Posts Tagged ‘improving team working’

In any organisation whether small or large, teams of people from different backgrounds with different experiences need to be able to work together to deliver results.  If you are a leader or even just a member of a team, what are 5 golden rules to keep in mind to encourage effective team working?

 

Golden Rule 1: Find things people can easily agree as the key focus

 

This is particularly important when in a large organisation where it can be all too easy to get narrowly focused on the activities of your department without considering the overall purpose of the organisation.  For example, professional accountancy firms exist to serve clients, schools to educate and hospitals to deliver healthcare.  People, no matter what their functional bias can generally get behind and support the overall purpose.

 

Golden Rule 2: Recognise good team working

 

It is all too easy to attribute team successes to a leader or particular individuals but in truth most of the results will have been achieved by people working together and bringing their own unique contribution to the challenge.  Make a point of recognising good team working, especially cross functional team working.

 

Golden Rule 3: Get people understanding each other better

 

We all tend to look at things through a particular lens which is usually influenced by things like our experiences, training or even professional discipline.  Encourage people to avoid stereotyping and help them to better understand the different ways different people look at the same problem or challenge.

 

Golden Rule 4: Focus on contribution from all

 

The fact that people look at things differently is not a drawback but a distinct benefit of team working.  Get people listening more to others contributions so that the best solutions can be arrived at from the range of possibilities.

 

Golden Rule 5: Don’t expect it to happen overnight

 

Teams take time to come together, gel, bed down and deliver results.  Don’t expect improving team working to be like a light switch where the time from flicking the switch to having more light is almost immediate.  View it more as a longer term project where small steps are made that eventually lead to big results.

 

Bottom Line – For just about any organisation, team working is important to success.  So what do you need to start doing to get teams working effectively?

 

Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements helps teams in large organisations to deliver better results.  For more information click here

For the exhaustive reference on working with, leading and managing teams, check out the special pre-release on my latest book. If you are serious about your team, don’t miss this special Click here for more details

As a leader you recognise that more can be achieved collectively than you could individually.  Yet in my experience, leaders often make mistakes that stifle rather than encourage performance.  Are you making one or more of these mistakes?

Mistake 1: Holding on to things out of habit rather than neccessity.

Mistake 2: Playing at pretend empowerment where you keep interfering and checking up.

Mistake 3: Having to be right and so not listening effectively to others contributions.

Mistake 4: Needing to be liked rather than respected and letting popularity cloud your decision making.

What else would you add to the list?  Go ahead and leave your comment.

Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements helps orgnisations to get great results through teams.  To find out more click here