Multiple factors determine a team’s success, and size can be one of the most important. Effective teamwork (especially on small teams) can increase business sales by 27% and improve customer satisfaction by 41%. With good cooperation, employees are often motivated to achieve team goals and put in extra effort. 

A small team is a group of two to ten people working collectively on a specific task. Managers usually determine a team’s size based on project requirements. Provided team members have the requisite skills, and small teams are more efficient than their larger counterparts. 

There are also many other benefits of using small teams in the workplace. Read on to learn what they are and learn more about the small team concept.

What Is a Small Team Concept?

More than half of US professionals believe teamwork is essential to success. Companies know the value of having employees work in teams, with managers often using a small team for better efficiency and effectiveness.

The small team concept manages at most ten people to achieve a specific goal. This team size usually results in better flexibility, greater accountability, and increased autonomy. Well-managed small teams tend to achieve better results than larger teams.

Small teams can be permanent or temporary. They can include people in the same department, be cross-functional, or be self-managed. Virtual teams are also growing in popularity and have become necessary with the increased number of remote employees.

How Do Small Teams Work? 

The main tasks of a small team are similar to those of a larger one. However, there’s a need for even more focus and teamwork since fewer people exist.

High Level of Autonomy of The Team

The main goal of a team may be to create a new product or improve a current process. Every task a team member performs must be relevant to attaining this. Each team member must know this. They also need to know what role they play in achieving this goal.

Small teams are faster at intra-team communication and understand each individual of the team more deeply. This allows the team also more accurately to understand the organization and its need; a properly set up small team will, therefore, be much more able to work with less supervision from management.

In my EOD unit (military bomb disposal), we were a team of six people with a high degree of autonomy; we rarely had much interaction with our platoon commander other than with logistical support. Instead, we would get tasked, plan, execute, and report once the mission was done.

High Level of Autonomy of The Individual

Managers will select team members based on skills and expertise (hopefully), amongst other factors. This allows each member to complete individual tasks and build on their capabilities, which helps bring the team closer to achieving the main goal or objective. Breaking down tasks and assigning them to different team members increases efficiency and productivity. 

The benefit of the small team is for its team leader to understand each individual, their limitations, and their passions. This information allows the individual to be tasked with things they are sufficiently competent and interested in so that they can work nearly autonomously.

High Level of Creativity

Each team member needs to use their expertise to help the team achieve the ultimate objective. This involves formulating ideas, analyzing their feasibility, and deciding which idea works best. Discipline and proper management are crucial to stay on track while doing this.

In a small team, there is a higher probability that each member feels more psychologically safe and, therefore, willing to share their ideas. Suppose the team leader can cultivate the production of ideas by not being condescending while hearing all the bad ones. In that case, there is a high probability that one game-changing concept will appear sooner or later.

In a small team, there is a higher probability that each member feels more psychologically safe.

High Level of Intra-team Support

An individual’s expertise will determine how they can support other team members. They may need to impart knowledge or guide a specific process. This often provides a better understanding of how one task may affect another and can also impact the project’s outcome. 

If you want to support someone proactively (i.e., solving a problem they didn’t know they had), you must understand what their responsibilities and roles are; in a small team, this is easier since there are fewer team members, allowing for more time to understand each person’s needs.

High Level of Intimacy

Leading a small team requires a balance of guiding without micromanaging. Managers should know team members’ capabilities and when to step in to help eliminate roadblocks. They may also need to make decisions that may change the team’s strategy or goal.

To get the most out of any system, including a system made of humans, we must understand its components, what makes it work better, and under which circumstances it will stop. As a small team leader, you have the excellent opportunity to understand every piece of your machinery with incredible detail, Something that can’t be done on a large team.

My most valuable lesson learned is that if you take care of your people and really try to understand them as human beings, then you are bound to make amazing friendships and build a top-performing team in the organization.

Then you are bound to make amazing friendships and build a top-performing team in the organization.

Does Team Size Matter?

There are several components a team needs regardless of its size. These include:

• A defined goal, specific task, or project to achieve. 
• Diverse skills among members.
• Assigned responsibilities to each member. 
• Efficient operating systems to provide support.
• Healthy interaction and exchange among members.
• Accountability from each member.
• Good external relations.

However, these components are usually easier to manage when a team is small. 

During any team experiences opposing views from people with different personalities that can result in conflict, managers spend more time and energy dealing with this problem in larger teams than in smaller teams.

The higher number of different ideas and beliefs may make decision-making more challenging in a larger team. Conversely, managers may also have to guard against groupthink. All these elements can adversely affect productivity and impact timelines. 

Although possible, these problems are less likely to occur in smaller teams. There are also many other benefits of working with a small team. 

Here are 15 indicators that your team size is way off!

Benefits of Small Teams

Can you feed your team with two pizzas? If you can, then your team is the ideal size for an effective team, according to Jeff Bezos. This team size is typically between five to eight members and is usually more efficient.

Here are some other benefits of small teams: 

• Easier and better communication flow
• Better focus especially for specialized projects
• Greater contributions and overall engagement among members
• Ease of visibility, helping to reduce instances of discrimination or bias
• Being assigned specific roles and responsibilities boosts morale
• More streamlined use of resources
• Greater collaboration
• It’s easier to establish trust especially when team members have already worked together
• Better innovation
• Quicker decision making

Small teams are more conducive to increased productivity. They’re also easier to manage as you can learn members’ skills and capabilities faster. This helps to ensure the appropriate assignment of tasks. It’s also easier to monitor group developments and be more accessible to members.

Ways To Build an Effective Team

Bringing all these elements together can help you create an effective team. However, management is a key component of a team’s success. Here’s what you can do to lead your team effectively:

• Practice a leadership style that promotes open communication and builds trust.
• Set clear objectives for the team.
• Communicate regularly and effectively.
• Assign work fairly and based on member skills and talents.
• Manage conflict and encourage collaboration.

It’s important to recognize milestones achieved by the team. You should also reward members after they complete the team assignment. This will encourage greater willingness if there is a need for them to work on teams in the future. 

Todd Adkins, Director of LifeWay Leadership, discusses in this short video how communication on large teams quickly becomes complex and why it is better to have small teams.

Final Thoughts

Many companies are learning the value of collaboration and teamwork. They’re even adopting technology to facilitate this as employees work remotely. Teamwork not only benefits employees but also increases profitability and customer satisfaction.

Smaller teams are proving to be more effective in achieving this. However, there must be clear objectives that each member is aware of. Open communication should also continue throughout the project until completion.

Spending thirteen years as an officer in the Army has made me take some things for granted. One is that only some understand the vital difference between a team and a group of people. That not just any group of people thrown together makes a team. A true team works as a single body, mastering individual communication and coordination. Even though building a team out of a group of people comes with a wide array of challenges and obstacles, it’s still one of the most rewarding processes I have ever experienced – so how can you go about it?

Building a team out of a group of people involves identifying each team member’s strengths and weaknesses, setting clear goals, assigning roles, fostering open and honest communication, encouraging teamwork, celebrating successes, and leading by example.

How team members communicate and work with one another will determine how well the whole department or organization performs. While the process won’t be easy, it’ll undoubtedly be worth it, so it’s worth reading through the following tips and instructions to optimize your team’s chances of success. Stay tuned as I take you through what you need to know about building a tight-knit community in the workplace.

10 Tips for Building a Team Out of a Group of People

In the previous section, I mentioned a few steps for building a team out of a group of people. These steps don’t necessarily have a strict order, so consider them general tips to keep in mind throughout your work as a team. 

Below, I’ll explain these and some other helpful tips to make the process a bit easier.

The aim of the steps outlined below is to help workers develop a sense of community and a desire to work toward the greater good.

1. Identify Each Team Member’s Strengths and Weaknesses

Identifying each team member’s unique strengths and weaknesses involves spending enough time getting to know everyone on the team and analyzing their skill set. 

This can prove vital further down the road. For example, one of the most important steps of building a team involves assigning the right tasks to the right people, and how can you efficiently do that without knowing how to bring the best out of everyone or even what their best is?

2. Set Clear Goals

You can bring together a group of the most talented people in the field, and you still won’t be able to get them to succeed if you don’t set clear, quantifiable goals from the start. The truth of the matter is that no matter how hard-working an individual is, they won’t be able to succeed if they don’t fully know what they’re working towards.

Setting a goal gives people a sense of “the greater good” they’re working for and a feeling of satisfaction when they achieve their objective. 

3. Assign the Right Roles to the Right People

Assigning the right roles to the right people is an essential step of the team building process, as when done right, it can help each member feel like they’re bringing their best foot forward. This can help immensely with involvement, dedication, and the general desire to work. 

This step is also essential from a practical point of view – when each member does what they do best, the overall work is bound to be stellar.

4. Foster Open and Honest Communication

Attempting to foster an environment where everyone feels they can be open and honest can be challenging. However, it’s also an incredibly vital step and worth putting in some extra time and effort to achieve it.

All relationships depend on sound communication, and the rapport between colleagues is no different. When team members feel they can talk and consult one another, their collective goals will be achieved much more quickly.

When team members feel they can talk and consult one another, their collective goals will be achieved much more quickly.

5. Encourage Teamwork

Encouraging teamwork might be a little tricky to pull off in a country as individualistic as the US, but that doesn’t mean it’s impossible. I’ve purposefully put this tip below the “foster good communication” one, as teamwork and communication go hand in hand. If people feel comfortable consulting one another on any level, they’ll be much more likely to put the greater good before their individual agendas.

6. Celebrate All Successes, No Matter How Small

Being positive and celebrating achievements, no matter how small is an ideology that goes hand in hand with positive reinforcement. Encourage and celebrate your team members every time they achieve collective success. They’ll be far more likely to repeat the behavior that led to their win and strive toward other, bigger successes. Remember that no victory is too small to celebrate – you met that deadline, so why not go to happy hour after work?

7. Lead By Example

Team members will only be incentivized to do a good job or partake in the team-building strategies listed above if the leader themselves does the exact opposite. Therefore, it’s essential for leaders or managers to set a good example and practically show everything they’re expecting of their employees by modeling it themselves.

Of course, even managers are human, but your team will have greater respect for you if you’re open and honest about mistakes.

8. Encourage Team Members To Socialize After Work

The happy hour suggestion above is just one of the many opportunities you can create for your team members to socialize outside of work. Organize a volleyball tournament, picnic in the park, or paintball fight – the possibilities are endless. However, having the people you work with form positive and strong personal bonds will also positively affect their group performance.

9. Create Rituals To Help Get Members Into Their Workflow

Consider creating rituals to encourage your team to be excited about the upcoming workday. For example, at the beginning of each work day, you could allow for some check-in time, during which everyone can catch up with their colleagues. The end of that ritual signals the beginning of the workday, and all team members will be able to get right to their job without any mental distractions. Rituals such as these can help improve group performance.

10. Keep Everyone Accountable 

Keeping everyone on your team accountable while encouraging them to feel comfortable sharing their doubts or mistakes can be an incredibly fine balance to strike. 

The first step involves fostering an environment in which team members feel comfortable asking for help or letting the rest of the group know when they’ve made a mistake. On the other hand, you can still keep them accountable by asking the members to pinpoint their growth areas. 

After all, there are “mistakes,” and then there are “mistakes.” The key is encouraging everyone to be constructive and learn from them instead of being stuck in a rut.

As long as you keep these 10 tips in mind and check in on how well you’re applying them throughout your team, you should be able to build a real team out of a group of people.

How to Build Team Culture

The strength of a workplace’s team culture will inevitably affect its success potential. Therefore, in this section, I’ll be taking you through some of the most effective steps you can take to build a strong team culture within your organization. Before I do that, though, I want to note that some of the tips I gave in regard to building a team can also be applied when trying to build team culture. 

The strength of a workplace’s team culture will inevitably affect its success potential.

However, in an effort not to get too repetitive, I won’t repeat those tips here. Instead, I’ll simply list the steps you’ll want to take to ensure that the team culture you build is strong and long-lasting: 

• Research other companies and find inspiration. This can be especially helpful if your organization is newer and hasn’t had a chance to establish its own rhythm yet. Remember, though, that copying another company’s mission and strategies is a recipe for failure. However, getting inspired and seeing how you can make some tried-and-true strategies work in the context of your own team can certainly give you a leg up in personalizing your own team culture. 
• Define your team culture and values. You can’t expect team members to create the environment you’re looking for without clearly stating what that is. So, right off the bat, openly communicate your team’s mission and values, and explain to everyone what kind of mindset and behavior is expected of them.
• Choose your language carefully. Before you even address your team for the first time, you’ll want to carefully review the language you plan on using. For example, communicating that you’re looking to build positive, open communication within the group while being withdrawn and using negative language can send mixed messages. That’s because you want to relay the same message with your tone as you do with your words.
• Make your expectations clear from the start. The thing about team culture is once you’ve created one, it’s near-impossible to change it. That’s why telling your team members what’s expected of them from the start is important. That way, they’ll be more confident in acting and working while helping the group move forward.
• Foster real, social connections. Nothing will incentivize team members to work better with one another than fostering real connections between them. When colleagues care about one another, they’ll be much more prone to put the greater good over their own agenda and work efficiently together as a team. However, this behavior needs to be modeled by the team’s leader or manager first.
• Never cease your efforts in building the team culture you want. Building the best possible team culture is a never-ending process, and you should be aware of that from the start. There’s no point in this timeline when you can go, “Well, team culture is built now,” and move on to other things. Look at the connection between team members as if it were a plant. You need to look after it for it to thrive constantly.

Remember that building a strong team culture at any point in your work is no easy feat, and patience is important throughout the process. 

Moreover, no outcome is guaranteed when fostering human values and connections, so try to follow these steps repeatedly, leaving room for changes and flexibility. The end goal is to have your team members feel motivated and valued; good team culture is just a by-product.

4 Signs You’re in a Group and Not a Team

By now, you should be well-equipped to handle the challenges of building a team out of a group of people and building a great team culture within the workplace. However, as mentioned, things can start to go south at any moment. Considering that, it’s essential also to know how you can determine when the process simply isn’t going as planned, and you’re part of a group rather than a solid team.

Here are some tell-tale signs that a group isn’t a team:

• Poor communication. If individuals don’t feel comfortable sharing their thoughts or ideas with their peers or feel less than compared to some of their colleagues, their leader or manager has failed to create open lines of communication.
• Lack of purpose. If everyone seems to be doing their own thing and doesn’t have a clear sense of the collective goal, the group suffers from a lack of purpose. If you don’t give employees a clear mission they can only succeed in by working together, they’ll have no incentive to do so.
• Excessive individualism. While being individualistic does come with its advantages, even in the workplace, our agendas should take a back seat to the collective goal when it comes to working as a team. If group members prefer working alone to collaborating with their colleagues, you can’t expect them to work as a true, functioning team.
• Lack of trust and respect. The best teams are built on these two pillars; if either is missing, you have a group of random people on hand, not a collaborative unit. Fostering a level of trust and respect that can sustain interpersonal relationships between team members is tricky, but it’s undoubtedly worth it.

Here’s an informative clip discussing how leaders can define and inspire their teams to build a strong team culture.

Final Thoughts

Building a team out of a group of people is no easy feat, and maintaining a solid team culture beyond that can be even trickier. Luckily, by keeping the above tips and guidelines in mind, you’ll have a far better chance of creating a well-functioning team able to achieve its collective goals.