Why should you develop your team?

Working as a team is a great idea, but what sort should it be? A relay team, a football team, a cricket team, a tug-of war team? The appropriate type of team and the way in which functions are divided vary enormously, depending on the task in hand and the skills of the members. Teams are complex machines and it's not surprising that they malfunction occasionally or need re-alignment or teambuilding. To work effectively you need agreement on exactly what sort of team you are: what are the goals, what is each member's role, who needs to work closely with whom, what should the game plan be? Sometimes it's as simple as learning more about the people you work with, and sometimes it's complicated, such as working through entrenched difficulties or defining how a long-distance team communicates.