While teams are composed of individuals, all of whom solve problems and make decisions, people on consistently successful teams understand that they can be more effective when the focus is on the team, not the individual. Making the best decisions collectively delivers the most value to customers in the long run.

If a team member leaves without notice, it slows down a project and puts stress on everyone else as you wait for a replacement. There's not much we can do with surprises, but why don’t we do a better job of planning for those we know are going to leave? Building in some overlap for knowledge transfer should be a given.

When many people are speaking in a meeting but it never translates into meaningful actions later on, it can leave us frustrated. But with some planning and collaboration, we can facilitate ways to make it easier for people to communicate better. Here are three ideas for a little less conversation, a little more action.