Building strong teams and structures

Design strong teams

Think back to a fun and successful team you have been part of, at work, school, in sports, or within a social movement. Chances are, you will recognize the following nine factors in that experience. These are elements you can intentionally build into the teams within your own organization.

1. A well-functioning team is not too big or too small: ideally between six and twelve people. That size makes it much easier to make decisions together and to complement one another’s strengths. It is big enough to get real work done, but not so big that meetings take over or that people can hide from responsibility.
2. A well-functioning team has a shared goal, vision, and mission. The team knows what it wants to achieve and how it plans to do so. And if the team is part of a larger organisation, it understands the framework it operates within and the specific outcomes it’s responsible for.
3. A well-functioning team has one or more supportive/servant leaders, not bosses who give orders, but people who bring others together, resolve conflicts, help everyone find their place in the team, and facilitate decision-making. They also prepare their own successors.
4. A well-functioning team is diverse. It includes people with different skills, perspectives, ways of thinking, and personalities.
5. A well-functioning team divides tasks in a way that allows everyone’s strengths to shine.
6. A well-functioning team is built on mutual trust and shared values. 
7. A well-functioning team has its own identity: a name, a character, and a story that it embodies and shares.
8. A well-functioning team has fun, celebrates successes, and supports one another through challenges.
9. A good team also knows when to say no to people. Not everyone fits into every team, and one disruptive member can cause a great team to fall apart. Don’t be afraid to remove people who do not fit.

Structure

An organizing structure works like a snowflake. Teams work together, and an infinite number of new teams can be added. Everyone understands what is expected of these teams and how they communicate and make decisions together. It is also clear to everyone where, when, and by whom decisions are made, whether through voting, consent, a board, or a general assembly. Any model can work, as long as it is clear.

The Snowflake model

The snowflake model was introduced by Marshall Ganz, an American political scientist and activist, and has become an important framework within community organizing. The model shows how campaigns and movements can scale up without losing their people: local leaders are given responsibility for their own teams and territory, while the central hub retains strategic oversight. This structure is effective because it combines autonomy with accountability, volunteers feel a sense of ownership, and organizers are less likely to burn out. For groups and social movements, this means learning how to build sustainable engagement by not only mobilizing people, but also enabling them to lead.

The snowflake model turns individual volunteers into a network of organizers who know their communities and, as a result, build greater trust and impact. This creates scalability with depth, and a movement that doesn’t just grow larger, but also becomes firmly rooted in society.

See the following article on the snowflake model: The snowflake model of community engagement.