The success of any organization depends on how well its members communicate and handle tasks together. Clearly, teamwork is an essential part of the everyday organizational activities because it provides information, motivation, and, ultimately, better decisions. For example, without collaboration, the information about important activities would not be shared among the members of the organization, which could result in poor awareness and results.
Are Teams A More Effective Approach?
Teamwork is often called “optimization of collaboration. ” Indeed, there is a truth to these words because it is critical for increasing creativity, improving the quality of work and fostering productive and healthy relations among employees. The evidence of these claims can be found in the study by Nancy Cooke and Margaret Hilton from the Committee on the Science of Team Science, who compiled and reviewed the latest research on teamwork effectiveness and provided a number of interesting insights.
Specifically, Cooke found that teams acted as information processing systems and their cognitive cognition drove task-relevant interactions. Next, the research discovered that teams contributed to a more positive working climate and psychological safety. All these findings are backed up by interviews results of team projects.
YTI Career Institute article supports the findings of Cooke and provides four excellent reasons why teamwork is crucial to the organizational success:
- Better Problem-Solving – a collaboration among people is more effective in eliminating problems and generating solutions because of an opportunity to brainstorm.
- Better Creativity – given that organizations constantly need new ideas to stay competitive and relevant, they need to use team because they are more effective at bringing fresh ideas to the table.
- Better Support System – an employee who works alone may operate less efficiently as teams because when he or she fails to meet the deadline and get the job done, there is not support to come. On the other hand, team members support each other and help in the time of need.
- Better Morale – while working in teams, employees generally receive more praise, so they feel like they contribute to something special and are acknowledged. By working in a team, people develop a sense of community and commitment to each other and mutual goals.
An Example from Sports
The value of teamwork can be seen in many areas beside business. Let’s take sports for example. In the NBA Finals of 2014, San Antonio Spurs faced the Miami Heat team with the bunch of stars like LeBron James and Dwayne Wade who are often referred to as one of the greatest duos of all time. The Spurs did not have as many stars as the Heat but it had hard-working team players who were committed to sharing the ball and let someone in a better scoring position to shoot the ball.
The Spurs game in the Finals that year was called by Bleacher Report as “a beautiful, brilliant display of selflessness and discipline ” because the passes kept flying from one Spur to the next, resulting in blowouts of the Heat, and eventually, to an NBA title. This example goes to show that team players can outperform even the most skilled professionals, even though they may be individually less talented. As the result, the teamwork gives the company an advantage over others if the team is built properly.
How to Build a Great Team?
According to Inc., team building exercises are a great way to help individuals to perform as a cohesive unit and focus on a common set of goals. They should be focused on relationship building, celebrating success, and even practicing team skills. It takes some time but it is totally worth it. According to Tim Westbrook in order to create team building exercises, it is necessary to remember to put a special emphasis on trust, skills, delegation, and, of course, fun.
If you need some examples of team building exercises and activities, you will find a lot of them. They are typically presented with descriptions, so simply read them and decide whether they could work for you. In the end, you will have a cohesive and friendly unit that will be ready to take decision making and problem solving in your company to an entirely new level of effectiveness.
And that’s all because of teamwork!
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