Smart Team Building

Smart Team
Building
Smart Business Book Series

Smart Team Building (Smart Business Book Se-
ries)
Title
Master Steve
Author
Somayeh Amiri, Tara Kamangar
Colleagues
Keyvan
Layout
Designer
Silk Road Publishing (Toronto, Canada)
Publisher
Printed Book: 978-1-927060-77-3
EBook: 978-1-927060-78-0
ISBN
www.MasterSteve.com
Website
Attributions:
Images Credits: Pch.Vector / Freepik
Note: The author of this book gives the right to use
the present content, provided that the source is cited,
to professors, educators, teachers, lecturers, and aca-
demic and non-academic educational centers, for an
indefinite period.
The copyright of this bookis internationallyregistered
for the author.

Contents
Introduction.........................................................................................................5
Chapter 1: Team: Definition and Types.......................................6
Definition and Characteristics of a Team .......................................7
Benefits of Team Building .................................................................... 9
Types of Teams ‌‌
.......................................................................................... 11
Chapter 2: How to Build a Team in Three Steps?...............12
The First Step of Team Building: Planning............................14
1. Why do You Need a Team? ..................................................16
2. For Doing what type of Tasks You Need a Team? ....18
3. Who do You Need in a Team? ............................................19
The Second Step of Team Building: Creating a Team.....22
Types of Team Building ...........................................................24
Evaluation and Selection of Individuals ..........................32
Task Division ................................................................................38
Each Member of a Team is a Leader....................................47
The Third Step: Maintaining, Preserving and Managing a
Team.........................................................................................................49
Formulas for Team Management.........................................50

Adding New Members to a Team ........................................ 58
Dispute Resolution in a Team ............................................... 58
Chapter 3: Team Evaluation..............................................................59
List of Figures and Tables
Figure 1. Task divisions and work relations in the team ......42
Table 1: Personal skills assessment .................................................33
Table 2. Professional skills assessment ..........................................36
Table 3. Task division among team members. .........................39
Smart Team Building
4

Introduction
The philosophy of my teaching and the basis of every topic
discussed in this book is “smart business”. In this approach,
we rephrase the concepts in a simpler way and make them
more understandable by viewing them through different
perspectives. This has been carefully done to help you
come up with a smart mentality about a topic.
We teach you the concepts so you can understand ev-
erything being discussed in this book. Then, you can mas-
ter them through studying them more thoroughly, and by
taking a novel view and juxtaposing the concepts, you can
find a proper understanding of practical methods and ap-
ply them in your business to earn success.
This book belongs to the series of “Smart Business” col-
lection and it deals with team building and smart methods
of creating it. First, we define the concepts and talk about
the importance of a team. Then, we describe team build-
ing for you in three stages, and finally, we explain the im-
portance of evaluating the process of team building. This
way, we ensure you get what is being discussed in this book
and use every idea shared for your personal development.
Introduction 5

Chapter 1
Team: Definition
and Types

Definition and Characteristics of a Team
First, you should know that there is no “I” in team; ev-
erything is “We”. A team consists of more than one indi-
vidual and a person can be a member of a team but they
can’t be a team on their own.
There is a goal in a team which
is the common goal for all
the members and everybody
should make effort on the way
to achieve it.
Team: Definition and Type 7

There is an important princi-
ple in a team saying all mem-
bers of a team must know they
gain the profits as much as the
role they play and the work
they do.
when there isn’t unanimity on the final result and prof-
its of the members, you can expect disputes to arise and
the team to fall apart sooner or later.
Any credit or profit in the team
belongs to all members of that
team.
Issues in a team usually arise when personal interests
are prioritized over the team interests and when people
seek all the credit for themselves. So, it is important to
avoid self-centeredness when you are in a team. A team
cannot have to have one uncooperative member.
When “I” transforms into “We”,
esprit de corps and the real
meaning of a team are formed.
Smart Team Building
8

Benefits of Team Building
9
No matter how much a person claims that his/her
mind can work at the same time as ten people’s, one
can’t call oneself a team; instead, that person is sim-
ply one individual with lots of capabilities!
The strength and capabilities of a team are more
than that of an individual. The work a team can do is
more than the work that a person with great capabilities
can do. In fact, individual capabilities of people are dif-
ferent, so imagine when those individuals form a team,
definitely such team will achieve phenomenal results.
Every person has limited capabilities and no
matter how much one tries, he/she won’t be able to
work more than 17-18 hours per day and needs to rest
after working that certain amount of time. When a
second person is added who is able to work 6 hours,
the working time will be increased to 24 hours. If a
third person is added who can work 10 hours, the
working time will reach to 34 hours. As easy as that,
the time and strength of doing the jobs will increase
by adding a member to the team.
9
The validity of a team is more than individual validity
of its members. For example, when you want to attract
investment for your business, the investor will notice if
you are an individual or a team. If you are an individ-
ual, the investor will doubt your capabilities, sincerity
and strengths, while a team can gain more trust.

9
Teamwork spirit is one of the important skills which
is always considered as a major element on which
investors have a great emphasis. It’s because when
someone is unable to work with others, they won’t
adapt to investors and cofounders of a company no
matter how much capable they are or how good they
can handle the things on their own.
9
Reducing the risk in doing things is one of the interest-
ing things about teamwork. Team and teamwork are
so important that one of the routine questions asked
by employers in a job interview is whether you are a
team worker and whether you can work as a team.
Other advantages of a team are that people [in a team]:
9
Share their capabilities;
9
Become each other’s complements;
9
Compensate for each other’s weaknesses;
9
Reinforce each other’s strengths.
All people have weaknesses
and there are always others
who can be complements and
compensators for their weak-
nesses.
Smart Team Building
10

Types of Teams ‌‌
We deal with two types of team in business:
ƒ
First, build a management team consisting of several
partners and start a business such as a startup.
ƒ
Second, build a team of your employees in your com-
pany and teach them to be a team worker instead of
doing individual work.

Chapter 2
How to Build a
Team in Three
Steps?

In this section, the process of team building is described
in three stages:
1.
1. The first stage is planning for team building.
2.
2. The second stage is team building.
3.
3. The third stage is maintaining, preserv-
ing and managing the team.
HowtoBuildaTeaminThreeSteps? 13

The First Step of
Team Building:
Planning

Do everything in your life and work according to a plan.
Even when you look at someone, communicate what you
mean through looking, or if you don’t mean anything by
looking at someone, let them know through your look that
you don’t mean anything by it.
Having a strong business will be difficult if you don’t have
a proper business plan in place. So planning is essential in
business. You should have a plan for each part of it. Team
building is not an exception and it requires planning as well.
While planning for team building, raise a set of ques-
tions. First, note down whatever comes to your mind.
Then, add to the text any point that may occur to you later
and expand the plan.
You should consider the fact that you are planning for
team building. Therefore, almost everything is related to
the people involved. So, any discussion you have must be
about the project for which you are building the team and
the people with whom you are going to do the project.
In any team building plan, you face three main ques-
tions: why, what and who?
1. Why do you need a team?
2. What do you need a team for?
3. Who do you need in a team?
The First Step 15

1.
1. Why do You Need a Team?
The answer to this question determines
your goal of building a team. Every team is
built to gain one or more goals. By defining
the goals of building a team, you are, in fact,
making it clear why you are building a team
and for solving what problems you need to
build a team.
Make a list of your respective goals of team
building. For example, you may need a team
to launch a startup or to make more coordina-
tion among the members of a sector such as
marketing or research department.
While defining a goal, you are practically
defining your business.
After making a list of whys, as answers, ex-
plain why your business affairs are going to be
carried out in a better manner using a team
or for what reasons it is not possible to do the
business without having a team.
There is a list of tasks required for creating
a new job or a certain project which can’t be
done by a single individual and several peo-
ple are going to do these jobs with each other
through division of labor, so the final goal will
be accomplished.
In addition to synergy, a cooperation of
Smart Team Building
16

several people has a significant influence on
the result of a project in terms of diversity in
skills and expertise.
If someone works on a project individually,
he/she has to outsource and spend huge costs
for many requirements of the job, but if the
job is done as a teamwork and if the mem-
bers are properly selected, then in addition
to promptitude of action, many parts of the
job will be done by the team members them-
selves.
For example, let’s say you want to launch
an online store. Designate a team including
a member with programming and technical
skills, a member who’s an expert in marketing,
and another member who is a graphic design-
er. Such a team will personally carry out 70%
of the activities related to the project by the
members without a need for outsourcing, and
it will reduce the cost, save time and increase
the quality of the job because in comparison
to the members of the team who have been
engaged in the project from the beginning, no
one is more informed of the details of the job.
Since the main members of the team are
familiar and informed of the basics of the job,
in case of outsourcing or recruiting, other af-
fairs will be done with better results and much
more suitable cost and time.
The First Step 17

ƒ
Define the goal of building a team clear-
ly, explicitly and without any generaliza-
tion.
ƒ
Write down the goal in an understand-
able way. Provide more explanation
about the goal and make it more un-
derstandable. The members of the team
must know what goal their team is try-
ing to achieve and how they are going to
achieve it.
2.
2. For Doing what type of Tasks You Need a
Team?
After defining the goal of team building,
determine a set of tasks that are required to
be done so the team can achieve its objectives
and goals. By defining the tasks, you are de-
termining the expected and contributed ef-
ficiency of the members based on what the
team needs.
What do people bring with themselves
which leads to team building? Contributions
of people can be their resume, capital, ability
or skill.
Smart Team Building
18

3.
3. Who do You Need in a Team?
After you define the goal of team building
and the tasks for doing which you are going
to build a team, then check how many people
with what kind of capabilities and personality
traits you need.
The most important characteristic of a
team is its member. In fact, the continuity
and existence of a team depend on its mem-
bers. Since one person can never be a team, it
is essential that a team has a carefully defined
number.
We should not forget that members of a
team are a set of people who compensate for
each other’s weaknesses and reinforce each
other’s strengths.
To define the skills, abilities and character-
istics of team members, you should consider
two sets of skills:
The First Step 19

1.
1. Personal Skills
This category refers to more public or com-
mon skills that majority of people in a communi-
ty usually possess. All
skills of interpersonal
communications and
social interactions are
among this category.
Some of the personal
skills which are greatly
essential for members
of a team are as follows:
ƒ
Emotional intelligence
ƒ
Adaptability
ƒ
Creativity
ƒ
Communication
ƒ
Anger management
ƒ
Problem-solving
ƒ
Listening
ƒ
Being open to criticism
ƒ
Patience and tolerance and so on so forth.
Smart Team Building
20

2.
2. Professional and Professional Skills
Unlike personal skills, these skills aren’t gener-
al, which means all people in a community aren’t
required to possess
them. Instead, these
are professional skills
that can be unique to
individuals, orcan only
be possessed by people
who have intentionally
chosen them.
For example, programming is a professional
skill which can’t be easily acquired by everyone,
and of course, it is not necessary for everybody and
only people who have chosen to be a programmer
and work in this field learn the skill.
Hence, by answering the aforementioned
questions, you define your plan of team building.
In the next stage, you build the team.
The First Step 21

The Second Step of
Team Building:
Creating a
Team

In the first stage, you have defined your plan so you know
that you need how many people for certain tasks. This also
helps you to understand the goal(s) you need this set of
people to achieve.
In this stage (the second stage), find the respective peo-
ple. Start the searching process and check how you can re-
cruit these people.
In both models of team building (team of management
of team of employees), you face two types of people:
ƒ
The first type includes people who have special expertise.
ƒ
The second type includes those who have ordinary ex-
pertise.
Some non-experts may also work with the members of
a team and help them proceed the works. It’s not just the
expertise that matters; you should see how that expertise
and efficiency serve the team and what tasks are necessary
to proceed the works.
People are invited to a team for
their contributions and efficiency
so they can answer your “Whys”.
The Second Step 23

Types of Team Building
Let’s say you want to build a team from scratch and
there is no member yet. You can build a team in two ways:
1.
1. The first type of team building is that you select
the members in your company and among your
employees. In this case, you can do it in three ways:
First: Out of the main plan you have, you ex-
tract a limited plan which can be presented to all
and it’s not necessary for everybody to be aware of
the details. If you don’t mind everybody to know
the main plan, then introduce the main one. In a
written form, announce that you need individuals
with certain characteristics and job description,
and make notifications in the company or the re-
lated sector that those who are willing to collabo-
rate can announce their readiness.
Second: You put individuals in their job po-
sitions based on the knowledge you have of your
employees. Use your colleagues’ counseling for
building the team in question.
Third: This is useful when you want to build
a team in a sector. Here, things are sorted out for
you. People in that sector must take part in one of
the defined tasks. Put them in their positions and
then in the next level, give them a plan on how to
work with each other.
Smart Team Building
24

In each of these three methods, set an interview
with the individuals after their general placement.
In this interview, you want to know how right you
were about characteristics and efficiency of these
individuals and how close they were to your as-
sumptions.
For example, ask them how informed they are
about the job title they are chosen for or ask them
questions that will give you cues about their abil-
ities and match that with what you have in mind.
In this method, make it clear if a person is suit-
able for a job or not before defining the job title.
If that person performance at the second phase of
interview was close to what you had in mind, you
don’t have to wait further, give the fellow the tasks
you will need them to execute. If you didn’t find
the person suitable for the job position, consider
them for another position and continue the inter-
view based on that new position.
If the individual in question is not suitable for
any job position, you don’t need to mention the
team to them.
All of these items happen when a new team is
built. When the team is chosen from inside the
group, everything is clear and sorted out.
Have a conversation with people in your group
and take notes of the conversation so you can re-
form your mentality about them, and define and
assign them a different task.
The Second Step 25

Sometimes, you have to assign a task to an in-
dividual in the same sector he/she is already work-
ing, or you have to ask them to improve their abil-
ities. If there’s no possibility for improvement, you
can transfer them into another sector of the com-
pany.
Is there a way to identify complementary characteris-
tics of individuals in a team? Yes.
You have made a list of whys of team building,
tasks of the team members, efficiency and contri-
butions of individuals in the plan you have pro-
vided for team building. Make a list of necessary
questions out of this plan and ask people these
questions in the interview session you set to re-
cruit members. During these questions and an-
swers, you may realize that two tasks or roles you
have considered in the team are pretty much over-
lapped and there is no need to consider two indi-
vidual members to take them.
Interview is simply verbal questionnaire. An
individual may have the required expertise but he/
she may not be able to work with the team. There-
fore, you should set an in-person interview instead
of giving them written questionnaire.
During the interview, the discussion finds cer-
tain directions and this is not possible in text of a
written questionnaire. Therefore, don’t use written
Smart Team Building
26

interview to determine the capabilities and skills
of your team members for the position you need
them to hold. Never do that, unless a great num-
ber of people are supposed to attend the interview.
However, you can use written questionnaire for
professional questions that are within a definite
framework. Otherwise, through in-person inter-
view, you can find out about the personality of
each individual and how much these individuals
complete each other.
In this case, choose some individuals through a
written interview, first, and then, set an in-person
interview.
The Second Step 27

2.
2. The second type of team building is to look for ef-
ficient individuals outside of the company. Prepare
a plan which can be presented to everybody and use
it to inform others outside of the company as well.
Here, the first way is to see where you can put
the recruiting ads. Whether looking for a partner
or for members of a team, you need to find a way
to inform and recruit others.
Prepare the content of your ad for recruiting
and place it on social media or any other place
where it can be seen by people.
If you have enough space where you need team
members, in the ad, write down the maximum
number of people and the necessary requirements
that are required for the applicants to possess. If
you don’t mention the requirements in your ad,
you might eventually waste a great deal of time an-
swering people who aren’t suitable for the job. If
the space is limited, write down at least the job title
or the key points. It’s better to post the notification
in specialized social media networks.
The second way is to inform the associations
working in your respective professional field and
let them know that you need one or more individ-
uals with certain qualifications. Associations have
access to experts on their field and they can refer
some individuals to you.
First
Way
Second
Way
Smart Team Building
28

The third way is to attend business-related me-
dia and meet different people. In the way, prepare
one or more pages regarding a complete profile
of the job or the project and include the reasons
of launching and required job titles for building
the respective work team in the profile so you can
email it or give it to people when you talk to them;
therefore, if you lose contact with them, you won’t
miss the opportunity.
Indeed, there are always many events and
seminars regarding the professional topic of your
team. Seminars are great places to identify the in-
dividuals you need. People who attend these sem-
inars try to update their knowledge. So, they are
more suitable individuals [for the job].
Other formats of events such as commercial
exhibitions or even cultural events can help you
identify suitable individuals for team building.
For example, content providing is an expertise
which is sought by everybody. In identifying in-
dividuals for content providing, you need experi-
enced and professional individuals and you may
find them in cultural events.
Third
Way
The Second Step 29

The fourth way is to use social media to re-
cruit team members. Social media have presently
become of great importance and a part of people’s
everyday life. People spend a great deal of time in
social media. You can use this tool in three forms
as follows:
ƒ
The first method is to put notifications in social
media. Facebook officially allows you to put ads
in the list of jobs.
ƒ
The second method is to announce what job ti-
tles you need in your own page.
ƒ
The third method is to joins teams and pages
which you find suitable for your job and then,
you can put your required job titles in the list of
jobs in those pages.
LinkedIn is of special impor-
tance among social media and
there is a better chance for you
to find the individuals you
want in this network.
Fourth
Way
Smart Team Building
30

The fifth way of recruiting people is to iden-
tify them in other companies. This is also known
as poaching. You can offer a job to people who are
working in other companies. Recruiting such peo-
ple is complicated. This is because they are doing
a specific job and their admission includes a very
complicated process. Recruit such people pre-
meditatedly.
The sixth way for recruiting a colleague is to
ask others. Ask others to refer you anybody they
may know who might be suitable for your required
job titles. Then, people send you their resume and
announce that they are willing for collaboration.
In this method as well, put a list of individuals
in a table. Check their qualifications and if their
characteristics are in line with your needs, the
needs of the project and the required job descrip-
tion, then invite them for an interview. During the
interview and based on the notes you have already
taken about characteristics and efficiency of an in-
dividual, check what part of your goal that individ-
ual covers. If these features match your demands,
then hire that person.
For more information about methods of recruiting
force, you can read one of my books ”Smart Hiring” from
“Smart Business” series which is written in this regard.
Fifth
Way
Sixth
Way
The Second Step 31

Evaluation and Selection of Individuals
In this stage and after finding the suitable individuals
for team building, you check them so you can select the
best options and build the initial version of the team.
Select the members based on the individuals’ abilities
and skills because otherwise, you will face several prob-
lems halfway through the work, and solving these prob-
lems and internal disputes will take a significant amount
of energy and time from the whole team and these issues
sometimes cause the team to fall apart and the projects to
fail.
In order to select the members based on professional
skills, while considering the goals and consequently, the
requirements of the project, look for recruiting people
who can address the needs of the team.
For team building, personal skills of the
members are prioritized over the profession-
al skills. Therefore, evaluate the respective
individuals in terms of personal skills. If they
were accepted, start evaluating their profes-
sional skills. Otherwise, there’s no need for
checking professional skills because these
individuals are supposed to work as a team
and any negative feature in them can affect
the whole team.
Notice1
Smart Team Building
32

You can use all types of standard personality
tests and sessions of in-person interviews to
evaluate personal skills.
To be more precise in selecting members of a team,
first, create a table such as Table 1 according to the follow-
ing instruction.
Final
average
Personal skills
Full
name
Total
score
of
skill
4
Importance
coefficient
of
skill
4
Score
of
skill
4
(openness
to
criticism)
Total
score
of
skill
3
Importance
coefficient
of
skill
3
Score
of
skill
3
(problem
solving)
Total
score
of
skill
2
Importance
coefficient
of
skill
2
Score
of
skill
2
(anger
management)
Total
score
of
skill
1
Importance
coefficient
of
skill
1
Score
of
skill
1
(emotional
intelligence)
59
90
3
30
320
4
80
250
5
50
225
3
75
Person
A
76.3
120
3
40
380
4
95
375
5
75
270
3
90
Person
B
42.6
165
3
55
140
4
35
200
5
40
135
3
45
Person
c
.....
....
....
....
....
....
....
....
....
....
....
....
....
....
Table 1: Personal skills assessment
Notice2
The Second Step 33

Create a table like the one above based on the number of
personal skills you want to evaluate.
In the first column, write down the name of individuals
who are candidates for joining the team. Then, make a list
of those personal skills which are essential in selecting the
respective team.
In the second column, write down the title of the first
respective personal skill. You should assign it a score be-
tween 0 to 100; the score is calculated according to the
standard personality tests or interviewing the candidates.
In the third column, write down the coefficient of each
skill. The importance coefficient means the weight of each
skill. You can use any range of numbers to do so. Here, we
have used a scale of 1 to 5, but you can define the impor-
tance coefficient using any scale you want – for example,
1 to 100 or 1 to 1000.
Pay attention to the sample table. The importance coef-
ficient of emotional intelligence as a skill is 3 and the im-
portance coefficient of anger management is 5. It means
anger management is way more important than emotion-
al intelligence in this example for the team in question.
Consider the importance coefficient of each skill in
terms of the type of project and goal of the team. This
process is just like calculating the average score of cours-
es in school and college, where each course has a certain
credit (weight) which shows the importance of that course
and the effect of its score on the final average.
Smart Team Building
34

The title of the fourth column is total score of each
skill. Take the score received by an individual in a certain
skill and multiply it by the importance coefficient of that
skill. As you can see in the sample table, the first candi-
date scored 75 in emotional intelligence skill and this score
is multiplied by 3 which is the importance coefficient of
emotional intelligence. So, the total score of emotional in-
telligence for this candidate is 225. Similarly, in the exam-
ple above, the next two candidates have received scores of
270 and 135 in emotional intelligence skill.
In the next columns, do the same as what was instructed
about the first skill which was emotional intelligence in this
example, and calculate the score, coefficient and total score
for each one of the personal skills in question. You must be
very careful as you calculate for you not to miscalculate and
miss out on the chance to recruit a great team member.
In the last column, calculate the final average which in-
cludes the sum of total scores of the skills divided by sum
of coefficients of the skills. For example, the final average
of the first candidate (Person A) equals 59 which is calcu-
lated as follows:
(the total score of skill1 × the importance coefficient of
skill1) + (the total score of skill2 × the importance coeffi-
cient of skill2) + (the total score of skill3 × the importance
coefficient of skill3) + (the total score of skill4 × the impor-
tance coefficient of skill4) + (sum of coefficients of all 4
skills) = 59.
The Second Step 35

You can calculate the final average for all candidates in
the same way as above.
Now that you have evaluated the individuals based on
personal skills, the candidates with final average of less
than 50 will be removed and they won’t pass to the next
stage of evaluation which is regarding professional skills.
As mentioned before, in teamwork, consistency and coor-
dination among the members of a team are the necessary
conditions for a team to succeed and this consistency and
coordination is bound to personal skills of the individuals.
Now, the individuals who have received an average
higher than 50 in the personal skills assessment will enter
the stage of evaluating professional skills.
In this stage, create a table like the previous one as well.
Professional skills
Full
name
Final
average
of
professional
skill
Final
average
of
personal
skills
Total
score
of
skill
3
Importance
coefficient
of
skill
3
Skill
3
(design)
Total
score
of
skill
2
Importance
coefficient
of
skill
2
Skill
2
(marketing)
Total
score
of
skill
1
Importance
coefficient
of
skill
1
Skill
1
(programming)
59
76.3
0
1
0
140
4
35
450
5
90
Person
A
41.5
59
05
1
50
240
4
60
125
5
25
Person
B
Table 2. Professional skills assessment
Smart Team Building
36

In Table 2, write down the professional skills required
for team members to achieve the goals of the team and
calculate the average of scores the same way as mentioned
for Table 1, and any candidate whose average of profes-
sional skills comes higher than 50 is a suitable option for
joining the team.
In evaluation of professional
skills, calculating the average
is calculated and comparison
is made for the candidates in
similar conditions.
Sometimes, conditions of a project demand
a specific expertise and only one of the can-
didates possesses that certain skill. In this
case, there is no need for assessing profes-
sional skills and calculating the average, as it
benefits the team to add the individual who
has that specific skill in addition to the per-
sonal ones.
Notice3
The Second Step 37

Task Division
After selecting the individuals, it’s time for task division
stage in which the tasks required to be done in a project
are adjusted with characteristics of the respective individ-
uals to make it clear each individual with his/her charac-
teristics is suitable for doing which certain task.
For example, you need some tasks such as leadership,
negotiation, data collection, programming, etc. to be done
in the team to build the team. These tasks are responsibil-
ities for which you are supposed to find the suitable indi-
viduals and recruit them. So, based on the output of the
two previous tables, check each individual is suitable for
which one of the required tasks in the team. The following
examples will help you better understand this stage.
You need to prepare a table for this stage as well.
In the first column, write down the name of team mem-
bers. Then, write down the tasks you require in the next
columns. These items are supposed to cover a part of goal
and responsibilities regarding the project.
For example, as you see in Table 3, items such as lead-
ership, coordinating sessions, communicating with other
teams, planning, data collection, etc. must be done in the
team.
These responsibilities are put into columns 2 to 9, and
the name of a member whom you found capable of per-
Smart Team Building
38

forming that task or responsibility has received a check-
mark under each column.
For example, Person A seems suitable for three respon-
sibilities of leadership, communication with other teams
and negotiation with investors. While, Person E seems to
be suitable only for coordinating team sessions or Person D
is responsible for programming software and web design.
Tasks and responsibilities
Names
of
team
members
Software
programming
Leadership
Coordinating
team
sessions
Communicating
with
Other
teams
Planning
Data
collection
Web
design
Introducing
the
product
Negotiating
with
investor



Person
A



Person
B


Person
C


Person
D

Person
E
Table 3. Task division among team members.
The Second Step 39

Give a position to one or more
individuals for each task which
is supposed to be done in the
team or you can even assign
several responsibilities to one
single person concurrently.
Divide the tasks and responsibilities of a
project for which you build a team accord-
ing to the results of tables 1 and 2 and based
on talents and skills of each individual, not
based on personal interests or taste.
Here, letters are used instead of the names of
members, but in reality, you should put the
names of individuals in the first column of
each one of the tables 1, 2 and 3.
Notice1
Notice2
Smart Team Building
40

If you need 5 persons with similar characteristics and
efficiency, assign them five rows of the table. Of course,
this is the case for building a team of employees.
In a team of partners, each member plays a certain
role and most of the time, there’s no need for two people
to take the same responsibility. This table specifies your
roadmap in building your team in question.
Another method is to draw a diagram on paper. Write
down the name of the team in the middle. The name of a
team defines the responsibility you want to be done. If it
is a team of partners, write down the name of the group
as startup management and if the team is only a section of
the company, write down the name of that section in the
center.
Draw one or more branches out of this central circle.
Each branch can be categorized and the tasks can be listed
in them. For example, you can define communication sec-
tion in a branch. In communication section, make it clear
that with how many teams an individual is communicat-
ing.
You can always keep a small version of this diagram in
your pocket as a guideline so you know in which stage of
the job you presently work. When you recruit an individu-
al, you can put a checkmark in front of the respective title
to show the recruiting has been done.
The Second Step 41

Team of
Launching
an Online
Store
Evaluating the
Current Status
of the Market
Introducing to
the Market
Holding
Sessions
Communication
Technical
Details of the
Website
Attracting
Investors
Product
Oﬀering
Team
Sales
Team
Support
Team
Supplier
Team
Training
Team
Product
Design
Team
Director of
Communications
Figure 1. Task divisions and work relations in the team
Smart Team Building
42

After building the team, hold a session to divide tasks
and assign the duties to each member, and announce the
necessary notifications. Define the project for the mem-
bers; make clear the duty and specification of the job that
is going to be done by the team.
Prepare an operational and applicable program and
hand it out to the members during the first session. By
doing so, the team officially starts its activity.
Formulate dynamic rules for
the team which can be gradu-
ally decreased/increased and
changed.
Some tasks are pertinent to the team from inside and
they have nothing to do with the personal task. Still, task
division inside the team depends on the individuals’ capa-
bilities in helping the team.
Trial stage is a good time to get to know the character
of members and identify the most suitable individuals for
each task.
Some methods and formulas are introduced in this re-
gard which you can use according to your need and de-
mand.
The Second Step 43

The first formula
The first formula is to test everybody
one by one before they get to work as a
team. Inform the individuals as well that
this is a trial stage which is necessary for
both parties because if they fail the trial,
your time and theirs won’t be wasted and
if you get some common results, there
will be a better and faster progress in the
job.
You know the job description of individuals and what
is expected of them according to the plan you have de-
signed. In the trial stage, assign a small set of jobs to the
members and see how well they can manage.
Some of the important items you should check about
the individuals during the trial stage are as follows:
ƒ
How involved are they in teamwork?
ƒ
How prepared are they for conversation?
ƒ
How well do they listen?
ƒ
How well do they express their assets?
ƒ
How prepared are they for reforming their words
and manners?
ƒ
How persistent are they about their own words?
ƒ
How much do they care about improving their per-
formance?
Smart Team Building
44

Some people don’t listen to discussions and conversa-
tions, and they eventually persist on forcing their opin-
ion. These individuals have no understanding of team-
work and when they don’t listen to others, they are only
appearing to be in the team, they are actually working
individually. Either this problem can be solved by train-
ing or you may realize during the trial stage that their
problem is not solvable so you remove them from the
team.
If members of the team are employees in a given
sector of the company, they need to go through a train-
ing crash-course to learn how to do things as a team
and not based on their own knowledge. Although it is
necessary for them to use their knowledge, it is essen-
tial they can modify themselves and adapt to different
situation.
When the issue of selecting individuals is over in the
trial stage and you have made a list of team members, all
members are required to reach a common understand-
ing of the project and each member of the team needs to
know what role everyone is going to play; i.d. all members
of the team must be informed of their roles and also of the
roles and responsibility of other members; they also need
to know the goal of the team. To do so, you can apply the
second formula.
The Second Step 45

The second formula
The second formula
is that in order
to reach a similar understanding of the
project among the members of a team,
everyone should express their under-
standing of the project and the reason for
their presence in the team.
The reason a person is involved in the team can be ex-
pressed in two ways:
ƒ
Each member of the team can express in written
form that: what task do I have? What is the goal of
the team? How does my task help the entire team?
ƒ
Hold a joint session where members can state their
tasks during the session.
While I always talk about writing and taking notes, I
don’t prefer the written method in this case. You can’t con-
clude from a text that all members are aware of their job
descriptions. It is better to apply the second method and
hold a session with all the members present and talk about
the tasks jointly and reach a common understanding.
Smart Team Building
46

Each Member of a Team is a Leader
After task divisions, every member is like a leader for
themselves and they aren’t an ordinary employee any-
more, rather, they should perceive themselves as a man-
ager.
“Make assessments and then,
offer solutions to manage
yourself and improve your
performance.” This is a mot-
to which should be told to the
members of the team and it
should be repeated enough so
everybody would follow it.
The conduct and behavior of the leader is a model for
other members of the team. The members are watching
you and you can’t advise people to do something when
you are not doing such thing as leader. Therefore, it is
important that you act out what you want the team mem-
bers to emulate. One of the main reasons that startups
fail in the launching process is that the leader doesn’t do
his/her job properly and fails to divide the tasks among
the members properly. A manager must identify the in-
dividuals’ potentials and apply them in appropriate sit-
uations.
The Second Step 47

Members of a team are similar
to pieces of a puzzle and ev-
ery individual must have their
own specific place.
In a team, all members must be aware of their tasks and
goals of the team and reach a common understanding. A
member will be dismissed when he/she is heading against
the defined path for the team.
Smart Team Building
48

The Third Step:
Maintaining,
Preserving and
Managing a
Team

Formulas for Team Management
After building the team, it’s important to manage and
maintain it in a proper manner.
The first formula
The first formula
is to hold sessions for co-
ordinating and organizing the team and
during the sessions, try to create an atmo-
sphere in which all members get to talk.
Appoint a specific time for each member to express
their opinions regarding the way things are done. Such re-
view and expression of opinions will modify the members
and they learn how to talk about the project and its issues.
All members must have equal right to talk in the sessions.
It must be even imperative to talk because talking avoids
making various mistakes.
Sometimes, it’s okay to use
force but you should always of-
fer solutions.
Smart Team Building
50

In the team sessions, all members will know their own
tasks, other members’ tasks and the way of interacting
with other members. Job description is reviewed among
all the members and if there’s a need for modification, ev-
erybody will be informed.
Now, you have established the basis of teamwork from
here so everybody will talk and offer their ideas, and no
one can avoid talking because automatically at some point,
it will be their turn to talk.
Listening to other members
in person will help the team
in reaching a common under-
standing of the goal.
Hold such sessions after the trial stage where the in-
dividuals get to know each other and furthermore, they
modify their mistaken understandings of the job.
From now on, it must be a task for members to update
their status for other members. By that, we mean a de-
scription of progress status of the tasks given to every in-
dividual in the team.
The Third Step 51

This session and the next ones you hold for coordinat-
ing and organizing the team define whether the members
of the team:
ƒ
Firstly, Are good speakers
ƒ
Secondly, Are good listeners and respect the
opinions of other members of the team
ƒ
Thirdly, Criticize each other according to what is
discussed by other members and such criticisms
will help to improve the performance of the team
ƒ
Fourthly, Stay away from work intervention and
tension
ƒ
Fifthly, Work in the appealing environment of
conversation and help each other. according to
the job description, even shy people have to de-
scribe work issues in weekly and monthly ses-
sions and talk about this stuff
In a team, culturalization is a continuous trend. By ap-
plying proper management methods, the team members
will gradually learn how to talk to each other and let other
speak up.
One of the issues of team working is that some indi-
viduals create a negative atmosphere by violent and tense
behaviors and invasive criticisms. Such action won’t help
the criticized person and rather it will traumatize him/her
and the person in question won’t be able to get back to his/
Smart Team Building
52

her normal state and do his/her job properly. The atmo-
sphere in the team must be open enough for any criticism
to be expressed constructively and intimately. Otherwise,
an adverse atmosphere takes over the team, the members
develop a hostile attitude toward each other and criticisms
will be used for retaliation and malice.
If you see the members are being cyni-
cal, modify their attitude either by force or
through friendly methods, subtle words and
humor.
In teamwork, learn the culture of
criticizing, i.d. try to identify the
problems and find the solutions
instead of looking for expressing
weaknesses. Begin your work in
a positive and constructive at-
mosphere and not in a criticiz-
ing, chaotic and intense one.
Teach the members to continue each other’s speech in
the session and avoid burbling. However, if it isn’t possi-
ble to do so, one member can take notes and provide a
conclusion of conversations so you can concentrate on the
topic of the session.
Notice
The Third Step 53

The second formula
The second formula
is that during the
trial stage and after that, you can make it
possible for the members of the team to
spend some quality time outside of the
work environment. In trial stage, doing
so will help to know the personal char-
acteristics of the individuals and how to
divide tasks.
A one-day trip will considerably help people to get to
know each other’s character. These trips strengthen friend-
ships. In addition, during a trip, the team members get to
know each other’s personal characteristics and weaknesses
and they try to rectify their weaknesses.
The third formula
The third formula
is that when one
individual carries out a successful job,
the whole team should celebrate this
success. Use any small opportunity to
celebrate so you can experience collec-
tive happiness in teamwork. The team
must celebrate everyone’s success be-
cause the credit of any success belongs
to the whole team.
Such perspective makes the members of the team to
mean well for each other. It should be reminded that the
philosophy of team building is that the members become
each other’s complements and help each other.
Smart Team Building
54

The fourth formula
The fourth formula
is rewarding for
new ideas introduced by the members of
the team. If you are the team manager,
maintain a friendly environment among
the members.
If you put up a ‘Big Boss’ face and fail to communicate
with your team, the team won’t share you their informa-
tion. You will succeed when you are a good instructor for
the team.
Give more importance to individuals with better effi-
ciency. Consider a reward for a member who does some-
thing which benefits all the members of the team. Define a
reward system and consider giving some prizes out of the
profit to the performing team members.
When an idea is posed, respect copyright, and over
time, give credit to the person who has come up with the
idea. It’s right that the benefit is for the group, but we al-
ways mention who owns the idea which has been valuable
for the team and has provided it with profits.
It’s not delightful for a member when you give praise to
them individually. Appreciate the member in public and
in front of other members of the team. By praising a per-
forming team member, you are showing other members
the result of greater efforts and they will be persuaded to
bring more benefits to the team.
The Third Step 55

The fifth formula
The fifth formula is to ask the mem-
bers to give opinions about all the issues
of the team, describe their latest status,
point out problems and look for solu-
tions through discussion and conversa-
tion. When the team is gradually formed
over time, you have opportunity to pro-
mote the culture of teamwork.
Provide opportunity for all members to comment on
the solutions even if the solutions were shared. While you
will see disagreements among the members, all of them
must reflect upon the problems and issues of the team,
and eventually, the constructive solutions are those in
which resources of the team are considered.
The team must learn to solve
its problems based on its assets.
The effective presence in team sessions means you
have problem statement, you must go to the sessions with
plans and recommendations, and you involve every sin-
gle one of the members. Following the members’ discus-
sions, you should comment on your tasks while interact-
ing with them. If you are having discussions and you can
establish your relation with the members, you will avoid
the problems before they weaken the team and make it
fall apart.
Smart Team Building
56

A discussion-based environ-
ment solves the problems and
clarifies the job description.
As mentioned before, holding the team sessions is of
great importance, and concluding the sessions is one of
the main tasks in the team. Someone must follow the de-
cisions and assign the affairs to the members. Someone
else must check the way the decisions are conducted and
hold the next session if necessary. So, you should always
consider one or two persons in the team to coordinate the
discussion sessions.
The Third Step 57

Adding New Members to a Team
The core leadership or the team may decide to add a new
member to the team. The best way to do so is to consid-
er this topic in the discussions of the team sessions, talk
about it and ask for everyone’s opinion.
Don’t suddenly surprise the members of the team by
the presence of a new member. You have spent a great
deal of time to make a friendly environment and to build
trust. It takes time for the new member to be accepted in
the team. It is better to prepare a new member’s presence
or inclusion through discussion.
Dispute Resolution in a Team
When a dispute happens in the team, first you should find
the reason behind it and then allow the affected parties to
talk in the team and let other members give their opinions
and finally, a collaborative decision (also called group or
collective decision) can be made. All members must learn
to respect collaborative decisions and accept collaborative
agreement.
In case of any problem in the team, follow it up quick-
ly, find the dispute and the solution to settle it and be
alert that it won’t happen again. Think about the poten-
tial arguments and disputes from the beginning of the
job and decide how to continue the course if a member
left the team.
Smart Team Building
58

A team must constantly evaluate its actions. For example,
a team is built to launch a business. The team evaluation
starts from the second stage of team building, meaning
building, running a team and evaluating the team must be
continuously carried out to the end of the project. This is
necessary so that it would be clear how far a job or goal has
been achieved in time according to the respective business
plan.
Define a valuation system and ask the members of the
team to evaluate their own performance. Therefore, they
get to know their real self. You should evaluate the mem-
bers as well and mention the results in the sessions of team
management. Then, compare both evaluations.
For example, I’m the team leader and I say, ‘evaluate the
performance of Person X’. Person X also has the assessment
forms and evaluates him/herself. The assessment form is
different for every member and it includes a list of tasks
assigned to that specific person.
Juxtapose the results of these two evaluations. If they
didn’t match, either person X was unable to understand
his/her job description properly or our interpretation of
his/her tasks was wrong. The good thing is we try to solve
Smart Team Building
60

the problems afterwards and reach a common under-
standing; of course, the scores shouldn’t differ significant-
ly.
Evaluation is a smart thing to do. It’s okay for one to
evaluate oneself optimistically; in this process, one will be
trained to have a more realistic evaluation of oneself and
points of view will get closer to each other.
Hold a session for all the failures of the team. In the ses-
sion, mention the drawbacks and unfortunate incidents,
and discuss the reasons behind any failure.
The performance evaluation
of a team is an ongoing process
which never ends.
If any of the member’s function is disrupted for any
reason, it will affect the function of other members as well
and damage the whole team. If necessary, you should even
dismiss a member with impaired function.
Instill this culture in the team
that everybody should help
each other and move toward a
common goal.
Team Evaluation 61

When someone says, ‘my task is clear’, that person works
individually and lacks a proper understanding of team
working. Each member of the team must act according to
his/her job description, but they should also solve others’
problems if they could. The members of a team must be
aware that no one is supposed to ask them, “What’s your
status and what are you doing?” The need to evaluate their
status before anyone asks anything.
A common goal means a common benefit. In that case,
all members of a team must trust each other and work to-
ward achieving the common profit. Whenever this trust is
damaged, the whole team will suffer.
When your performance eval-
uation of a team doesn’t meet
your expectations, take it as an
opportunity to reform things.
Pave the way to reform and
success by sharing the prob-
lems and discussing them.
Smart Team Building
62

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