Your company’s productivity has a lot to do with how well your team collaborates and works together. Easier said than done; team work is never an easy virtue. Getting different team members to understand, accept, and support each other requires quite a lot of effort. No wonder organizations have been investing hugely in team-building activities to motivate employees and help them understand each other better.
Good teams will have members working together and investing equally towards the project’s overall purpose and goal. Teamwork also leads to greater job satisfaction as each team member will start performing better than before.
Is efficient teamwork plausible in a distributed workspace? Or, what exactly is efficient teamwork? Get to know all the information you need right here in this article!
Key Takeaway: Learn how technological advancements like an employee productivity tracking software, for instance, can help improve your team’s overall productivity!
What Is Meant By ” Working Together” As A Team?
Working together refers to a group of people sharing their workload to achieve a common goal. But, delivering results or achieving a goal is not the sole determinant of a team’s efficiency. Biases or discomforts can boil up if the team members do not share a cordial relation. Hence, even if they deliver results, they may not be the perfect example of an efficient team.
A team that works together to reach their goals on time and maintains a cordial relationship can be termed an efficient team. But, it is never easy to attain a healthy professional relationship between people of different characters.
Four traits of a team that works together efficiently:
- Good communication- A team who communicates better builds a great team together. The team should be able to communicate ideas clearly and solve any misunderstandings quickly before it grows to be a bigger issue.
- Great inter-personal relations: While there cannot exist a perfectly well-coordinated or criticism-free team environment, there do exist teams that dwell on mutual respect and trust.
- Honest appreciation: Acknowledging each other’s ideas and working together to perfect those ideas is the trait of a good team.
- Scope for growth: A team that allows members to grow individually grows as a whole. Each member gets an equal opportunity to develop their skills and work together efficiently.
- Trust and support: Good teams support and help each other. They would also be happy to work together as a team.
- Being productive is not the only reason organizations encourage teamwork. A good working environment offers several other benefits as well. Here are the top five benefits of working together as a team:
Why do organizations need teams that work together?
An efficient workforce is the foundation of a great organization. Workforce traits can build or destroy an organization’s image. Hence, companies need to assure themselves that they are nurturing an efficient workforce.
To build a great team, individuals must-have qualities that help them bond together and work towards a common goal. However, not all employees have these intrinsic traits. In most cases, team members develop these traits by being part of a team that motivates one another to become better and efficient. Here are a few benefits of working together as a team:
- Good teams boost the confidence of individuals. It is often noted that people who work together are more productive when they are with people who share the same interests. Larger the team, the more the ideas! This influx of ideas is essential to nurture better perspectives among the team members. Together they can develop the best solutions for every task.
- A great team helps boost the emotional well-being of team members. Teams usually comprise of diverse individuals who complement each other emotionally. This balance in the state of mind builds a team that communicates comfortably and confidently. Remember, good communication is the foundation of a great team.
- Shared expertise raises the knowledge quotient. Working together is all about sharing expertise. Team members learn more by being part of a team.
- Healthy competition between the team members is a quality that makes working together fun. Team members tend to hone their expertise by motivating themselves to do better than the other team members. Such healthy but productive competitions help to bring out the creativity within individuals.
- The team’s accomplishment is each team member’s victory as well. The sense of achievement made possible by teamwork often makes the entire team motivated and happy. Achievements boost self-confidence, and this is reflected in every other aspect of life.
However, with work culture becoming more remote and distributed, concerns about efficient teamwork do pose trouble for companies. How to achieve a great bond and a great result from a remote team? How do technologies like employee tracking software contribute to making working together efficient? Read on to know the seven effective steps to build a strong and productive team.
Seven Ways To Build An Efficient Team
Encourage Communication
The foremost trait of a good team is the presence of members who communicate efficiently- be it their approvals or disapproval. An open, clear, and honest conversation can avoid building up resentment in a team.
For a team that works remotely, it becomes even more essential to communicate and collaborate efficiently. Organizations should effectively introduce communication apps that motivate teams to communicate efficiently. Team members should be encouraged to ask questions and share their concerns frequently to build a more dynamic and strong relationship.
Bring Different Skills Together
Teams that function well will always have members who are individualistic with unique traits. When people with different characters, skills, and personalities team up together, they tend to deliver better results. Hence, it is crucial to understand each team member’s potential and define their role in contributing to the team’s success. Utilizing technologies like employment productivity tracker software can give an idea of the contributions each team member makes while working together as a team. This knowledge is important to help managers to assign tasks accordingly.
Encourage diversity and gender-neutrality
A diverse and gender-neutral team is considered as the winning recipe to every team’s success. The participation of diverse individuals can bring in more laurels to the team. Disparity based on gender or community must not be allowed at any cost inside a team. Ensure that your team is built on the principle of equality where biases are a strict no.
Incorporate team-building activities
Team building activities must be encouraged to build more trust among members. These activities build trust and instill a sense of team spirit. This is essential to help the team grow together as a whole. A team that lacks trust produces fewer results. Hence, it is important to build this trait among individuals to garner greater benefits.
Define roles to avoid confusion
While it is great to build a team with individuals entrusted with equal responsibility, this practice can also cause great confusion. If the team members are left with no defined roles, problems can arise. Assigning responsibilities can improve team rapport and also encourage better productivity.
Discourage judgments and negativity
Teams must be encouraged to share creative input from time to time. Not all creative ideas presented before the teams might be accepted. But, still, members should be strictly prohibited from discouraging or showering negative feedback to team members who express their ideas. Judgments and negative comments might break the confidence of individuals. But, constructive criticisms about the quality of work can help produce better results. For remote employees, communication apps can encourage better communication. Also, team-building activities can help boost the employee’s confidence.
Communicate your goals and expectations
Know what you want from your team and how you want each team member to work to achieve these targeted goals. Communicating your visions can help in making the team members responsible for their actions. Also, encouraging discipline among team members will help to attain the goals faster. Managers can use employee monitoring software to get an idea about how effectively each team member contributes to the team.
There is nothing like a perfect team. A good team will be formed only when the members understand each other and work towards a common goal. Team-building is not just a single individual’s responsibility. Leaders should instead work along with their team, understand their members’ skills, and incorporate each skill to produce the desired output.
Also read about: Why does your sales team need a virtual phone number?
