How to Build Teamwork

Over the past few months, I have been sharing tips with you on how to develop teamwork in your workplace. With all of these suggestions, chances are very good that you will run into some resistance.

Some people may feel like you are asking for too much time away from individual tasks to work as part of a team. Others may be reluctant to give up control or responsibility they believe is theirs alone.

At the same time, there are always others around you who are working hard to improve their group dynamics. They probably notice something different about you and want to know what made it so easy for you.

It is totally normal to feel conflicted when it comes to improving our relationships at work. On one hand, we would rather focus on ourselves and our personal success, but on the other, we wish everyone else was better at it.

As someone who has done both types of jobs, I can tell you that being able to relate to individuals in the workplace is a powerful skill. It makes you more productive and efficient because you learn how to maximize the resources available to you.

Teamwork isn’t just a nice thing to do, it helps you get things accomplished faster and keeps you motivated longer due to the sense of progress you achieve together.

If you're looking to improve your leadership skills, developing your ability to motivate and inspire employees is crucial.

Make plans

Teams have gone up in size and complexity over time, but there’s one constant in all of this — making plans. To make things work, you need to spend time together as a team outside of working hours.

Teambuilding is an integral part of workplace culture that goes overlooked by many employers. But creating strong bonds between people so that they feel like they can rely on each other at any time is essential to success.

Planning activities is a great way to do this. Whether it’s going for drinks after work or taking a trip out of town, having fun times with colleagues is a powerful tool in promoting teamwork.

By laying the foundations earlier in the year, you’ll be ready when opportunities arise later on. This will help promote trust and solidarity within the group and keep people feeling involved.

In our increasingly connected world, staying in touch via phone, email, chat and social media apps is almost a given these days.

Hold team meetings

A meeting is considered to be “team-oriented” when everyone in the room contributes and takes an interest in what others are saying. As a leader, you should hold at least one such meeting every week.

This doesn’t mean just talking about things, it includes having conversations, discussing issues, sharing information, asking questions, and listening. Doing all of these things makes for productive teamwork and relationships!

Holding meetings can feel like a hassle, but they're a necessary part of leading people. And you don't have to do it alone!

You can invite members of your staff or department into a private conversation and talk through ideas as a task manager, or you can ask them if they'd like to join you for a few minutes for a general chat. Or you could even use a tool like Google Hangouts to make video calls.

Assign tasks

A lot of times, people get stuck in a rut with their jobs because they don’t know what to do next. They have done everything for so long that they go into autopilot and keep doing what they have been doing, only changing things around slightly.

This doesn’t work when you are trying to achieve something big. For example, if you are working as an accountant then running your own business is a goal most people never give up thinking it can’t be done.

It is possible to move beyond this mentality and break out of the box. It takes teamwork and communication but it is totally achievable.

Teamwork means not just having someone else to help you accomplish a task, but sharing responsibility and coming together to make decisions as a group. This way everyone feels like they played a part in achieving a result and feel good about themselves.

Building team spirit goes far beyond having a cup of tea for each other at 2 o’clock every day. Being friendly towards one another is a great start, but actually doing things as a team is where it really shines.

Take on more responsibility

As mentioned earlier, one of the key team-building exercises is to ask someone to take on more responsibility. This can be anything from asking a person if they would handle an assigned task or project, to asking them to manage their own group of people.

Asking individuals to assume additional responsibilities will test how well they work together as a team. If you have a friend that cannot seem to agree with another individual about something, this question could help you determine whether or not these two need to stay separate.

Help others

A few years ago, I read an interesting article about how to build teamwork. The author discussed helping others as one of the key components of creating team spirit.

He mentioned that when people work together, they need to help each other. They should do things like ask questions, offer advice, or even take action if someone else is doing something good.

This doesn’t mean you have to do everything for everyone, but it does mean you have to share responsibility.

As a leader, you can create teamwork in your organization by encouraging employees to contribute and sharing power.

You can promote individuals who are able to lead and inspire others. At the same time, you can reward people for their hard work with raises, praise, and gratitude.

Teamwork takes work, but it will always exist where there is respect.

Ask for help

As mentioned earlier, team members who work well together are those that understand each other and play off of one another’s strengths. They also know when to give credit to others so that people can feel good about themselves.

Asking for help is a powerful way to foster teamwork in your workplace. By asking questions or offering suggestions to someone else’s task, you acknowledge their hard work by giving them acknowledgment and praise.

It also gives them the chance to show off how skilled they are by answering your question or completing your task.

By being aware of other people’s skills and encouraging the use of these talents, you promote collaboration and teamwork.

Follow up after team meetings

One of the best ways to build teamwork is by taking some time afterward to talk with people about what happened during the meeting. This not only helps you understand how the group interacted but also gives you opportunities to speak about things that mattered to you.

By talking about the meeting at this stage, you can emphasize the importance of having these conversations and creating understanding.

It’s important to remember that no one person made the most sense in the room, nor did anyone feel that everything was said properly. By spending time discussing the matter outside of the meeting, we are giving people a chance to share their thoughts more clearly.

This creates an opportunity for everyone to express themselves better, which will help promote trust and understanding in the team.

Communicate well

As we have seen, one of the biggest barriers to teamwork is poor communication. When people do not talk enough or use bad language when talking about things, it can be difficult to know what they are thinking and feeling.

When this happens, there is no way for them to express themselves properly, which hurts team cohesion. On the other hand, when people feel that nothing gets heard and their thoughts and feelings are never understood, trust in the group comes to an end.

As a leader, you must create an environment where your teams can communicate effectively and honestly.