Teamwork

How often as a team leader or an employee do you hear about the importance of team work? Does effective teamwork exist? How can it be achieved? And who is responsible for it to happen?

Building an effective team work is the ambition of every manager/team leader and the wish of organisations. Good teamwork makes all the difference in regards to the outcome of  an outstanding work quality, helping to build a respectable reputation for any organisation or a business.

A manager or a team leader always ends up with taking the responsibility of the performance of his team. Obtaining a Management degree or a course only gives the manager the basic information of how he can manage a business or a project and not how to drive it forward! There are certain and extremely important aspects a team leader needs to possess before he can barge into trying to create “The team”. However, we can discuss the qualities of a good team leader in detail in another post.

Any team in any organisation is working towards achieving something that will eventually contribute to the overall vision of the company!!!


A team leader needs to create an inspiring vision for his/her employees in regards to the task they are performing. Probably everyone in the team knows the individual task they are performing and their dead line etc. However and needless to say that does not necessary help teamwork! Your employees need to be engaged in what is happening and the big aim their work is aiming to reach. Furthermore every employee in every company in world should share his organisation vision and mission, become passionate about them and able to express it and explain it in their own words and not simply be told about it. Basically, and what I’m trying to say is a team leader needs to create a sense of belonging to his team members within their actuall team and in the organisation as a whole.

If I would ask what is a Team? The answer will be simple and straight forward which will explain more what I said about creating a sense of belonging.
A team contributes to the overall success of their company. Working with fellow workers to produce a result.


Effective Measures for building Teamwork:

 Everyone in the team should understand and is committed to attaining the team goals.
 Open communication and discussions.
 A sense of freedom to express your thoughts openly and that the team member’s ideas are heard, listened to and respected.
 Team member are viewed as unique in the contributions they bring to the team.
 Creativity, innovation should be encouraged and expected.
 The team leader needs to create an uplifting and positive atmosphere around his team saying with his mannerism and tone of voice without actually sounding the words “I believe in you, and you can do it”!

Having reached this stage of the post I would like to say that writing down great tools and tips for a team manager to use to create his perfect team is harder than that.

 A team leader might be doing everything right and putting everything he has out there for his team and yet not getting the results he wants. The reason for that is that PEPOLE are complicated. We have different ideas, ambitions, expectations etc. than each other.

To achieve Effective teamwork, a team leader needs Active team members.

What are the qualities of an Active team Member?

 Demonstrate reliability- To be able to count on him/her, achieving their share of the work and works hard and perform well.
 Communication- To demonstrate his/her ability in expressing his thoughts freely, honestly and with respect to the others. Makes his point in a positive and confident way.
 Listens- Good listener’s team members are important for a team to function effectively.
 Active participant- Always prepared for a meeting. Listens to other members of the team and speak up in appositive way. They are team players who contribute effectively to the achievement of the main goal of the team. Have a “What can I do to help!” attitude.
 Help- Pitch in to help other team members achieve dead line, are able to put their differences with others on the side to accomplish a job.
 Flexibility- Teams are often faced with challenges along the way that would require a change of plan or style. Flexibility is extremely crucial skill team members should have.

Active team members are there and present for their team without needing a push from someone. They are committed and available to sort things out. Ready for unexpected obstacles and are able to see the big picture beyond their own single task.

In the end team work is a working process that needs time to develop and be achieved. But persistence and openness to learn from previous mistakes is a good strategy to follow, and in the end the reward will be “Effective Team Work” that actually works!