What makes a successful team IYO?

[Dollygirl2008]

Just that really! I've been given an opportunity to create a Central Admin Team for a higher educational college in the UK (North East if that makes any difference!). It's a big step up for me as the opportunity has arisen due to various circumstances, and although training will be given where needed, I'm keen to hear your experiences.

This is an admin team supporting a large and busy academic department - although each person will have a link to their specialist area, it's envisaged that they will also cross cover when required.

I'd love to hear any experiences from which I can learn - good or bad!

Clear roles and responsibilities

Clear direction so everyone knows what's expected of them.

A way to measure "success" that everyone understands (the team themselves and the users of the team)

Consistency. If team member x is carrying out a task but tomorrow team member y is doing that task- are they doing it the same way? If not, should they be?

Turnaround times / agreed response rates. If the team are providing a service of sorts- are they communicating how long something will take?

Transparent communication with each other / the line manager. If there's been a fuck up, the last person you want to hear it from its someone outside the team. Team members should feel safe to go to the manager to hold their hands up to a mistake / report an issue immediately so the manager can try to resolve ASAP.

Those are main things I can think of that I'd be thinking about when setting up a new team.

Thank you - great stuff and couple of those id not got

Really interesting to hear your comments re when fuck ups occur. I really want the staff to feel empowered and able to make decisions, but equally be able to come to me if they don't work out. I've always felt that it's not actual fuck up - it's the reaction to the fuck up that's important. I guess it depends on the business though!

Customer service training is really high on my list as well