Making teamwork WORK

Teamwork, if coordinated properly, can be effective.

At one point in time or the other, we get to be part of a team; it could be a team of football players, a team of staff members, a team of students working on an assignment, and so on.

Teamwork, according to Dictionary.com means, “Cooperative or coordinated effort on the part of a group of persons acting together as a team or in the interests of a common cause.”

Sometimes, working with different people might seem a bit difficult because of individual differences, because of the different peculiarities of others that may or may not be in line with yours.

So how do we work together with other people regardless of who they are? Here are some tips:

1. Understand who they are: sometimes it might not be possible to understand all about somebody in a short while. However, try to understand some things about them that make them different. This is to make you informed about the kind of person you are working with.
2. Set SMART goals: you need to also set goals that are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Timely. These goals will help your work easier, as a team. It will also help you work better together since everyone in the team is aware of the goals.
3. Define roles and responsibilities of the team: you also need to define what each person will be doing. This is in order to avoid confusion and to ensure everyone is doing what they ought to do.
4. Communication: communication is essential, and it helps in conveying ideas properly. Good communication is important to the effective functioning of a team. Therefore, make it of importance to make sure that you are carrying everybody along, and not leaving some people behind, in terms of passing across information.
5. Encourage feedback: feedback is important, it is important to know what others think about the work. Don’t try to have a situation where everyone is scared to talk or contribute. When you encourage feedback, you might even get better ideas on the work you are doing.
6. Recognize group effort: when you keep appreciating one person more than the other in a group setting, it might cause some people to think that they are not as important as the other people being appreciated. And so, try to make sure everyone feels appreciated or that everyone is important to the team.
7. Review teamwork: you need to also have an avenue where you can review the performances of the team so as to make sure everyone is on the same page, as well as make sure people know where they need to correct. You can set out specific days of the week for a review of the team’s performances, depending on the time you have to complete the work you have to complete.

Do you have more tips for making teamwork work? Please share with us in the comment box below. We would love to hear from you!