Are Your Teams Really Working Groups?

As the primary vehicle for making decisions and completing tasks, teams are essential to every organization. A team is a group that works together to achieve specific goals.

A set of values that promotes teamwork is listening, responding constructively to others’ views, giving the benefit of the doubt, supporting others, and recognizing the achievements and interests of others. These values are essential for the success of both individuals and teams.

Working groups and teams are used almost in the exact same way in many organizations, despite the fact that there is a significant difference between them. Working groups are simply informal groups of people working towards a common goal. The structure of these groups will differ depending on the personalities and makeup of their members. The team structure, however, is specific and takes into consideration member roles, responsibilities, and boundaries.

Leaders need to be able to distinguish between teams and groups. People who work in groups are more successful as individuals than they are as individuals. Each member of a team must agree to a common goal and be held accountable for their actions. They share a common goal and have set performance goals.

Because they are accountable for each other and individual accountability, teams differ from working groups. Teams are more than just a group of people discussing, debating, and making decisions. They also share best practices and information.

Leaders need to be able to differentiate between different types of workgroups and teams in order to understand how they can deliver more performance.

Results and accountability

Performance results are a critical difference between teams and groups. Performance results are a crucial distinction between groups and teams. Members don’t assume responsibility for other members’ results, nor do they try to create incremental performance contributions that require the combined efforts of several members.

The performance of a team includes both individual and collective results. Collective results are the result of all members’ accurate and collective contributions.

Leadership

Working groups are best managed by a robust and focused leader. The leader of the group has the power to influence the work and outcomes of the group.

On the other hand, teams develop shared leadership roles that are established by members of the group. This decreases the impact of one team member on the team’s results.

Scope

While working groups are focused on the same purpose as the larger organizational mission, teams focus on the specific purpose of the team they were established to address. A team is focused on a particular purpose, and its results are tailored to that purpose.

Output

Through the collective contributions of their members, teams produce specific work products. The combined contributions of all members can have higher performance levels than their individual contributions. However, the performance of a working group is not the result of individual members.

Meetings

Workgroups work together unproductive meetings. Team meetings encourage open-ended discussion and active problem-solving. These activities are inspired by the team meeting. Sessions are guided and directed within this structure by the roles and responsibilities assigned to team members. They are also defined by the boundaries and framework that the team has established to guide its activities.

Measuring

Indirectly, working groups are measured by the influence they have on others. Team performance is directly measured by assessing the collective efforts of the group and its ability to achieve its mission and purpose. The team’s results make something happen and add real value to the results. However, just gathering for a workgroup every now and again does not sustain its performance.

Methodology

Working groups meet to discuss, delegate, and decide the work of the group. Teams work together to complete the actual work. Performance goals can be compelling for teams. They challenge people to work together to make a difference in the organization. Because dreams can be challenging, it is up to the team to achieve them.