It is not easy to build a team.

To be clear, a team is not just any group of people labeled as a such by some organizational chart. It needs to be more than that.

After 5 years leading 3 different teams, I believe that in a team, everyone has a common understanding on what the goal is. Every team member knows what is expected of them and how they fit the team structure. Every team member feels supported by their manager and their peers. Every team member is adequately challenged in their day to day work.

Within a team everyone is responsible for the team’s successes, however, outside of a team, only one person is directly accountable in the case the team is not able to deliver.

Being a manager means having the responsibility to bring a team together…but how can one person influence and improve how a group of people to work well together?

I have a few thoughts:

Hire with care

Hiring is not easy, period.

Whether you have team set up already or you need to create a new team, at some point you might need to bring in someone new. The moment that happens, the previous team becomes a new team. Everyone will need to adjust and adapt to welcome someone new into the fold, including you.

During interviews, it is easy to focus only on a candidate’s skills and achievements. However, as a hiring manager, it is critical to determine the kind of person that you want on your team and to determine if the person you are interviewing will be a good fit for everyone else.

From my experience, one common aspect that I have seen from people who great teammates is that they care; they care about their team, their colleagues, and the quality of their work. They notice when someone needs help, when it’s time to crack a joke, or when it is a good time for a coffee chat. It’s important to have this and it should not be overlooked.

Get your hands dirty

Nothing sends a message more clearly than leading by example.

As a manager, your responsibilities do not leave much space for the kind of hands on work that probably got you the role in the first place.

Nevertheless, it is important for you to find opportunities to get involved and work directly with the team, instead of just receiving feedback about how projects are progressing or attending meetings.

If you participate in the day to day work, you can help your teammates improve how they collaborate with each other and with people on other teams.

Talk to everyone, as much as you can

It is common to hear people complain about meetings and with good reason, but having meetings should not be an impediment to communicating openly in your team.

As a manager, it is important to meet with your team, as a group and individually, and not just to discuss assignments, tasks, or the like.

If you hold regular team meetings it important to set aside time to just have a chat, without focusing on deadlines or the things on your To Do List, where everyone can feel comfortable talking about whatever.

At the same time, it is absolutely necessary to have 1 on 1 meetings with each team member. Direct individual feedback will give you the best perspective about your effectiveness as a leader and how comfortable everyone feels with your style. Of course, it is also important to provide your team members with feedback about their work and how you view their contributions to the team.

Don’t forget to ask everyone in your team how they are doing, not just in terms of work. Simple questions like “How is your day?” or “What did you do last weekend?” sound like boring coffee break talk, except when you are genuinely interested in the answer. Doing this will allow everyone to feel comfortable and forge a stronger connection, but it only works if you actually care.