Making Teamwork Work

It's been a business buzzword for decades. Seminars and retreats are dedicated to building it. Companies claim to celebrate it. But how do you actually achieve real teamwork that makes a difference?

Why develop a teamwork culture?

A teamwork-oriented corporate culture has several advantages over models that stress individual achievement:

• Using teams correctly can increase your bottom line by building on employee strengths.
• Good teamwork has the power to improve morale because employees see themselves as part of the company's success and how their contributions are valued.
• Even when team members are in different places geographically, they can make progress on a project 24 hours a day through teamwork and effective communication.

In a culture of teamwork, all employees from management on down are team members who understand the common goal and their roles in achieving it.

Creating an effective team

Although teamwork sounds good, it doesn't happen overnight in a culture that values winning and individuality. The key to good teamwork is teaching employees how to express their individuality while still achieving success as part of a larger group.

Successful team-building requires two main steps: creating an overall team culture, then creating well-balanced teams with a clear goal in mind. To really help your team succeed:

• Ensure that the team has a balanced composition and its members have the full range of knowledge, skills and resources necessary to do the job.
• Model teamwork to employees: The old "do as I say, not as I do" routine fosters employee resentment.
• Reward teamwork: Make bonuses, profit sharing and other compensation dependent on team participation and contributions.
• Allow diverse opinions and encourage creative thinking.
• Set reasonable, clear goals with measurable success criteria.
• Give the team ownership of the project within well-defined boundaries such as limits on the money and time it can spend.

Most importantly, make sure team members know exactly why they were chosen for the team and what knowledge or expertise they can bring to the table.

Is teamwork working?

As the team reaches deadlines, evaluate the output and the process to determine whether the team is working at full strength.

Teams that harbor communication problems or personality conflicts can cause a project to flounder or devolve into finger-pointing and excuses. Address potential teamwork problems early on and make sure all team members have a voice that they aren't afraid to use.

Good teams work much faster than individuals working independently, but only if their goals are clear. When you move beyond simply paying lip service to teamwork, building teams is a great way to bolster morale, improve output and bring out employee strengths.