TEAMWORK

The importance of teamwork is paramount in today’s multidisciplinary world. In the past, during the industrial era when most jobs were represented by people on a manufacturing line doing one thing all day - teamwork was not as important as it is today.

In today’s knowledge economy, most of our jobs involve interacting with others that are not even in the same line of profession. The need for effective teamwork is critical for any business. 

The ability to simultaneously perform as an individual and together with your colleagues or employees in effective teamwork is key to attaining growth and success.

In every aspect of a business, the diverse skills of teams are needed for reaching success. Make use of every opportunity you have to engage in teamwork so you develop effective communication skills

REASONS FOR HAVING TEAMWORK

Teamwork motivates unity in the workplace

A teamwork environment promotes an atmosphere that fosters friendship and loyalty. These close-knit relationships motivate employees in parallel and align them to work harder, cooperate and be supportive of one another.

Individuals possess diverse talents, weaknesses, communication skills, strengths, and habits. Therefore, when a teamwork environment is not encouraged this can pose many challenges towards achieving the overall goals and objectives. This creates an environment where employees become focused on promoting their own achievements and competing against their fellow colleagues. Ultimately, this can lead to an unhealthy and inefficient working environment.

When teamwork is working the whole team would be motivated and working toward the same goal in harmony.

Teamwork offers differing perspectives and feedback

Good teamwork structures provide your organization with a diversity of thought, creativity, perspectives, opportunities, and problem-solving approaches. A proper team environment allows individuals to brainstorm collectively, which in turn increases their success to problem solve and arrive at solutions more efficiently and effectively.

Effective teams also allow the initiative to innovate, in turn creating a competitive edge to accomplish goals and objectives. Sharing differing opinions and experiences strengthens accountability and can help make effective decisions faster, than when done alone.

Team effort increases output by having quick feedback and multiple sets of skills come into play to support your work. You can do the stages of designing, planning, and implementation much more efficiently when a team is functioning well.

Teamwork provides improved efficiency and productivity

When incorporating teamwork strategies, you become more efficient and productive. This is because it allows the workload to be shared, reducing the pressure on individuals, and ensure tasks are completed within a set time frame. It also allows goals to be more attainable, enhances the optimization of performance, improves job satisfaction and increases work pace.

Ultimately, when a group of individuals works together, compared to one person working alone, they promote a more efficient work output and are able to complete tasks faster due to many minds intertwined on the same goals and objectives of the business.

Teamwork provides great learning opportunities

Working in a team enables us to learn from one another’s mistakes. You are able to avoid future errors, gain insight from differing perspectives, and learn new concepts from more experienced colleagues.

In addition, individuals can expand their skill sets, discover fresh ideas from newer colleagues and therefore ascertain more effective approaches and solutions towards the tasks at hand. This active engagement generates the future articulation, encouragement and innovative capacity to problem solve and generate ideas more effectively and efficiently.

Teamwork promotes workplace synergy

Mutual support shared goals, cooperation and encouragement provide workplace synergy. With this, team members are able to feel a greater sense of accomplishment, are collectively responsible for outcomes achieved and feed individuals with the incentive to perform at higher levels.

When team members are aware of their own responsibilities and roles, as well as the significance of their output being relied upon by the rest of their team, team members will be driven to share the same vision, values, and goals. The result creates a workplace environment based on fellowship, trust, support, respect, and cooperation.

THE ENVIRONMENT FOR A SUCCESSFUL TEAMWORK

The team is clear about its mission and goals

The team understands the goals and is committed to attaining them. This clear direction and agreement on the mission and purpose are essential for effective teamwork. Team members must have an overall mission that is agreed upon and that provides the umbrella for all that the team tries to do.

The team environment encourages reasonable risks

The team creates an environment in which people are comfortable taking reasonable risks in communicating, advocating positions, and taking action. Team members trust each other. Team members are not punished for disagreeing; disagreement is expected and appreciated.

Respectful communication is the norm

Communication is open, honest and respectful. People feel free to express their thoughts, opinions, and potential solutions to problems. People feel as if they are heard out and listened to by team members who are attempting to understand. Team members ask questions for clarity and spend their thought time listening deeply rather than forming rebuttals while their co-worker is speaking.

They do this by formulating questions that will lead them to more deeply understand their teammate's point of view.

Strong sense of group commitment

Team members have a strong sense of belonging to the group. They experience a deep commitment to the group’s decisions and actions. This sense of belonging is enhanced and reinforced when the team spends the time to develop team norms or relationship guidelines together.

Team members are viewed as unique people

Team members are viewed as unique people with irreplaceable experiences, points of view, knowledge, and opinions to contribute. After all, the purpose of forming a team is to take advantage of the differences. 

Otherwise, why would any organization approach the projects, products, or goals with a team? In fact, the more a team can bring out divergent points of view that are thoughtfully presented and supported with facts as well as opinions, the better.

Creativity and innovation are the norms

Creativity, innovation, and different viewpoints are expected and encouraged. Comments such as, "We already tried that and it didn't work" and "What a dumb idea" are not allowed or supported. The team members recognize that the strength in having a team is that every member brings diverseness to the effort to solve a problem, improve a process, reach a goal, or create something new and exciting.

Engages in continuous improvement

The team is able to constantly examine itself and continuously improve its processes, practices, and the interaction of team members. The team openly discusses team norms and what may be hindering its ability to move forward and progress in areas of effort, talent, and strategy.

The team holds review meetings that assess the team's process and progress in approaching and accomplishing the team mission. The team has a clear understanding of the various stages of team development and the members know what is required to move the team successfully through the stages.

Solves teamwork problems and conflicts

The team has agreed-upon procedures for diagnosing, analyzing, and resolving teamwork problems and conflicts. The team does not support member personality conflicts and clashes nor do team members pick sides in a disagreement. Rather, members work towards the mutual resolution of problems and disagreements.

Practice participative leadership

Participative leadership is practiced in leading meetings, assigning tasks, recording decisions and commitments, assessing progress, holding team members accountable, and providing direction for the team. This means that every participant on the team must actively contribute to leading the team to successful outcomes and contributions.

Makes high-quality decisions as a team

Members of the team make high-quality decisions together and have the support and commitment of the group to carry out the decisions made. They also gain the support and commitment of the people they report to in order to accomplish and communicate the team's progress and success.

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