“TOGETHER WE ARE STRONGER” Teamwork is the selfless process of working together, using their individual skills and providing constructive feedback, despite any personal conflict between individuals in order to achieve a goal. Teamwork runs on the concept that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
Importance of teamwork in the workplace
75% of employers rank teamwork as “very important” in today’s business environment and 97% of corporate employees, corporate executives and educators judge a shortage of cooperation within a team by directly striking the result of a task or project. Teamwork is necessary for companies in order to prevail because the business world is changing day by day with new technologies and innovations so teams must have to work together to partake their experiences and cognizance and to find strategic and innovative solutions. Different skills and multiple viewpoints of each employee assist companies to find accurate tactics to match innovation in today’s fast paced world.
Tips to improve teamwork in the workplace
Nourishing teamwork in the workplace is a true fuss with so many unlike personalities. Following are the tips for fostering teamwork in the workplace.
- Know your team members – It is the responsibility of team leaders to become friends with every member of their team by regular one-on-one meetings, listening and sharing conversations. This will not only assist team leaders to catch the goals and build trust among team members but also understands each other’s skillsets, tendencies, personalities and working styles.
- Agree on a common mission – Team leaders must hold a meeting to clearly define the team’s overall mission, guide individual roles and encourage team members to provide constructive feedback and suggestions. Help each other and mediate between members and settle down you own disputes
- Promote Sharing – Whole team will realize more comfort if all the members of the team share or criticize their ideas, views, thoughts and feedback. It is the duty of the team leader to provide equal opportunities to all members and find out those who don’t speak out as much and ask their opinion on projects.
- Map goals and timelines – Every member of the team should have a clear vision to reach the milestone on a predefined timeline. Every member of the team should help each other to complete his/her task on the deadline.
- Build up communication – Miscommunication is the root of so many issues. So, it is the basic duty of every team member to communicate effectively and adequately with each other while asking questions and describing about the project. Make eye contact and listen to each other actively after knowing how to interact and speak with others.
- Build the team relationship outside the office – There is a pressure of the boss or team leader in the office to perform which hinders the employees to fully express themselves. Arrange little parties or casual get-togethers outside of the workplace so that team members raise their questions and tell their opinions. This will help to build up unity and increase morale. Be positive and help others to be positive too.
“TALENT WINS GAMES, BUT COLLABORATION WIN CHAMPIONSHIPS” Collaboration is a working practice whereby two or more people, entities or organizations work together to complete a task and to achieve common business benefit. Collaboration can be set up in two ways
- Synchronously – In this method every team member hustle collectively on a real-time basis. Collaboration and communication tools like instant messaging, online meetings or video conferencing are used to stay in touch throughout the workday.
- Asynchronously – In this method dealing between team members is time shifted to facilitate members of different shifts or who live in different time zones. Documents can be shared to the cloud and accessed by users at any time.
Importance of collaboration in the workplace
86% of employees trust that lack of collaboration may lead to workplace failure. Collaboration is important to increase productivity, solve an existing problem and deliver the required work on time. A Stanford study found that people working collaboratively stuck at their work for 64% longer than those working individually on the same task. Workplace collaboration can increase successful innovation by 15%. A problem that would take weeks to sort out might be resolved within a few hours because when all the members collaborate together they are fit to utilize the expertise, awareness and skill set of each team member.
Tips to improve collaboration in the workplace
Collaborative workplaces are increasingly favored among employees and pave the way to more effective interaction between colleagues and increased idea sharing. Following are the tips for fostering collaboration in the workplace.
- Address problems – Be open about the outcomes and fuss that organization is facing. This will assist to keep employees in the loop and enhance faith and productivity.
- Establish idea sharing culture – Overcome the fear of judgment and rejection from the employees to set up an innovational freedom culture where new small, strange, ambitious and dramatic ideas and discussions are regularly greeted.
- Encourage collaboration among departments – Increase collaboration not only between teams but also between distinct departments to fast the innovation process. The fusion of different objectives, people types and skill sets can lead to the most suitable idea generation.
- Lead from the top down – The team leader should adopt an open-door policy so that communication between the different rank officers of an organization is regular and fluent. If employees can see their managers and directors effectively collaborating then they will be inspired to copy this behavior.
- Share success and offer rewards – Expand your idea of success. Reward both individuals’ labor and team work to stimulate future collaborations. Offer constructive criticism when ideas are not fruitful. Promote group discussion to further increase collaborative efforts.
- Use the right technology – To do jobs faster and spend much time in teamwork and innovation adopt the right technology such as cloud based software to collaborate more and develop novel concepts at scale. Use software like Microsoft team, slack and discord.
