You do, without a doubt, appreciate the importance of teamwork and want to know how to build a better team at work.
Hence, the reason you’re searching for ways you can improve teamwork in your organization.
We can talk about many things that contribute to business success.
First, there’s the needed financial support for running your business.
You would also probably agree that getting customers to patronize the business is also very important.
However, something fundamental is arguably one of the most important aspects of running a successful business, and that’s hiring good employees and putting them in the right positions.
Now, it is not just enough to hire the right employees.
It is also important that you figure out a way to make them work collaboratively to get results.
That is where teamwork comes in.
Do you find that your team does not see the need for unity and collective efforts to achieve success?
Could it be that you have greatly talented individuals but can’t still figure out how to make them work together as a team?
Whatever the case, in this blog post, we will help you discover the secret of building a better team spirit at work.
It could even be that you already have a good team.
However, we will show you how to make it better.
Let us first see what teamwork really entails in a work environment and then consider why it is important to build a strong and better team.
Understanding the Concept of Teamwork
One beautiful thing about humans is the way we possess differing skills, talents, and abilities.
This diversity is a very welcomed trait in the work environment.
The goal of having employees is to get their contributions towards reaching the business goals and objectives.
To achieve this, you will have to bring in people with different skill sets, years of experience, knowledge, and qualifications.
Now, this is where teamwork comes in.
An employee’s area of strength might be the weakness of another and vice versa.
A team consists of different individuals, each having their unique talents and area of expertise.
When these individuals work together, they can align their different skills towards achieving a common goal.
It might be difficult to achieve these goals if one person is asked to take on the role of everyone in the organization.
No matter how skillful or intelligent an employee is, they need the help and support of others to be very effective.
Hence, if you do not have a strong team at work, you should prioritize right away and work on making it better.
Here are some reasons why.
Importance of Building a Better Team at Work
There’s a saying that “if you want to go fast, go alone, but if you want to go far, go with others.”
That point highlights one of the major benefits that come with building a better team at work.
Team building is important to business owners for the following reasons:
It Helps Improve the Trust and Respect Among Employees
One of the problems that various organizations face is to create a proper culture of mutual respect among employees.
It could be that you have some employees who are not very appreciative of others or even underrate and look down on them.
Could this be because these employees do not have the opportunity to relate closely with the other ones to see their strengths and abilities?
That is one thing building a better team at work can do for your organization.
When employees have the opportunity to work together, it can increase their respect for one another.
This comes naturally when they see what values their colleagues bring onboard and complement each other in terms of strengths and weaknesses.
Teamwork also creates a working environment where trust prevails, as everyone works together towards a common goal.
It Helps to Improve Interpersonal Relationship Between Employees
Having respect for one’s colleagues at work and having a good relationship with them are two different things.
In addition to the respect that teamwork builds among employees, it can also help them achieve a healthy working relationship.
All too many times, we hear reports of employees’ frictions, quarrels, and conflicts in the workplace.
This can affect the company’s culture and be a source of great worry to the organization’s management.
However, when you build a better team at work, employees see themselves as more than just colleagues but close associates.
This can help them improve the communication among themselves, which would eventually help them forge the best relationship.
It Improves Job Performance and Productivity
This is where the quote we referred to at the onset of this section comes in.
There is a better chance of achieving your goals when you have many people with different skills working towards that same goal.
What a single person can achieve in terms of productivity is not the same as what a group of talented individuals can achieve.
When you build a better team at work, you might find that your employees’ job efficiency increases.
They will start getting better results both in quantity and quality, which can help you get closer to your business goals and objectives.
It Helps Employees to Gain New Skills and Knowledge
This is the benefit that comes with having people with different skills and experiences work together on projects.
When your employees work solo, there’s a tendency to be limited in knowledge and skills to the ones they already have.
There is little chance of gaining new skills or relevant knowledge outside their area of expertise.
On the other hand, when you build a team at work, your employees can share ideas, knowledge, and experiences.
Those who have years of experience can assist the new ones in acquiring new skills and gain experience.
This wouldn’t have been possible without teamwork and collaboration.
It Helps Employees Get More Creative
Every employer or business owner rates creativity very highly, as it can help hasten business growth and help solve problems and challenges.
When you have an employee working on their own at all times, it can be tough to get creative and innovative.
They could be brilliant, smart, and have the talent, but there’s just enough they can do or come up with independently.
It could even be that there is just one little detail missing in their creative thinking process, which affects their creativity.
Overall, building a better team in the workplace can help you to solve this problem.
The Chance of Retaining Employees is Higher
Ask most employees why they love working in their organization, and they will mention their bosses and co-workers.
Yes, the people in the organization are important to employees and will influence whether or not they decide to stay, even more than the financial rewards or benefits.
The best employees long to work in organizations with healthy work culture, and unity exists between employees.
And that is what teamwork does for your organization, keeping the employees together and making them stay united.
This kind of environment allows employees to develop personally and thrive, and they would love to remain in a company that offers that.
It Helps you Attract the Best Talents
Another benefit of building teamwork in your business establishment is that it makes your brand reputable and where the best employees want to work.
The reason for this is the same reason your existing employees would love to remain with you.
This is because they enjoy working in an environment where the relationship between employees is healthy.
As a matter of fact, it is your satisfied employees who have experienced the lovely organization culture firsthand who will spread the good reports about your organization to others.
They will be your brand ambassadors, and your power to attract the best of the best employees will increase.
It Boosts Employees’ Morale
As part of an employee management system that emphasizes teamwork, there is usually something called peer-to-peer recognition.
Peer-to-peer recognition is a form of employee reward system whereby employees recognize their own colleagues and even recommend them for management rewards.
When an employee knows that what they are contributing in the workplace is appreciated, not just by the bosses but also by colleagues, it can increase motivation and boost morale.
However, employee recognition by peers is difficult when you only let your employees work as individuals and solo at all times.
On the other hand, good teamwork supports this better.
Characteristics of a Good Team at Work
The focus of this blog post is indeed on how to build a better team at work.
However, before we can talk about getting better, it is expected that there is already a good team in the workplace.
So, how do you know if your organization has a good team spirit among the employees?
Or in other words, if you have a team, how can you be sure it qualifies as a good team?
There are a lot of qualities that characterize a good team at work, but we will briefly consider the most important ones:
Team Members are Willing to Help Each Other
One of the hallmarks of the best teams in an organization is the willingness to go out of one’s way to assist others either as individuals or the team as a whole.
A good team doesn’t have egotistical individuals who are interested in themselves alone.
Contrary to that, it consists of people who volunteer their time and energy to assist their colleagues.
If you have this trait present in your team, you are on the right path.
Each Team Members Volunteer Their Contributions When Needed
Employees who make up a good team are not stingy with their opinions, ideas, and contributions.
When there is a team meeting or a meeting of all employees in the organization, each team member makes their contributions openly and freely.
This is because they understand that collaborative efforts require the input of everyone, and so they don’t keep silent when they need to speak up.
Everyone Takes Responsibility for Their Actions
A good team at work is not ridden with the unhealthy competition.
That means that the members of the team don’t go around pointing fingers or shifting blames.
Even when mistakes are made, the individual responsible owns up to his mistakes and is committed to doing what is necessary to correct them.
That is also another quality that characterizes good teams.
The Team has Common Goals and Objectives
Sharing the same goals and objectives is actually in itself what makes it a team.
If the goals are not the same, there is absolutely no way the individuals can work together.
Therefore, it is important that when you ask any team member what the goal or destination is, the answers they give are the same, as it shows they have the same direction.
Disagreements are not Grounds for Resentment
A good team has members who understand that there are bound to be disagreements sometimes.
When you put together people of different backgrounds, habits, and personalities, it is unrealistic to expect a smooth ride without friction.
However, what a good team does well is not to allow such disagreements to degenerate into long-term resentment or lack of communication in the workplace.
Instead, they handle disagreements most civilly and preserve the relationship between them.
If you have some of these qualities inherent in your team, you are heading the right way.
Nevertheless, you can make the team better by applying the steps and measures that follow.
How to Build a Better Team at Work
The points we will discuss now will help you if you are having problems building good teamwork among your employees at work.
If you also feel you already have good employees/teams at work, applying the recommendations given herein will assist you in making it better.
Perhaps you’ve been tasked with the responsibility of leading a team? Managing people to achieve a common goal isn’t as easy as it sounds.
However, these principles and practices can equally help you make a success of this role or assignment.
Here are some of the ways you can build a better team at work:
Get it Right While Hiring
Building teamwork in an organization often starts with the hiring stage.
This is where you get to select the individuals who will be employees and make up your team at work.
Many organizations that struggle with building better teamwork get it wrong from this stage.
Human personality traits differ.
While some already have qualities that make them well suited to be a team player, such as humility, flexibility, integrity e.t.c., others do not.
That is why you or your HR department need to focus on recruiting candidates with proven character traits that make a team function properly.
Make the Goals and Expectations Clear from the Start
Sometimes, teamwork becomes difficult to actualize because the goals are not clearly defined.
Imagine a team leader asking the team members to work on a project without stating what the result or expectations are.
What happens in such a situation is that each team member subconsciously sets their own goals and expectations.
And their input would be in proportion to their own expectations.
If you have 50 team members, for example, and each has this mindset that directs their performance and processes, you cannot effectively achieve team effort.
Therefore, to build a better team at work, you need to clearly state your goals, outline your expectations, and reiterate this.
Handle Employees as Individuals Belonging to the Same Team
It is good to remember that the individuals making up your team are unique in their own ways.
They have their unique talents and skills, and they also have their own personal stories, aspirations, dreams, and personal purpose.
While it is true that they all belong to a team, you should treat each of them as an individual.
Find out the source of motivation for each of them and work with that, knowing that no two persons are the same.
Also, they do not have the same degree of expectations from everyone but rather understand that their abilities and experience differ.
With that in mind, you can respect each of your team members as individuals who have a role to play in the team’s success.
Do Not Let Criticism Drown Commendation
To build a better team at work, it is also imperative that you favor commendation over criticism.
People are generally able to do better when they receive positive remarks as opposed to negative remarks.
Some business owners or team leaders get it wrong here.
They try to use criticism and negative talk to push team members to be up and doing.
This can be likened to depriving wilting plant water/other nutrients and expecting it to develop or grow healthily.
That activity is as futile as attempting to use negative remarks or criticism to get the best out of your team members.
Granted, there might be times when team members might make avoidable mistakes that deserve criticism and/or some form of punishment.
However, the point is not to allow that to be a habit in the workplace.
Instead, be more positive and offer genuine commendations even in seemingly tiny matters.
Provide your Team with the Resources and Tools they Need for Work
Sometimes, you might be expecting A-grade results from a team that you provide with poor tools and/or resources.
This is expecting them to give what they do not have.
Therefore, if you are to get the best result from your team, you will need to give them the needed tools to achieve results.
Failure to do that can leave your team frustrated as they continually hit roadblocks with the limited resources.
Provide Regular Training
Another way you can build a better team at work is by offering regular training sessions for your team members.
The goal of this training might be to improve a particular area of their work.
It could also be helping the team members to gain new knowledge and skills.
You can as well provide training on how to be better team players.
All these pieces of training will undoubtedly help you build a better team at work, where everyone stays motivated to give their best.
Reward Employees for their Achievements
Rewards in the workplace serve as an incentive for hard work and top performance.
When you give rewards to your team, it shows you appreciate and recognize them.
These rewards vary and might be in the form of bonuses, salary increases, promotions, awards, e.t.c.
Instead of individual rewards, you can also give group recognition and rewards, which help to keep a team united and motivated.
Organize Team Building Activities
There is a regular job that your team is expected to do.
However, you can also build a better team at work by organizing regular team-building activities.
These activities are meant to keep your employees closely knit together and help them get to know each other better outside work.
You can have some of these activities around the workplace.
Also, you can organize them outside the work environment, like picnics or parties.
To make it more interesting and engaging, you can let the employees participate in healthy competitions.
The emphasis would be on working together as a team to achieve a common goal.
This has also been shown to help in building a better team at work.
Give Problem-Solving Tasks to your Team
It is easier to work with a team when the job is to carry out a regular day-to-day work process or activity.
However, what can really task the team members is when they are given a problem to find solutions.
Sometimes, it is beneficial to give problem-solving tasks to the team.
This pushes them to work collaboratively on finding creative solutions to the problem.
This process of collaboration would, in turn, build up the team spirit.
Monitor the Progress of the Team Regularly
When you clearly define your goals, you should also keep metrics to track the progress of each team member and the team as a whole.
You should, therefore, regularly monitor how well the team is doing in meeting up with the set goals and expectations and if they are getting better.
This review is an essential process for building a better team at work and one which you should not neglect.
Conclusion on How to Build a Better Team at Work
All successful business owe their success to the efforts and contributions of the employees in the organization.
With active and effective collaboration, your team can be the best they can be and even get better as time goes on.
Also, you can be sure to reap many wonderful results from that.
