The Creative Team (Optimum Team Roles)

Five, Eleven or Six +/- Three? 

What would be the optimum creative team size? The answer, of course, would be that it depends: a basketball team needs five players, a football team (or soccer for Americans ?) thrives on eleven and the Scrum guide holds that a team should contain a minimum of three and a maximum of nine members. This last number is consistent with my own experience as an infantry sergeant in the Royal Netherlands Army where my group (team) consisted of nine soldiers and myself as their group commander and it also makes sense to me that a team of less than three members isn’t really a team. I think it’s safe to argue that the ideal team size is dependent on the context in which the team operates and that the more interesting question is, how do we make teams work to the best of their abilities?

The Creative Team in the Creative Economy

To answer this question, we should look at the different roles team members (can/should) play in a team. Of course their exact roles would also be dependent on context, but there are a number of roles I think every team should have independent of the context the team operates in. The roles I’m talking about here are those who make a team creative, and creativity is essential in the modern workplace. With creative I don’t mean creativity in an artsy way, but rather the ability to continuously adapt to everchanging situations. So what are these roles?

(1) The Coordinator

First and foremost, the team needs a coordinator. This coordinator isn’t a team leader in the traditional sense, they aren’t actually in charge of the teams. Instead, they are team members who ensure that teams have clear objectives, the tools they need and make sure all team members are involved and committed to the task at hand. In other words, they are like servant leaders who make sure teams can actually do what they’re supposed to do.

(2) The Challenger

Another crucial role in a creative team is the so-called challenger. This challenger is a team member who, besides their regular role in the team, is assigned the role to continuously question effectiveness and press for improvement and results. The main reason for having someone acting like an annoying five-year-old on the team is that it mitigates the risk of team members falling back on the “but we’ve always done it like this” mindset. To make this role work effectively, it is essential that the whole team is aware of the purpose of the challenger. If not, a good challenger will cause tensions and might hurt the effectiveness of the team.

(3) The Executor

As a good challenger might distract the team and slow them down, it’s also important to assign the role of executor to one of the team members. This executor is the team’s timekeeper who keeps an eye on the clock and makes sure the team will meet set deadlines. If the team is small, this role could easily be combined with that of the coordinator.

(4) The Thinker

A fourth role in the creative team is that of a thinker. Like the challenger the thinker questions the effectiveness of the team. However, whereas the challenger confronts the team as they are doing their work, the thinker quietly observes the team from a distance (but, of course, also is an active team member) as they work and leads an evaluation of their effectiveness after they’ve completed their task.

(5) The Liaison

Finally, every team should have a liaison. With a good challenger always distracting and slowing down the team and an effective executor pushing for speed, tensions will arise. For this reason, it’s just common sense to have a team member dedicated to easing those tensions and uphold communication within the team. 

Assigning the five roles outlined above to team members in addition to the regular roles they play in their teams, will guarantee your team will be a creative team and work more effectively and to the best of their ability.

[T]here you are.