When it’s a group of people with no common purpose. I know, I know, I never stop talking about ‘clear, common purpose’, but it’s true: if a group of people goes about its work every day and no-one asks themselves how what they are doing contributes to an overall goal, they are not working as a team.

Some years ago I worked in an internal consultancy team where each member partnered with areas of the business to develop strategies and solutions for that area. We each replicated the same work with each of the business areas, even though each of us was naturally better at some things than others.

Looking back, I think we each had a very clear understanding of our individual objectives, rather than a team purpose. We had team meetings where we would each report on our individual projects but we didn’t clearly tie them into an overall plan – oh yeah, there was no overall plan. And when we were suddenly asked to drop everything and work on providing a solution to some unforeseen problem, we never questioned where that fit into an overall purpose – oh yeah, there was no overall purpose. See the pattern emerging?

And that is why I constantly harp on about ensuring your team is clear about why it exists and what it is required to deliver.

• Find out what the organisation’s plan is – where does the department or function fit into that? That’s the department’s purpose.
• Find out what the department’s plan is – where does your team fit into that? That’s your team’s purpose.
• Make a plan with your team – what are you going to do and how will you know when you’ve achieved it?
• Then question each piece of work or project that the team undertakes; does it fit in with the plan?

Think of it like one of those 3-D jigsaws – everything has to fit or you can’t build a solid structure. Cheesy, I know, but true.