Together Everyone Achieves More |29 September 2010

It does not mean everybody doing the same thing or everybody being able to do each other’s jobs, rather it means different people coming together with different sets of skills to form a team, where they are expected to work together and complement each other’s skills to reach certain goals.
 
Today, employees in every organisation are expected to work in groups to complete various projects. Working in a team is easier said than done given the diversity of members that make up the team but when properly managed, teamwork maximises strengths and can bring out the best in each team member.

• You will most likely learn things at a faster rate by grasping new concepts and learning from more experienced members of your team.
• Work will also be done at a faster rate and, as such, working in a team improves employee performance and makes the work enjoyable for everyone.

• You are more likely to avoid mistakes.

• The workload is distributed among all team members, and each member can focus on a single activity to avoid being stressed out.
 
• Continuous interaction helps in building a bond of friendship and unity between team members.

Many factors contribute to the smooth and efficient working of a team. If a team is not showing the desired results, one has to find ways that will help improve teamwork.

A team is led by the team leader, whose duty is to encourage and lead them to do quality work and achieve the target set.
For a leader to succeed, he or she has to understand that, by nature, human beings have different personalities and attitudes, and while working in a team these opinions could clash and create conflict within the team itself. It is the responsibility of the team leader to resolve or at least minimise such conflicts.
 
To avoid such conflicts, care is needed when managing and coordinating the team. When a team is put together, all members have to be briefed on their objectives and when to deliver them. Members need to be responsible enough to come together and plan out a way that will lead them to their target successfully.

Once members get to know each other, it is very common for people to have issues with others in the team.

 Nevertheless, members should understand that they are professionals and that to move forward and get collective success they need to bury their personal hatchets and go past this initial conflict stage. It will only be after this stage that members start understanding their function which stimulates group bonding, a sense of togetherness and the right level of team spirit. A motivated team will only get positive results.

An essential factor that contributes to the success of the team is communication. Although it is the team leader who makes the final decisions, a good team leader will listen to other members, continuously encourage members to take part in discussions and come out with their opinions so the team are able to find a way to reach their goal.

Regular meetings and sharing of information are necessary to review the development of the project and to record the contribution of each member. This will help in boosting the morale of members and make them understand their progress at work.

Using teams in the workplace enables you to do so much more. It is important because it effectively achieves something that would never have been possible for just one person to do.
 
No task is too small when you have a team that is willing to go the distance to move mountains and achieve nothing less than success. A good team makes all the difference to any organisation. Together everyone achieves more as performance flows and results are achieved.