Teamwork: Tips for improving collaboration
by Gabriella Martin
Table of Contents
Why teamwork is important in any organisation
Teamwork is important because it enables your team to share ideas and responsibilities, which helps reduce stress on everyone, allowing them to be meticulous and thorough when completing tasks. This will enable them to meet sales goals quickly.
- Teamwork is important in an organization because it provides employees with an opportunity to bond with one another
- A teamwork environment promotes an atmosphere that fosters friendship and loyalty.
- Working as a team makes every employee accountable, especially if they are working with experienced, respected employees who have a reputation for hard work and accountability.
- Ideation/brainstorming
- Better managed tasks & improved efficiency
- Higher project quality
- Company morale
- Team Cohesion
- Shared learning opportunities
- Instilling purpose and sense of accomplishment in employees
- Cultivation of innovation
- Less need for managerial input
- Closer relationships/ connection building
Integral Values
- Mutual trust and respect,
Mutual respect in the workplace lets all employees know that they are valued for their achievements, abilities, and qualities. Being valued and treated respectfully helps to promote a positive work culture in which employees are fulfilled, loyal, engaged, and motivated to perform at their very best.
- Effective delegation while communicating clearly,
Save time, accomplish more and grow your business through delegation. … Successful delegation allows you to hand over tasks to others whose skills are better aligned to accomplish that specific task. Passing off tasks allows you the time to reflect, develop strategies and prepare for what is ahead.
- The liberty to share ideas and embrace innovations.
Creativity inspires employees to work with each other. As they have new ideas, they seek out colleagues for their feedback. By design, the creative process encourages collaboration, and this is the most important benefit of offering a workplace where creative thinking can occur.
How to improve teamwork in your organisation
- Make teamwork a priority and reward teamwork.
- Clarify roles, responsibilities and accountabilities.
- Set clear goals.
- Communicate with each other.
- Make decisions together.
- Build trust and get to know each other better.
- Celebrate differences/diversity.
Inclusivity in the workplace is an important topic. Your company culture must be open-minded and hire multiple people with different backgrounds to succeed. Diversity and inclusion in the workplace brings multiple viewpoints into the room for increased creativity, new thinking, and improved performance.
Why team building is an important aspect for collaborative company culture building; it becomes especially clear through the phase model according to Bruce Tuckman. This provides for the following 5 phases:
Forming – Orientation: In this phase, the team gets to know each other for the first time, with the goal of creating a sense of belonging.
- Storming – The confrontation: In the distribution of roles, conflicts and power struggles inevitably arise. The group leader has the task to contribute to conflict resolution.
- Norming – Cooperation: The team grows together: There is a clear distribution of roles, insight and agreements. A “we” feeling develops.
- Performing – The growth: The team should experience that one achieves more in the group than alone. The focus is on shaping the team.
- Adjourning – The dissolution: The goal of the team has been reached. It is now dissolved or divided into new teams.
Why some teams prevail over others
The main reason teams fail is due to a lack of trust, and trust can be broken down into two components: character and competence. If you want to build trust in the workplace and within your team you need to interact together as much as possible. Schedule work breaks at the same time.
Teams fail when members engage in dysfunctional or unproductive behavior. You may have worked with someone who demonstrates dysfunctional behavior: social loafing, micromanaging, pulling others into unproductive “rabbit holes,” lacking self-awareness, and criticizing other people’s ideas.
In general aspects that can affect a team’s strength in cohesion are distinct lack of purpose and goals missing in the structure of the team’s tasks. Without clear purpose and goals, the team will falter. Not knowing what to accomplish and why it is important is a major reason for lack of performance.
These common areas of difficulty in team improvement have to be identified, specific to your team dynamic when applying tips for increased teamwork.
Tips to be a team player
Why it is important to be a team player:
To have a meaningful and lifelong career, you need to work well with others which is why teamwork is so important in the professional world. It brings new ideas. Businesses thrive when they have a diverse team of people who can contribute individual ideas. Teamwork helps solve problems.
- You understand your role.
- You welcome collaboration.
- You hold yourself accountable.
- You are flexible.
- You have a positive attitude.
- You commit to the team.
An employer’s responsibility in team development
- Prioritize and vocalize employee mental health.
- Foster a workplace culture of open communication, frequent check-ins and anonymous feedback.
- Talk with each employee to reestablish their needs and expectations.
- Offer positive feedback and employee recognition.
It is therefore vital that an employer recognises employee needs because contented/ generally happy employees are more productive. Being recognized gives your staff a feeling of mastery in their work and that they are a great fit for their role and for the company. Acknowledgment can also improve productivity, enhance loyalty, and promote collaboration.
How to increase company culture with teamwork
Struggling for ideas? Try these simple, fun, and quick activities to keep your employees enthusiastic and working well together.
- Do 10 minutes of group calisthenics.
- Organize a team crossword puzzle race.
- Hold a one-minute typing contest.
- Play video games throughout the day.
- Divide into teams and play a quick round of Pictionary.
For more ideas on fun ways to bond employees/ strengthen and grow teams, have a look at Wrike’s team bonding Ultimate Guide.
What does a company’s culture say about them?
Company culture can more simply be described as the shared ethos of an organization. It’s the way people feel about the work they do, the values they believe in, where they see the company going and what they’re doing to get it there. A company’s culture influences results from top to bottom.
The culture at your organization sets expectations for how people behave and work together, and how well they function as a team. In this way, culture can break down the boundaries between siloed teams, guide decision-making, and improve workflow overall.
Some examples of great company culture through teamwork can look like
Dell: keeping teams connected with virtual-collaboration programs
Many businesses, international or otherwise, are moving toward a more virtual workspace. As a leading computer-technology company, Dell took a giant step toward the future of teamwork with their Connected Workplace program. This system gives their team members the ability to work when and where they want—while still keeping as connected as if they were in the same office.
Many business owners worry about letting their people work off-site, concerned that team bonds can’t be formed without face-to-face interaction. But if you implement a system that cultivates a thriving online work culture, your people can still feel a strong sense of comradery and connection—whether five feet away or five million.
Adobe: cultivating team creativity through autonomy
Adobe is all about creativity—and they know micromanaging is the death of it. Rather than monitor their people’s every move, Adobe managers instead use their leadership skills to mentor their teams. This creates a strong sense of individual autonomy—which gives team members the freedom to work in more innovative, creative ways.
Giving your people freedom can go a long way to improving your team’s overall performance. Research has shown that employees who have been given autonomy perform up to three times more efficiently in a creative workspace than those who don’t. You can give your people more autonomy by providing the resources they need to do their work and the freedom to do it their own way.
Cohesive teamwork/collaboration can help to achieve this.
If you found this resourceful, you may enjoy the insights provided at Allegra Blog where you can contact a consultant for your strategic business growth software tips. Reach out if you found our tips on collaboration helpful to your team as an employer or employee. We love to hear your feedback.