Teamwork | Mike McRitchie | Resume and LinkedIn Profile Writer

How Teams Can Work Better Together

October 17, 2022 by Contributed Post Leave a Comment

Teams are a vital part of all businesses, and it’s therefore important to make sure that yours are working as they should at all times. If you are keen to help ensure this, there are a lot of approaches you might be able to take. In this post, we are going to take a look at just some of the best of these that you might want to think about. As long as you are doing all the following, you should find that your teams are working together much more effectively and efficiently, and that you can see the results of that in no time.

Great Leadership

This is probably the single most important aspect to holding a team together, and it’s something that you are going to want to make sure you are aware of from the very start. The better the leadership is within any team, the more likely it is that the team in question is going to work as it should. Good leaders are confident in their abilities, and there is a lot of self awareness in leadership that proves important too, as well as a keenness to listen. Make sure that the leader has all of that in place.

Set Goals

Having some set goals in place is another really important way to make sure that your teams are working as they ideally should. When there are goals that everyone agrees upon and can understand together, this has a way of making sure that the teams in question are going to work out. So make sure that there are always goals in place, and that it is clear what they are. If you can do this, you should find that it makes all the difference, and it’s therefore really important to think about and focus on.

Communication

Communication is key too. The better the communication, the more likely it is that the team in question will be able to work as it should. If you are keen to make sure that your team is working as best as they can, then putting some emphasis on the communication is one way to do it, and you should make sure that you are thinking about this as often as you can. Encouraging strong communication is often the main thing you need to do when you want your team to succeed, so be sure to do so at all times.

Rewards

Finally, make sure to reward not just individuals but the team as a whole when good work happens. This is one of the most fundamental ways in which you can hope to keep your team working as they should, and it’s something that you are always going to want to focus on as best as you can. Good rewards can make a world of difference so that is definitely something that you are going to think about if you want your teams to operate effectively. If you can do that, you’ll see great results in no time.

How to Promote Teamwork in Your Place of Work

October 25, 2021 by Contributed Post Leave a Comment

Teamwork is needed in many different industries and businesses. Even if everyone in the office has their own list of things that they need to do and is very much a solo worker, there will still be times when you all have to come together to complete the one task. Therefore, being able to foster and promote a good sense of teamwork is vital within your company. Here are some of the best ways to do so.

Lead the Way

If you are the team leader, you should be happy to demonstrate what you expect from your employees. Lead by example, and you should hopefully see them following suit. There is no way that you are going to see any improvements or a willingness to act more like a team if you are not going to deliver the results that you want to see.

For example, if you want to see your team communicating more effectively, you need to make sure that you are being more communicative too. Whether it is a quick chat in the morning before everything kicks off or a quick update in a group chat, there are many ways that you can get conversation flowing if you need to.

All in the Same Uniform

Could your business benefit from a uniform? If you are all just sitting round an office day in and day out then maybe not. However, if you deal with the public on a regular basis, having your staff all in the same outfit could help to inspire them and make them work harder as a team.

A company like Screen Textiles will help you grab branded t-shirts or jumpers that are affordable yet of a good quality. The right uniform will bring everyone together as a team, while also ensuring that everyone looks neat, presentable, and professional.

Reward Good Teamwork

When you see good teamwork, you need to make sure that it is well rewarded. This will help to show your employees that their efforts are valued. In turn, they might be more motivated to help out again, and continue building on the foundations of teamwork that have already been established.

This could be as simple as a good breakfast one Friday before you get started, or it could even be a meal or drinks after work. You could even organise a fun day out – maybe even getting in some dreaded team-building along the way too!

A team that works well together will be able to take on anything that is thrown into its path. As a result, you should be looking for ways in which you can promote teamwork and build on the relationships that already exist within the company. Take a look at your team and try to work out how they would respond to different team-building measures. Hopefully, you will be able to find something that works so you can inspire them to be a closer-knit team who is able to meet all of their goals.

Teamwork Makes The Dream Work: Improving Collaboration

September 18, 2018 by Contributed Post Leave a Comment

A team that can’t work together is no team at all. They need to be able to share resources and information to better inform their work, as well as to recognize that their own workload and progress can create or eliminate barriers in another’s. Moreover, a collaborative workplace is one where ideas can be fostered by anyone, helping provide you with the best strategies and solutions. So, how do you create the collaboration you need?

Lead by example

If you want your team to trust one another, to hold each other to account, and to recognize the value of the work of the whole, you have to do the same. Amongst the most important things you should be doing for your team is rewarding hard effort, avoiding passing the blame, and taking responsibility for failed goals. If you lean too heavily on the “stick” part of the carrot-and-stick approach, then you risk creating a hyper-competitive workplace where every individual is only watching their own backs, instead of focusing on how to work together.

Keep communication convenient

If your team doesn’t have the right channels to communicate, then they will have a hard time getting answers to questions, sharing resources, and developing strategies together. You need to think of the different strengths of different mediums and foster the effective use of all of them. Email can be great for directly sending documents and other resources. Instant messages are great for quick questions and answers. For length conversations, unified communications phone systems from providers like Single Point Global can eliminate the need for the face-to-face, saving your team time and effort. Make sure they have all the essential channels available to them. It may be worth creating guidelines or sharing tips on how to best use them, too. Ineffective communication only leads to more errors and delays.

Make sure everyone knows where they are

Another tool that is, in part, about providing better communication is the project manager. For collaborative projects, whether it’s between one small team or a larger collective of different departments, tools like Basecamp can make a huge difference. For instance, they can help everyone see where everyone else is, in terms of progress towards a shared goal. A workflow map can also show where one team’s lack of progress might create a barrier to another team’s immediate objective, allowing the managers to get together to find a way through or around the problem, instead of wondering what the hold-up is.

Encourage better interpersonal dynamics

There’s no way of forcing colleagues to get along well. If issues develop, the best you can do is address and resolve them. But you have a better chance of a more harmonious, and thus collaborative, workplace if you work on creating the conditions for good team bonds. The jury is still out on whether team-building exercises really work. However, you can encourage socializing outside the office with things like a bi weekly meal with the team and use solutions like overlap zones in the workplace so that your team gets used to interacting each other much more easily.

You can’t dictate whether everyone gets on well or even if they have a professional relationship. You can, however, offer them the tools and a positive workplace culture that can help those team bonds grow much stronger, so make that a priority.

Super Easy Strategies to Boost Teamwork Efficiency

May 25, 2018 by Contributed Post Leave a Comment

Everyone knows that being a good team member is an important skill in today’s office, but what if the team is rather inefficient and hard to work with? Whether you are a business owner, a manager or an excellent member of this team, it’s a lot you can do to boost its efficiency and finally see the results you have been looking for.

Teamwork

Here are a couple of ways to do exactly this, improve the teamwork and, ultimately, increase the overall productivity of the entire business. One small step in the right direction can easily be what you need to prosper, in the long run, as long as you’ve got the rest of the team on your side. So pull up your sleeves, launch that group chat, and get to work.

Ensure proper communication

The problem with teams is that, even if everyone wants it to be a success ever so badly. it’s not going to be smooth ride unless you’re able to communicate with one another. That might be easier said than done; if your team is not connected or aligned around a common goal, it doesn’t even matter if you have all the right communication tools in order.

A set of team norms might help you a bit along the way and it’s a great reason for attending a few of those team meeting – just make sure they actually have a purpose, though, otherwise it will just be yet another timewaster.

To communicate efficiently, it is important to implement rules and standards that guide team members as to how they are expected to communicate and, most importantly, what they are expected to do. No interruptions, speaking politely, and implementing a productive document culture may help you steer them toward the goal and hopefully improve the communication once and for all.

Get to know the team’s routines

As a manager, in particular, it is necessary to understand how the team works in order to give them what they need in order to thrive. Use tools for feedback, make use of incentives to reward the team, and give them the breaks they need at the right time – otherwise, it will be impossible to get to the core of what works and what doesn’t.

Once you’ve mapped out the specific environment of each team, it’s time to give them the communication tools they need to collaborate properly. Make sure you’re up to date on all their habits before you swap out the tools they use for communication – and, by all means, talk with them about changing any software beforehand in case they’re happy with the one they already have. Nothing feels sourer than spending time and money on an upgrade that will actually set you back later on.

Get rid of distractions

Finally, you need to have a look at how your entire office works. If there are a lot of distractions, such as clutter or constantly noisy phones, it’s going to make an immense difference for the team if they’re allowed to work in peace and quiet. Make an honest attempt at mapping out the biggest distractions, eliminate as many as you can, and watch how the productivity increases almost immediately.

You will never be able to get the team to the place they should be if they’re not able to focus on the task ahead of them. The biggest productivity-killers are, undoubtedly, clutter and noise and it’s why you should give your office a proper clean-up sooner rather than later.

From Me To Us: What’s Stopping Teamwork?

May 5, 2018 by Contributed Post Leave a Comment

When the business lingo is filled with one-liners that promote the importance of teams, from ‘there’s no I in the team’ to ‘together we can do so much’, it’s fair to say that companies are not given any chance to forget about their teams. Nevertheless, just because you insist on calling your employees a team doesn’t mean that they feel and behave like a team at all. When the full-length teamwork quote that you’ve put on the office wall doesn’t make it happen, then it’s time to review your team strategy. Indeed, contrary to the common misconception, the most common obstacle not teamwork isn’t the team itself. It’s the way the company fails to make it happen. From your internal processes in place to the way you manage your employees, you could inadvertently be counterproductive. Are you the one stopping teamwork in your company? Here’s how to find out.

Teamwork in Business

Is it even part of your process?

Ultimately, if you haven’t established collaborative habits in the workplace, it’s unfair to blame your employees for failing to work together as a team. Using open communication tools to improve the dynamics of your teams cross-company can help people from different department to exchange knowledge easily and smoothly. Tools such as Slack or Trello, for instance, create a sharing platform for everyone. To see continuous improvement you can implement several tools and processes that can increase the team’s opportunity to work together as one. It’s a behavior that you need to support by showing the example first; namely, you need to remain approachable and encourage an open atmosphere so that ideas can circulate without any hierarchic barrier. As a manager, your role is to offer transparency and guidance in this instance. Ultimately, if company-related information can’t travel from you to the team, you can’t expect the team to favorize collaborative processes.

Do people know and trust each?

At the core of a team, there’s the ability for employees to trust each other. Transparency and fair treatment from all managers can help to create an atmosphere where people are not competing against each other but working together. But, you’ll find that for newly established teams, team building activities can make a great deal of difference in bringing everyone together. Through games, such as by creating multiple teams to compete in a playful environment you can help people to develop their individual bonds and trust. Additionally, there’s always a motivation with these games. Namely, there’s the prospect of winning the awards for the best team building effort. Favorites are racing games and treasure hunts.

Do you praise the team?

Giving praise is important when your employees perform positively. Praising is your way of recognizing efforts, and it’s not the kind of thing you can substitute with paychecks. Nevertheless, when praising teams, it’s essential that you consider the while team efforts instead of one individual. Success is never the result of one single person’s work. Failing to identify this basic truth in your praises can lead to demotivation and lack of team consensus. Additionally, you’re at risk of creating conflicts within the team and pushing people against each other for the sake of recognition.

Ultimately, the question is whether you’re a team-aware manager. It’s your role to help the team to come together and perform. So, make sure to become the catalyst for the team and not the element of disruption.