Team effectiveness as a two-way street
A truly effective team can only really call itself if it delivers value both inside and outside the team.
Team performance needs to have benefits that flow both internally and externally. Thanks to Chris Liverani for sharing their work on Unsplash.
Without both of these things happening simultaneously, the way of working becomes ineffective and unsustainable. If a team fails to deliver what it needs to either the people that support and sponsor that team, it is not serving its primary function. The endpoint for this way of working is that the team simply becomes irrelevant. It will cease to exist in its current form. This is an ever present possibility and incredibly complex when we start to think about who might fall into the category of "people that support and sponsor the team". There are other teams within the same division, other parts of an organisation, customers, suppliers, governments and the list goes on.
On top of that, if a team fails to deliver value to its members, it is failing to be an effective team. If members of a team are feeling an imbalance between the effort that they are putting in (including the risks that they are taking and the sacrifices that are required for team performance) and the reward that they are getting from the team in return, then they will act to rectify that balance.
In other words, if being part of the team is not a rewarding experience, people will reduce the effort that they are putting into the team.
Operating as a team requires commitment and dedication from all members - as this falls away, so does the effectiveness of a team.
Most of the time, a tension exists between the needs and desires of those inside and outside of the team. If a stakeholder wants something faster, cheaper and better that can place strain on the experience of the team members who can feel constrained, pushed or devalued. The good news is that the inverse is also true. When a team is delivering value to both its members and those that rely on it there is a virtuous and uplifting cycle that occurs. As the team works better together, they deliver better results to stakeholders, which helps members feel a greater reward for being part of the team, which helps the team work better together - and so on.
An awareness and ability to operate with these potentially competing forces is a hallmark of great teams. As with so many aspects of team performance - not easy, but incredibly valuable.
Some questions for you to consider in your teams:
What is the current experience for the people that support and sponsor your team?
What is the current experience for each member of your team?
Can you improve the experience for one or both of these groups?