Building a great work team can seem daunting. The ultimate goal is to create a group that follows the agile system development technique, which can be applied to many different industries. The colloquial term for the process is stormin’, formin’, norman’, and performin’. A more technical explanation of the system is that it is created by small group dynamics which allow a self-regulating team to define, motivate, and manage themselves. Here are five steps to help build a team that can achieve that goal:

Mix personalities and skills

Do not assign five identical people to the same team. The more you can mix it up the better. Try to create diversity in age, experience, background, and education to have a well-rounded team. Each worker will be able to provide a new perspective and set of skills that the rest of the team may not possess.

Give them a clear goal

It is a group of people; which means if they do not have a clear goal, they will pontificate ad nauseum. Assign a task, give them some set parameters, and make sure that they have a clear understanding of what the end goal is.

Let them figure out how to get there

This is known as the stormin’ part of the process. There may be some arguments and this step can take longer than some of the others, but the team will come out on the other side of the discussion with a creative way to achieve the goal that utilizes their individual strengths.

Time block their work

Make it a realistic period, but a little challenging. This is another part of the Agile technique: break into short components to allow short bursts of energy that will lead to more progress than one long stretch of time. The idea is to have the team break the work down into sections, so their energy can be focused on one part at a time. This will mean every step of the process is given equal attention and that the team can reevaluate what they need to do each step of the way.

Keep the team together through multiple projects

Barring a strong personality conflict, with every project they work on together, they will continue to improve as a team. They will become in tune with how their coworkers go about their task and will set up stronger lines of communication.

With these few steps, a company can take a group of employees and turn them into a strong and united work team that can produce great work.