What can we say about an association or a group of people gathered in the same space and sharing interests? What defines and what are the differences between a group of people and a team? How many times can we feel that we are in a team when it simply is a temporary group of people?
Team
The most noticeable difference lies in the type of bond that members have with each other. This can have a significant organizational impact, as forming a work team is as vital as in a sport. However, simply bringing together a group of people and assigning them an objective, role, and functions does not guarantee that they become a team.
As leaders within any organization, whether it be sports, governmental, business, etc., our desire is to have the ability and knowledge to transform this group into a team. This blog will provide the guidance to do so.
Perhaps the first thing we want to agree on is the need to achieve unanimous growth and behavior in terms of the team’s mental strength.
Mental Strength
We could say that what makes a sports team mentally strong are all those mental and social characteristics that make each one contribute their best for the good of the team, achieving maximum performance in what they have to do.
This means that the psychological tools that each one possesses, put at the service of the “team”, have the optimal levels to reach the goal they have set as a team. These variables need to function collectively, and to reach the ideal levels, they require the contribution of all the members.
Characteristics to consider
Taking into account the above, how is a group defined, according to the characteristics of the interaction of its members? Well, with 5 characteristics:
- Share common goals
- Feelings of team cohesion towards the goal and mission we have in front
- Open communication channels.
- Interaction in teamwork, maintaining the independent and individual characteristics of execution in relation to the objectives.
- Feeling of collective identity and sense of belonging.
Essential factors
Once these interaction characteristics have been taken into account to be able to form the groups, there are key factors to guarantee the development of the group, which are:
- Proximity: Thanks to being next to each other, bonds can be generated that help maintain close contact and give the opportunity for the group to evolve.
- Differentiation: This is the measure in which a group of individuals manages to differentiate themselves from others. Here is where the feeling of unity and identity is intensified, and history and tradition take a special place in the team’s identity, thus contributing to its differentiation.
- Similarity: Here we observe the similarities between individuals in terms of attitudes, aspirations, commitments, and abilities. We also consider attitudinal similarity in the achievement or attainment of group goals, behavior expectations, and experiences in situations outside the sports field.
- Group goals and rewards: To guarantee unity within the team, it is necessary to focus on group goals and rewards.
The team formation will be an evolutionary process in which developmental sequences in four phases will take place.
Taking into account the structure and dynamics of the team, as well as the variability in maturation times to go from being a group to a team, this is what happens:
Constitution
This is the initial stage where a group of athletes come together. Here they begin to familiarize themselves with each other, determine whether they feel comfortable and whether they belong to the group or not, and define their role within it. In addition to constituting themselves as a group, they also test their interpersonal relationships.
Conflict
At this stage, there is already an understanding of the characteristics of each of the team members and a basic notion of the role they play. Conflict is inherent to the growth of any human group. It is not bad to have conflicts, what is negative is not knowing how to handle them.
The members’ anger towards their leader and the interpersonal conflicts among them are manifested at this stage. This is where the need for coexistence norms and procedures to handle conflicts arises. Thanks to these dynamics, it is possible to identify what the real needs of the team are in terms of normativity and how these alleviate and decrease hostilities.
Normalization
This is where solidarity and cooperation replace hostility. Everyone works together to achieve common goals. Group cohesion is achieved by joining efforts and, instead of competing for status or recognition, the economy of effort and task efficiency is sought.
Execution
Here we present the culmination of the evolutionary process that goes from group to team. The challenge of this stage lies in staying in it as long as possible. This is the moment when we must pay more attention to the team’s emotional energy. Since the psychic expenditure of individuals is high at this stage, it is important to manage training, training, rehearsal, productivity, and competition sessions with stimuli that relax the team. In addition, it is essential to take into account the importance of rest in high-performance processes.
At this point, we verify that the members have the ability to “turn off the head” in front of the team task and can connect with other activities that foster contact with the person and with the role that this one plays. Finally, the objective is the success of the team.
