Why is team development important?

We don't do team development simply because it creates harmonious work groups but primarily because it formalises the power of collaboration among what otherwise might be disenfranchised individuals. For many team development is a way to blend talents, skills and inherent creativity of diverse people. With collaboration at its heart team development leverages team skills, time and resources for their benefit and that of the organisation. The consequence is that effective team development produces better, faster results and provides a satisfying and motivating experience for team members.

Some reasons why team development is so important are:

	most organisations are so complex and with de-layering there has to be team development for them to succeed
	everyone needs to be working towards common goals (that team development will generate and nurture) which need to be attainable and clearly communicated
	team development environments will outperform none team based environments

Let us consider further why is team development is so important - team development will make favourable impact in six key areas:

Task Achievement

Teams are not designed for dealing with simple, repetitive tasks, as individuals will generally be quicker. However, team development comes into its own when faced with complex tasks, and associated problems, where probably there is no single, correct answer.

Quality of Decisions

Team development can generate more ideas than any one individual therefore, it has the choice of many possibilities before it and the ultimate quality of the decision is likely to be better than an individual's decision.

Accuracy of Decisions

Judgments are far better through team development than through individual assessment of tasks that involve random error because team deliberation tends to purge ill-conceived notions and weak individual thinking.

Risk taking

It has been shown that team development creates confidence to take greater, but measured, risks (and seize opportunities) than individuals would.

Motivation

Team development enhances morale and spurs individuals on to perform effectively at a higher level.

Speed of learning

Team development creates a progressive, but nurturing, environment enabling team members to learn faster than individuals working alone.

Put more straightforwardly team development is important because it helps the group to capitalise on their strengths and minimise their weaknesses. The synergy that comes from team development can be very powerful.