The members use effective listening techniques such as questioning, paraphrasing, and summarizing to get out ideas. There is disagreement, but the team is comfortable with this and shows no signs of avoiding, smoothing over, or suppressing conflict. For important decisions, the goal is substantial but not necessarily unanimous agreement through open discussion of everyone s ideas, avoiding formal voting or easy compromises. Team members feel free to express their feelings on the tasks as well as on the group s operation. There are few hidden agendas.
Communication takes place outside of meetings.
Clear roles and work assignments. There are clear expectations about the roles played by each team member. When action is taken, clear assignments are made, accepted, and carried out. Work is fairly distributed among team members. While the team has a formal leader, leadership functions shift from time to time depending upon the circumstances, the needs of the group, and the skills of the members.