There are a number of myths about setting up teams, writes Tom Begley

Would you want the person who wheels you into the operating theatre for surgery to then grab a needle and inject drugs to anaesthetise you, set up the intravenous line, pick up a scalpel, start cutting, and then when finished empty the trash and turn out the lights on the way out? Probably not. You might prefer that the surgeon concentrate on surgery. Teamwork makes that possible.

We know more about teams now than in previous decades. And we need to know. With the complexity of modern products and services, the knowledge required for innovation usually requires experts in a multitude of areas to work together.

Despite the positive press that teamwork gets, all of us have experienced teams that just did not work. Ineffective teams seem more the norm than the exception.

Building teams that work well becomes more complicated when we want them to innovate.

Several myths have developed about teams. You might want to take them into account the next time your boss asks you to put together a team. Let's start with the easiest one.

Myth 1: Starting a team requires nothing but common sense. Forming a team looks easy, so we often approach it casually, without much preparation. That is mistake number one. The first lesson in building an innovative team is to pay careful attention to the environment we want to create.

A team's first meeting is highly important. It signals how the team is going to work - not just what is discussed but also how it is discussed: Is there an agenda? Is it followed? Does the meeting start and end on time? Who talks? Does the leader or someone else dominate?

If the project is important, that first meeting should last days.

Myth 2: Diversity leads to better teamwork. We have heard so much about the value of diversity that we surely would want to include both genders and multiple nationalities on our team.

Unfortunately, diverse teams are sometimes less effective. Diverse groups take longer to start functioning well because people have to adapt to differences in style. In assignments that have clear parameters and well-defined tasks, homogeneous teams work better.

Fortunately, diverse teams work best in the exact conditions that innovative teams often face. When the task is unclear, boundaries are fuzzy and the solution needs creativity, diverse groups begin to shine.

Myth 3: Teamwork increases creativity. Since teams working together can brainstorm ideas, we would think teams should be used for creative work. Actually, if we are looking for creativity, we might not want to use a team at all.

People working individually are more creative than a group working together - at least as far as generating ideas is concerned.

Group pressure and fear of looking foolish inhibit team members from expressing the full range of their creative thinking.

Myth 4: Popular personality tests would help with team formation. Wouldn't it be great to have people with personalities and styles that mesh well together? Even better, how about using a test that identifies employees who are most innovative in their thinking?

You might believe such a result could be achieved by using tests like the ever-popular Myers Briggs Type Indicator or a questionnaire about team player styles. It won't.

Tests like these are great for getting to know team members better, but they should never be used for selection purposes as they lack precision.

Myth 5: We should encourage conflict when it deals with ideas but not relationships. Half right. Almost inevitably, conflict will arise in teams. Being innovative almost forces it because people are encouraged to challenge ideas and develop new approaches.

Productive conflict is based on disagreements about how to do the task itself, unproductive conflict about the relationships involved.

Apparently, even task-related conflict has more negative than positive effects. The best we can do is accept some disagreement but not let it escalate into more prolonged and intensive exchanges.

Myth 6: Entrepreneurs are the last bastions of rugged individualism. Maybe you are someone who only pretends to be a team player. You wish the team building facilitators would take all their games and toys and go home.

So is there any hope? Well, there are entrepreneurs who single-handedly take on the universe, but even the heroic lone entrepreneur is becoming archaic - most start-ups now are created by partners.

As a final thought, effective team leadership does not always lead to innovation, but it improves the odds considerably.

Innovating in organisations is more like navigating rapids than sailing calm seas, but a team paddling together offers more hope of reaching the desired destination.

Prof Tom Begley is the dean of UCD School of Business. He holds the Governor Hugh L Carey Chair in Organisational Behaviour at UCD and has consulted with Fortune 500 companies, governments and non-profit organizations in several countries on issues including team development