Team Essentials - Learn how to team

 

The importance of learning how to Team.

 

Working as part of a team is an essential skill in today’s business environment. Teams are individually context-situated and context-sensitive making each team unique. Even teams within the same organisation can be different. 

 

Modern organisations have become increasingly complex, flatter and need to be responsive. This means to get things done we need to develop a structure around a skilled network of highly empowered individuals, namely the Team. 

 

For an effective team to accommodate the dynamics of the contemporary workplace, individuals in the team need to acquire the required skill set to interact with colleagues within the changing environment. 

 

Teams are brought together to solve complex problems integrating diverse sources of expertise drawing upon the specific skill set of its team members. This allows the possibility of sequencing and synchronising team tasks utilising the interdependent expertise provided by each individual. 

 

Teams are used as a means of achieving tasks, goals or social objectives that cannot be accomplished individually and as a result are increasingly dynamic in nature. This has led to teams being described as fluid, providing buoyancy and in a constant state of flux. 

 

Organisations increasingly rely upon teams and individual team members to collaborate dynamically resulting in an interplay both inside and outside of the team and sometimes outside the organisation itself. Teams are recognised as the sustainable backbone of many organisations and the powerhouse that drive its activity and required outcomes.

 

Organisations are constantly striving to be more productive and successful in a competitive market with employee work engagement being acknowledged as key to this achievement. This constant striving serves to add to the increased expectations on team members to create an empowered environment to enable the organisational powerhouse. 

 

Team managers and leaders must be mindful not to disempower their staff by failing to engage each individual and bind them closer as a unified team without impeding their individual style. This is no easy task. 

 

There is a fine balance in building a strong, supportive and functional team whilst facilitating individual growth and development. Binding team members is potentially the first challenge a manager or team leader must face as individual team members are a critical source of competitive advantage in the promotion of business success.

 

There is a notion that successful teams result in successful organisations which heighten the responsibility of each team member to deliver as required. Team leaders and managers must appreciate the importance of managing interdependence which is critical in achieving the success of individuals within the team and completion of the required outcome. 

 

Orchestrating individual and team success simultaneously draws upon the need to manage diversity and integrating appropriately the unique expertise of team members whilst ensuring an appreciation of individual values and their skill set. 

 

There is a further requirement to align differing cultural and behavioural characteristics to achieve the required bonding or togetherness of team members.

 

Binding team members, setting direction and vision for joint team activities and ensuring continuous proactivity are amongst the primary tasks to be addressed in building the foundation of a fully functioning team. 

 

There are many elements to positive team dynamics, inter alia trust, a willing mindset, inclusivity and supportive environment. The development of trust between team members will influence their engagement in joint decision making and their collective problem-solving ability. 

 

Trust is fundamental to team functioning in the promotion of co-operation, engagement, and increased motivation to complete the joint task resulting in positive performance outputs.

 

When we think of those we trust, they are generally those who have been part of our circle for some time, during which we may have had multiple interactions within a variety of contexts and situations. It is this repeated experience within our close circle that enables us collectively to build the mutual trust and appreciation.  

 

Within a team context, this may not be an instant outcome so we may need to facilitate  opportunities for trust to develop and grow within our teams and between colleagues.  

 

Trust is well researched within team relationships and is known to affect knowledge sharing, namely we may tend to hold things back from those we do not trust. Trust is key to successful working relationships and to successful teams. Trust in a team is based upon the belief or otherwise that team members have good intentions as well as having the confidence or not in the capability and character of team members and that of the team leader.

 

So, reflect on your colleagues and team members whom you trust; consider how to build trust in those you know less well and develop those opportunities that can embrace and  assist confidence building between yourself and team members. Who do you need to learn to trust more and how can this be fostered? Do your teammates trust you?

 

Work on building trust that will enable you to become a valuable team member and  illustrate that you really know how to team.

by Helen Smith