Formal Teams Formal teams are organized groups. They are usually permanent, competitive, and have clear lines of authority. They share expertise to solve problems and manage projects. Teams at all levels are organized by expertise and are permanent in nature to undertake specific goals. Formal functional teams typically provide expertise in their own areas.
Informal groups
Groups of people come together irregularly to work on special cases to solve a variety of needs, such as: seasonal project teams, flexible teams that discuss strategy or need to arrange each case, hot teams that need to apply intelligence to creative projects, temporary task forces that urgently solve special problems in a short time.
Comparing formal and informal groups
The more formal a team is, the more it needs to be trained in its leadership in areas such as: company rules and procedures to follow, reporting, recording progress, and results on a routine basis. Likewise, informal teams follow ad hoc procedures. Ideas and solutions may arise on an ad hoc basis and procedures are more rigorous. However, it is important to remember that, whether formal or informal, team leadership is always results-oriented and collaborative.
Selecting members for the group
One of the keys to successful team leadership is carefully balancing the skills of team members according to the type of task required. For example, if the marketing of a product requires new ideas, people with cross-functional connections will come together to examine the project from different angles. But if specialized knowledge is needed, then additional people will have to be recruited to the team, and roles that are no longer needed will have to be replaced.
Points to remember:
- A group member is always an individual, always needs to be treated as a unit.
- Cross-functional teams should provide opportunities for team members to learn about the roles and work of other teams.
- Cross-departmental teams need to break down useless, harmful barriers.
- Sometimes formal groups need informal (unusual) elements to stimulate and re-energize their activities.
- A group is meaningless if one member becomes the ruler.
- All members of the group must work towards the same goal.
