A Venture Team is a group of two or more youth between the ages of 12 and 20 who share a common goal of making change in their community.

Having an effective team enables each member to use his/her skills and talents, share roles and responsibilities, communicate with each other, and get the job done well. Below are some suggestions to help you decide how to run your Venture Team efficiently.

Choose responsible, dedicated people:

When choosing team members, it is important to find others who are as dedicated to the cause as you are. They should be mature, organized, and willing to do work. It is very important that everyone on the team be open-minded and accepting of others both within the group and in the community.

Structure your team and delegate tasks:

There are many different ways to structure your team. Many teams have found it easiest to elect one or two persons to take charge as the lead members. Other teams prefer to rotate roles each week. Different teams work well with different structures. Try several ideas out until you find the system that works best for your team.

Communicate with your team:

Holding weekly or monthly meetings will keep the lines of communication open. Making sure that everyone on the team feels comfortable voicing his/her opinions and concerns will result in a team with members who feel that their views count. This is important to the morale of a team and can help contribute to respect among members.

How to bring new people into a team:

If team members don’t know each other very well, it may be helpful to have nametags for the first few meetings until everyone learns each other’s names. You can also use icebreaker exercises to help your team get to know each other. These activities encourage team members to build trust.