Monday, August 17, 2009

Succeed With Great Teamwork

By Lynn Lopez

It's rather unfortunate that teamwork is a heavily derided concept in the workplace, particularly because it usually comes from the mouths of managers, supervisors, or other people who themselves have no real idea what teamwork really means. Barring that detail, no one can still deny that teamwork is absolutely essential in making the atmosphere of a workplace more pleasant and tolerable. It is also a key component of harmonious working relationships, which will in turn lead to smoother workflow and more accomplishments.

Teamwork is essential at work because without it, people working together in a group would barely get along and wouldn't have the interest nor the energy to work together, thereby keeping anybody from completing any projects in the first place. It is so easy to hire a group of people and try to set them to work. It is infinitely more difficult to encourage them to get along, work together, and focus on specific goals. Without teamwork, there is a greater chance of misunderstandings flaring up as a result of miscommunication, personality clashes taking place, and the overall development of an acrimonious working atmosphere. Not only is that counterproductive, but it also results in quicker employee turnovers; nobody wants to work in an unpleasant, taxing, and emotionally draining environment after all. Constantly hiring and training new employees practically ensures that lesser work will be done, especially since they still need to be acquainted with the office culture and fellow employees.

Clearly, without teamwork, you run the risk of your company failing. It is simply not acceptable for you to just leave conflicts unresolved. This only makes you look like an uncaring employer, interested only in making people work as hard as possible without thinking about their concerns and actively trying to seek effective solutions. You could spout off about teamwork as much as you want, but by ignoring problems, you yourself aren't being a team player at all.

Teamwork isn't something that you can force upon people. You can start by discussing the department's concerns with them and trying to work out a solution that will be favorable for everyone. Informal team building sessions can be conducted, mostly involving activities in which people can take part. If all else fails, you can also consider enrolling in team building workshops offered by business consultants.

The people might be initially resistant to the idea of attending a team building workshop, but don't forget to let them know that it will be beneficial for them in the long run, and that it will help them pinpoint all the causes of problems within the team, leading to a peaceful solution that will satisfy everyone.

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