At various times in life, the opportunity or need to work as a team arises. But most of the time it doesn’t work the right way. Obtaining efficient results when working in a group is more complicated than it seems.
There is no exact recipe to achieve high performance teams, but there are basic ingredients for the development of collective work; as well as its fortification and specialization in order to achieve excellence.
Do you know what these key factors are? Continue reading until the end and in these lines you will find the fundamental pillars of teamwork.
Constant communication
First and foremost is communication, no other ingredient is as vital to teamwork. It is the main course at the table. Without it, the essence, fluidity, transparency and understanding are lost. It is crucial for guiding the missions of each of the members, as well as for supervising them.
On an international scale, large corporations have invested heavily in the communication methodology of their departments. A healthy work infrastructure requires a constant flow and updating of information. This avoids duplication of tasks and optimizes time resources, thus increasing efficiency.
In addition to creating a responsible environment for the exchange of ideas and criteria, the interaction through the different communication channels allows the materialization of the team’s objectives, well-being, personal fulfillment and growth of its members.
With the development of information technology and the emergence of new information and communication technologies (ICT), a digital transformation has taken place, which greatly influences teamwork.
Tools such as the Internet, online services and smart phone applications allow constant communication facilities, ignoring the limitations of conventional work. With them, links can be established at any time, scheduling meetings regardless of location or physical presence of workers.
Team motivation
Motivation in its most simplified concept expresses the cause of a given activity. It produces in someone a favorable state of mind and awakens the interest to undertake an action.
Focusing it on the basis of teamwork, it goes deep into the emotional intelligence of the worker. If the members of a collective are not motivated by the same interests and do not channel their energies through their individual objectives, the commitment and the essence of the group is lost. This is where the importance of this factor lies.
For the development and balance of a team it is necessary to have common objectives, visualized and oriented with small goals, adjacent to the personal concerns of each one. This creates the most accurate gear possible for the proper functioning of the team.
Then, the million dollar question arises: How to promote motivation in a group?
This is an ideal to be taken into account from the very conformation of the team. It is the leader’s task to visualize and deepen the selection of its members for a given project.
Once the work has started, maintaining enthusiasm is a difficult task, which requires constancy and uninterrupted doses of energy. It is vital for the good performance and the eagerness to go for more.
Professionalism
Optimization and excellence are closely linked to professionalism in any work system. Ethics expresses in people the pinnacle of high performance, it represents without a doubt one of the pillars of teamwork.
It is an internal and external reflection, reciprocal for the service offered or for the final objective of a company. It shows the identity of each of the members, their training and specialization as professionals in their area of work.
In any field or sphere of work, professionalism dictates the standards to be followed, which represents for the individual the subject he/she practices or the area defended. It analyzes how skilled the workers are, their level of creation, their assimilation of new trends, their work policy and their competitive capacity.
Professionalism, within the pillars of teamwork, is fundamental. Despite the importance of motivation, no matter how involved a person may be with a task, if he/she does not have the basic or minimum knowledge of his/her field of work, he/she slows down the group.
It is not only measured by the possession of the best tools, but also by the capacity for innovation. It is putting knowledge at the service of what you have, and vice versa, to achieve growth.
Objectively speaking, it is easier to motivate an employee according to his or her life needs or personal fulfillment than to retrain a professional.
Coordination in the work areas
Once the previous pillars – constant communication, team motivation and professionalism – are in place, coordination in the work areas is achieved in terms of order.
For this purpose, a ladder of command is created, the identity of its leaders or persons in charge, subgroups in the teams, as well as designations of the small unit. All these points clarify the issues to be addressed in business management.
Good communication brings with it a multidirectional sense in the flow of information. This fosters absolute confidence in the project leader and his overall objective, expresses a commitment to the fulfillment of missions by his subordinates. Each of the actions carried out correctly comprises a subsequent success in the final goal.
A leader who is aware of the virtues and potential of his colleagues will make them better performers. Thus implementing optimal tools and methodologies for each task. This allows to distribute the tasks objectively raising the performance of teamwork.
Sense of belonging
Last but not least, the sense of belonging is established as the defensive pillar of the previous ones.
A person with a sense of belonging alone shows one of the scarcest and most important values of teamwork. Commitment is worth more than remuneration, confidence in the project shows loyalty to oneself and to others.
Responsibility is triumphant when there is a sense of belonging. Both watch over the team’s progress, guaranteeing growth and the materialization of the objectives initially set.
