the team-formation process helps to orientate team members on how the other members of the team are wired. It is a process of learning and sharing to understand what the different viewpoints on the team are like. It is also an important process because it identifies where some of the blind spots and gaps on the team are.

This can then feed into a process to identify whether any other skills are needed on the team immediately, or whether structures and processes can be introduced to cover the gaps. It can also feed into the recruitment process, so that if a team member moves on, the mix-in to the team is taken into account when recruiting a new team member.

More on team mapping can be found here.

Communication tools and preferences

It is important for high-performing teams to define the communication tools and the levels of escalation they will use to communicate inside the team and outside of it.

Functionally, most high-performing teams will ditch email as a form of internal communication and instead rely on instant messaging, message boards, and tagging users on projects to engage with the team more effectively. Email still has its place for communicating with stakeholders in the company and with clients, but it is important that such communication is attached to cards on the relevant boards, so the team's progress stays documented.