Effective teamwork is a massive predictor of success in any organisation – research indicates that a massive 69% of employees attribute effective teamwork as the main contributing factor to productivity[1].
Further, it has been demonstrated to provide better results for an organisation than individual work and fulfills individual needs such as social interaction and affiliation[2].
Despite this, many managers and leadership teams do relatively little to build it!
It is one of those areas that is tossed into the ‘too hard’ category, as many feel they are not well equipped, don’t have sufficient training, or don’t have the budget to do so.
Yet, the high number of organisations that have conflicts in their internal teams, leading to interpersonal clashes, low engagement, misalignment of goals, and generally poor results is substantial.
The truth is that it is easier than you would think to drive effective teamwork. We would like to share a few pointers on how you can set your company on the path to more effective, powerful, and harmonious teamwork.
1. Ensure you hire employees who fit role, team, and company requirements.
It is difficult to have a high-performing team if you have members within that team who are disengaged, not-yet-competent, or generally a poor fit. Have you ever worked with someone whose heart wasn’t in it? What was the effect it had on your morale, motivation, and productivity?
Hiring the right personnel to begin with is a pre-emptive method to avoid this. Implementing an objective, thorough, and science-backed recruitment process will deliver an outstanding ROI and improve outcomes within and outside of teamwork.
Peoplogica recommends high-performance role benchmarking, psychometric assessments, and skills testing, structured behavioural interview processes, and reference checking to achieve this. Following these steps will ensure you hire new employees based on their ‘fit’ to your role rather than whether you ‘like’ them or not.
2. Invest in your individual employees.
Research demonstrates that managers who provide the right skills and resources to their employees drive higher levels of teamwork and productivity[3]. By building a stronger base of employees, you will ensure that they function more effectively when placed together. They will be better aligned on their work approach, goals, and motivators, and because of feeling invested, they will have better engagement and investment in your company vs one which they feel does not care about them!
3. Conduct Team Planning
On a more macro level, it is important to plan and strategise when creating teams. Don’t just throw everyone together without any foresight, consider who would function together most effectively and build your teams around that.
Ask yourself the below questions:
- + What are each team member’s key strengths, and how can these be utilised within the proposed team? What do they have to offer which other members may not? Identify these strengths, then provide them the latitude to apply them.
- + What are the areas for development of each team member? How would these impact team functions and what support could be provided to ensure they build capability?
- + What are your team’s goals? Are they clear, measurable, and realistic? Or are they likely to create confusion and conflict, leading to arguments and disengagement?
- + What are your team’s ingrained behavioural traits, and how could you leverage these to inform team planning? Who has the most suitable approach to leadership? Who would work best in a supporting role? Who has the ideal approach when it comes to calculating risks and opportunities?
By considering and answering questions such as the above, you can ensure you plan and organise your teams in a way that enhances productivity and reduces conflict.
Conduct Team Workshops
Team workshops are a great way of getting your team together in one room, holding up a mirror to their dynamics, and discussing ways to improve and to build on existing strengths.
Using tools such as psychometric assessments to identify thinking styles, behavioural traits, and motivators, and then plotting these results across a team balance table provides objective insight into why team members act the way they do and promotes constructive discussion on how to manage individual and team conflicts.
These are enjoyable exercises on the part of participants and can act as a bonding experience that builds trust, self-awareness, and understanding of each other.
Implement Engagement Surveys
Engagement surveys, while not strictly targeted toward team dynamics, can be used to ascertain team members’ insights into their team function, dynamics, and inter-team collaboration.
These surveys promote discussion on how teams can be improved, are a great opportunity to provide feedback in a confidential manner on any sore points and provide actionable insights to team managers on how structure and collaboration can be improved.
While this seems like a lot to implement, the truth is that implementing even one of these can drive substantial improvements to your company’s teamwork, performance, and profitability.
If you are currently having issues surrounding teamwork and would like to learn more about how to manage this, please get in touch with us for a free consultation and discovery session at info@peoplogica.com.
[1] https://appliedpsychologydegree.usc.edu/blog/lack-of-engagement-in-the-workplace
[2] https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/249335744.pdf
[3] https://hbr.org/2019/08/when-teamwork-is-good-for-employees-and-when-it-isnt
Written by Peoplogica
