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Sports teams nearly always have a team name, whether it’s British Lions (rugby union team), the Mumbai Champs (cricket team), the Tianjin Lions (baseball team) or the Mamelodi Sundowns (soccer team). Teams have names because it gives them a sense of being a team and it makes the members feel as if they ‘belong’!

Even if the people on your team are scattered across several departments of the organization, they can work together happily if they have a sense of shared identity. You should create a team identity – a team name, a team logo, a team motto, a team vision and even a team ‘strip’ or uniform.

Get your team together and suggest the idea: they’ll probably like it. You can ask them to work in pairs or small groups to select an appropriate name, devise a logo, think up a motto and design a ‘uniform’. They can each present their suggestions to the rest of the team and you can have a vote for the most popular. Opposite are some guidelines you can give them.

• Team name. Keep it short and simple, for example The ‘Hey!’ Team rather than the Global Internal Corporate Communications Team. Go for something descriptive of the team’s role or style, such as The Paper Tigers for an archive team. Try to find something different or even unique. Whereas lots of organizations have a Quality Team, why not call it The DriFTers, standing for Do it Right First Time? Alliterative or punning names are usually successful – the Rajasthan Royals or Coach and Courses for your training team. Also make sure the name is easy to pronounce and spell in the language your team uses – a good example of a ‘team’ that adopted an easier name identity is the British Royal Family, who changed their surname from Saxe-Coburg-Gotha to Windsor in 1917.

• Team logo. Keep the logo simple so that it stays recognizable when reduced in size on memos or polo shirts. Ideally, create one in black and white or primary colours so it can easily be photocopied and replicated if you want to have it embroidered, painted or printed. Look at famous logos like UPS, Chanel, Citroën, Nike, Puma, BMW or the BBC for inspiration – all use simple, strong shapes and colours.

• Team motto. Keep it short and informative of the team ethos. Think about famous slogans such as Avis’s “We try Harder”.

• Team ‘uniform’. You can create a team ‘uniform’ with clothing and accessories, such as hats, polo shirts, badges, buttons, umbrellas, document bags, and so on. Items such as these are all relatively cheap, unisex and often more popular and fun than a top-to-toe uniform.

Get your people involved in creating a team identity.