Capstone Project Wiki

One of the important issues in creating effective teams is having effective team members. When team members are ineffective, teams do not achieve their potential.

Loughry, Ohland, and Moore¹⁾ (2007) searched the literature for information on determining and measuring key behaviors of team members that enhanced the effectiveness of teams. They evaluated 218 different questions used by university students to evaluate the performance of team members and correlated them with the performance of teams. From this list of 218 questions, they were able to identify five team member behaviors that correlated strongly with team performance. The identified behaviors were:

• Contributing to the Team's Work
• Interacting With Teammates
• Keeping the Team on Track
• Expecting Quality
• Having Relevant Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities (KSAs)

All of these behaviors can be developed by individual team members and have been demonstrated to lead to team success. We discuss them individually below. You can improve your effectiveness by evaluating your performance relative to these behaviors and making necessary changes. The following lists actions that represent excellent, good, and poor performance in each of these behaviors. See this Figure Actions that represent excellent, good, and poor performance in each of the behaviors that contribute to team success.

Effective team members complete a fair share of the team's work (or more). They help other team members and seek to support the goals of the team. They keep team commitments and complete assignments on time. They perform high-quality work. If they need help, they ask for it. They continue to work even when the work is difficult. They come to team meetings prepared.

Effective team members encourage other members to contribute and show interest in others' contributions. The communicate clearly and encourage all members of the team. They share information with teammates and participate fully in team activities. They respect and act upon the feedback of other team members to improve their performance. They allow other team members to contribute and value their work.

Effective team members pay attention to conditions that influence the team's success and seek to help the team progress. They are aware of the progress of team members and encourage individual progress toward team goals. They give teammates timely, specific, and constructive feedback. They facilitate open and candid discussion about the success of the team, and suggest solutions that can improve the team progress. They help the team to plan and organize its work.

Effective team members encourage the team to do good work that meets or exceeds the requirements. They care that the work is of high quality, even when there is no additional reward for achieving this quality. They believe that the team can do excellent work, and show by their example that this is possible.

Effective team members demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and abilities to do excellent work. They acquire new skills as necessary to achieve the team's work. They help other team members acquire new skills. They develop skills to serve as a backup for other team members.