Fostering Teamwork
Whether a small project or a big one, teamwork can do wonders. These days, many companies select only those comfortable working in a team. With the right team of members with good skills, efficient knowledge, and experience, the project can be finished within the deadline without compromising the quality. However, managing a healthy team is not so easy. There are a lot of strategies, activities, and appreciation that need to be done with every employee to make him feel why he is needed.
Without effective teamwork, the foundation of business can never be successful. A single mistake in choosing the wrong employee in the team can ruin the entire project. Hence, it is extremely important to manage the teamwork on every individual’s strengths and weaknesses, thus providing a productive success.
12 Tips for Fostering Teamwork
1. Make a Team of Individuals with the Right Roles
If a person is an effective website designer, hiring him for the post of a content writer is a waste. Hiring a software engineer for the manager post makes no sense if a person is a software engineer. The skill gap can make a big difference and result in a big loss. Hence, choose the ideal per your business needs and depending upon the skills he or she has. Understand the purpose of choosing these individuals and assign the task accordingly. However, you must also train the individuals to enhance their skills and inculcate them in new projects.
There is no harm for the web designer to understand the role of content writing. Although website designing would be his primary role, if he brushes up his writing skill, he can do some part of it and progress. This will not create boredom; individuals will also get a better platform to learn new things.
2. You must know every member of the team
Being a manager can certainly be the most difficult task. However, you must treat everyone working for your team as special and important. It is necessary to create a new attribute with the employees. This creates a clean yet clever bond, and the team stays together. Building a healthy relationship with the individual in the team gives mutual honor. This strengthens the bonding and builds trust, which is extremely important in a team. As you start understanding the organization’s members’ presence, you will realize your position will eventually get stronger.
To understand your team members, you can once organize a lunch or some team building activities by which the members can speak about themselves and get to know you. With fun tasks and activities that include more communication, you can create a bridge between you and the team and thus know them better.
3. Playing with the Strengths is Not a Crime
Every member you hire must have skills that you can utilize some or the other day. Well, you need to be sure when and which skill of the member you must put for a particular role that can help you get the desired results. No role is big or small. As a manager, you must think about every organization member’s abilities which can be put together, and make an effective approach to give the best output. For this, you must place every individual in the right place as per the role for which you hire the individual. Your focus must be to create a simple team that should not get crushed down. If you are sure and think that the roles for which you have chosen every individual respectively are right, then do not think twice.
4. Set some Rules for teamwork
For every team to do teamwork correctly, you must set rules and regulations. These rules should ensure quality results and work within a deadline. The individual that works in your team must know who is the other person to him. They might report the problem or issues that can come up. It must be followed in the right way. Escalation should be in a systematic manner. You must not delegate any individual to make a final call on the problem. Thus, there should be a proper discussion.
5. Brainstorming sessions always work
When choosing the right set of individuals who can be a perfect team for every new project, you can set some brainstorming sessions. This allows the employees to understand how collective work can prove beneficial. Give a chance to every individual to speak and contribute one idea which may prove useful. Therefore, even creative ideas may sometimes be a lifesaver to make a professional task successful.
6. Your team deserves an Award
For excellent work, your team deserves some reward. It can be in the form of a certificate, a day off, or some monetary perks. This encourages every individual in the team to perform the task better. With a good reward, every team member understands the meaning of sharing in winning. This will let the team do the task more energetically and accomplish the project without compromising the quality. Thus, to foster a better sense of teamwork, you must consider it as one essential approach that can lead to success.
7. Outing is Refreshing
Sometimes too much work pressure can make the mind rigid. It is always better to keep the employees feeling refreshed. For this, exploring team offsite venues can be the best option. This gives you a chance to understand your employees in a better way and create a friendly relationship with them. You can also think of creative ways, like getting your team a t-shirt or a hat with the logo that defines your team’s networking. This improves productivity, and you can properly understand every team member’s strengths and weaknesses.
A good outing, a day trip, or lunch with your staff is one of the most common activities that many people follow. It is still practiced as a part of the work cycle as it contributes to refreshing the mind of every individual in a far better manner.
8. Busy Team; Get Shared Calendars
Cloud has come up with interesting software which allows the busy team to stay connected with each other. In a hectic schedule to juggle or a deadline to be achieved, some people may not attend the team meetings personally. This can lead to a negative impact. Indeed, every team member tries hard to handle the significant workload. However, with shared calendars, the team can plan the initiates correctly and thus manage their part of the work. It, therefore, allows every team member to understand what task should be done and when so that it can be submitted on time. Once your team is assigned, install a shared calendar on everyone’s PC. This can at least ease down the task load.
9. Transparent communication is Important
Whether it is a member whom you like the most who is not giving the desired results or whether the person who has been showing a drop-down for the past few days has suddenly surprised you with good output, you must be frank with every employee about their progress in the team as an individual contributor. Transparent communication lets everyone realize that all other members, including him, are sailing in the same boat. You can use emails or hold a meeting to send out such communication. Other than this, if any individual comes up with a question or issue, it should also be solved in front of other members involved in the team. Rather, their opinion should receive recognition and appreciation.
Open communication can always keep all things sorted in a team. Thus, the chances of politics and blame games reduce.
10. Be fair
A manager or a team leader should never play the game of favorites. Certain individuals working hard or developing nice ideas may be your favorite. But you need to give a chance to every member of the team. Do not let them feel that they don’t exist. You must greet every member of the organization equally. Assign the task to every member as per their capacity.
If you play a role of a fair manager, then only the team will look forward to working on the project with dedication and efficiency. Build a successful relationship with every individual and create trust in them. A foundation of trust can only lead to a strong team. Communicate more with the embers, assign different tasks, and appreciate their work.
11. Clarity Matters a lot
Every team member must have a good understanding of the goal and tasks of their department. He must be clear with his designated role and should eventually give the right results. Assign them certain goals and be clear with their duties and responsibilities associated with the project. You must let your team know what actions to take to complete the tasks. Thus, you must encourage your team to develop new techniques that can help them give a good team output.
Every resource of your project must ensure that every duty from his end is met professionally and on time. Do not misguide your team member or communicate in a way that can create any kind of confusion. If your member gets stuck, try to guide him or suggest how to achieve the target. Hence, from the beginning of the project, you should be clear about your expectation from the team working under you. The more you are clear with your expectation from the team members, the better your members can help them achieve it.
12. Always Encourage Collaboration
Only you can very well make your team members understand the real meaning of working as a team. Good teamwork can result in better productivity and can deliver results faster. However, it is obvious to come across certain chances when there is collaboration. Every member involved in the team must understand the real meaning of putting in the team effort. Thus, once the success is achieved, it can be shared equally among all the team members. You must make your point clear that every team member is responsible for the success and failure of the project, no matter how much they contribute to it.
Many companies and entrepreneurs look forward to an effective team to solve the issue. Other than this, an effective team also helps complete the scheduled tasks and generate ideas that may be fruitful. With the right direction and proper facilitation from the right team leader, making a productive team at a pocket-friendly value is possible. This not only ensures success but also builds a new image in the market altogether. The factors like smooth communication, better opportunities, delineation of the team process, and acceptance of an individual’s role should be considered.
Conclusion
Follow the above 12 tips for fostering teamwork for better results. This will encourage a good working relationship, and thus you can nurture your workplace environment. Once the staff understands how to work together without politics, you can easily accomplish your ultimate career goals. Besides, the new innovative ways offered by every individual involved in the team can give your business a new way to achieve a good profit.
