How to build a successful team

One of the most prominent way to stand successful in the current software industry is to build a team which is highly skilled and competetive to almost everyone in the industry out there. When I say skilled it doesn't involve only technical background, team must be skilled in all aspects i.e.. technical and non-technical.

When Can a team be successful?

The answer to this question is pretty straight forward, for a team to be successful one should "lead the team effectively". Effective team leaders build their relationships of trust and loyalty, rather than fear or power of their positions. Leaders who are not afraid to course correct, make the difficult decisions and establish standards of performance that are being met - and improving all the time.

To reach the highest pinnacle of leadership success one should master the "art of people" and knowing how to maneuver hundreds of people at the right place and at the right time. It means knowing how each person thinks and how to best utilize their competencies rightly at all times. Here are a few key points that will help you to build a successful and a productive team.

1. Study your team

Everyone out there obviously know that a team consists of different kinds of people. Everyone has his/her own way of thinking or acting. As I said earlier an effective team leader requires to master the art of people, it helps you decide on assigning tasks according to their strengths. It also helps you supporting each member of the team in a positive way and reinforcing their motivation.

Conducting regular one on one meetings time to time will help you track your team members skills. You can guide them in a proper way which gives the team success in the end.

2. Always think ahead

Leader must have long term vision of the tasks that has to be performed. Always plan each task by considering various possible scenarios which can avoid mistakes in future. In this way one can provide quick responses to changes and unforeseen aspects that can appear in future.

3. Goal

Every team must have a common goal. Bringing everyone together in pursuit of common goals is crucial to moving ahead. There is no point in coordinating a team if we don't know what we want to achieve. So, defining a goal and discuss this with the entire team, discussions always helps you to set a clear way point to reach which is always more productive.

4. Planning

We should plan all the tasks to be performed, estimate time based on each team member. Estimating time and committing to it is very important in many cases. It will show teams dedication and commitment to the deadlines. So always make sure that you are committing deadlines that you can meet. Before committing to any deadlines, make sure you get the requirements clearly.

Requirement analysis, sometimes is very complex as we need to do some background check and should have a complete knowledge on existing system. Any mistakes while gathering requirements will force us to put stress on the team and upon yourself too.

5. Communicating

As I mentioned earlier, conducting one-on-one meetings time to time is absolute necessary. Communicating with the team is very important inorder to pass on information needed to everyont in the team. It's important to make meetings as productive as possible, that's why one should clearly define their contents beforehand, so stalled situations or backwards steps are avoided.

The important thing aboveall is that we need to have clear understanding of what we want to acheive and do it well. No one is perfect and everything can be improved. Surround yourself with the best teammates, learn, make mistakes and correct them. As they say "Practise makes a man perfect" everything can be improved by practising it regularly. That's the only way to better yourself and get closer to perfection.