It’s easy to dismiss this statement as corny, saccharine or something people in office jobs say to boost morale. It can commonly be heard when the going is tough and there’s a deadline to pull together to meet or, heaven forbid, before the dreaded team building day! 

In truth, if you break down any pre-conceived ideas about cheesy rhymes and being forced to socialise with your colleagues, the importance of teamwork cannot, and should not, be underestimated. 

At its most basic, teamwork is a unity of individuals, pulling together for the same cause or to achieve a common goal.  

A recent article by business tool organisation Sling states: “teamwork is both a bonding agent and a lubrication of sorts. Teamwork brings people together (the bonding agent) and motivates them to rely on one another to get things done. Teamwork also makes progress easier (the lubrication) and allows the group to overcome obstacles that would have stymied an individual.” 

There are so many reasons why teamwork is important to your business.  

It speeds up processes. When multiple people are allocated to a project, it will lead to the work being completed much more quickly. Similarly, if you only have one member of staff trying to find solutions to a problem, there will be a limit to how many they can find alone.  Tasking multiple colleagues to problem-solve is more likely to create a variety of resolutions which should ultimately lead to the issue being resolved at a faster rate.  

Teamwork also ensures efficiency by including more people in decision making. If we look at proofreading as an example, when asking multiple colleagues to check a document ahead of sign-off, any mistakes and corrections are more likely to be found. The more pairs of eyes looking at something, the less likely it is to be published incorrectly.  

Generating new ideas is another benefit of teamwork. Many minds uniting can create fresh, new ideas and when you bring people together they can bounce off one another and bring out the best in those around them.  

When a workforce is diverse, the benefit is that people from different backgrounds, genders, ages and cultures can speak freely and share thoughts. As long as everyone is respectful of each other and any fears of criticism or judgement are removed, the results can be great.  

Closer working relationships can also be forged when working as a team. Though this may be trickier with remote working, when staff feel connected to each other with mutual interests and values, it improves the output of work hugely.   

Trust is created and relationships formed when you encourage teamwork and spending more time with your colleagues. You may also create a sense of healthy competition, but if managed correctly this can actually benefit the quality of work and the motivation of the group. 

So how do you do it? How is teamwork best nurtured? 

Encourage diversity 

As mentioned previously, when people from a range of backgrounds, possessing different experiences and skills, come together it can have a great benefit on the quality of work produced.  

With a variety of perspectives, comes more in-depth decision making. We often surround ourselves with people who think and act as we do, but that can limit creativity. 

A recent Lumapps blog suggests: “If all team members think the same way, come from similar backgrounds, and have the same beliefs and opinions, the work that the team produces will likely be one-sided and less creative. Whereas if each team member has unique opinions, beliefs, background, etc. they will likely produce work that reflects more creativity and innovation.”  

When assigning tasks, why not mix things up? Ask team members of different ages, genders and cultures to collaborate and see how much of a difference it can make when a wider selection of ideas are generated and considerations shown.  

Build trust 

Individuals that work best together, trust each other. We cannot work to the best of our productive ability in the company of people that we don’t trust or who don’t trust us.  

The best way to build trust amongst colleagues is for them to spend time together getting to know each other and communicating. Your team can decide how best to do this – whether it is an out of work activity, a group lunch or a post-work drink one evening, just try not to enforce a specific team-building exercise on them.  

As individuals begin to feel more comfortable and familiar with each other they can start to gain confidence, motivation and enjoyment in their collaborative work.  

Provide learning opportunities  

It’s important to remember that not everyone will have experience of working in a team or automatically know how best to do it.  

The use of specialist guest speakers and topical workshops around the theme of collaboration can help individuals to understand the part they play in the wider group setting.  

Lumapps continues: “To maximize the benefits of teamwork in the workplace, it is important to provide your team with proper training and guidance. Providing learning opportunities will not only enhance teamwork skills, but will also increase employees’ engagement and job satisfaction.” 

Be flexible and adaptive 

As the saying goes, nothing is as constant as change and you will always have to adapt to the ever-evolving needs of your organisation.  

This can mean several things when applied to teamwork including replacing staff as they come and go, rearranging priorities and regrouping and reassigning tasks as necessary to improve the team dynamic and productivity.  

If a team is not working out as well as hoped then there is no reason to feel guilty about revising things. Leaving them as they are could result in the loss of morale, motivation and quality. It’s therefore important to implement a continual monitoring process that checks progress regularly to input any adjustments where necessary. 

Recognition and reward 

Recognising the efforts made by your team and praising them on a job well done is rarer than you might think. A good manager will know that these are the basics when it comes to appreciating people and motivating them to continue to perform well, but all too often efforts can go unnoticed.  

Praise and thanks is so important when it comes to valuing people and will cost you nothing. After all, an individual who feels that they’re appreciated is more likely to go that extra mile in the future.  

If you are able to offer rewards and incentives, then this can also make a difference to the performance of your staff. These need not be extravagant or costly – as well as pay increases or bonuses, you can also offer an additional day off per year or a gift voucher or coupon.  

END 

References  

https://getsling.com/blog/importance-of-teamwork/  

https://www.lumapps.com/employee-experience/improve-teamwork-in-the-workplace/