Here is another valuable Management Tip of the Day from Harvard Business Review. To sign up for a free subscription to any/all HBR newsletters, please click here.

The word “team” is so commonly used in today’s organizations, most managers are oblivious to its true meaning.

Here are three characteristics a group must have to be considered a real team, and to maximize its potential:

1. A meaningful and common purpose. This is more than an outside mandate from the top of the organization. To be successful, the team must develop and own its purpose.

2. Adaptable skills. Diverse capabilities are important. Effective teams rarely have all the skills they need at the outset. They develop them as they learn what their challenge requires.

3. Mutual accountability. You can’t force trust and commitment. Agreeing on the team’s goals is the first moment at which team members forge their accountability to one another.

Today’s Management Tip was adapted from Harvard Business Review on Building Better Teams.

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