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Teamwork in the Workplace: A Definition
by CMOE
A tight knit team is a group of competent individuals who care deeply about each other. They are fiercely committed to their mission, and are highly motivated to combing their energy and expertise to achieve a common objective. From our observation and studies on teamwork in the workplace, we have found three primary conditions that have to be met in order to attain higher levels of team performance and member satisfaction.
1. Resources
and Commitment
2. Ownership and Heart
3. Learning
These three conditions are the heart and soul of teamwork. These conditions are not a blueprint. Each group is unique, and the specifics and details of teamwork have to be worked out separately. Let’s look closer at number one - Resources and Commitment.
RESOURCES AND COMMITMENT
A strong
personal commitment and leap of faith are needed to start up and sustain tight
knit teams. Genuine energy and resources are required during the early stages.
For example, important non-task time is needed for teams to meet and establish
identity, expectations, spirit, bonds, and patience is required for learning,
coaching and behavior change that is consistent with team principles. Investment
in teamwork is very intangible. You can’t measure it like most corporate assets
that can be sold off for a profit if you have a couple of bad quarters. Teamwork
in the workplace requires a lot of care, sensitivity, and patience for it to pay
off in the long run. This is not exactly the formula that most organizations run
on these days. Typically we see organizations pre occupied with putting out
fires and handling crises. Most organizations have a very short-term focus and
many leaders are not enlightened enough to invest in fire prevention and not get
caught by the excitement of the task or by the activity trap that is so common
today. It doesn’t take much to bring a group of individuals together to do a job
especially if you are depending on just a compensation package to get them to
produce. On the other hand, teamwork in the workplace does take a deep personal
commitment and belief in team synergy and collaboration. Some managers harbor
the belief that work only gets done when there is a singular powerful, expert,
authoritative figure running the work group. When you look closely at it, you
are likely to find that a disturbingly large number of organizations are built
around rugged individualism and that people want to build their own empires and
work independently. So many of us have been taught in life to commit to win-lose
competition for academic grades and sports scores. We learn to “go for the
jugular” very early on in life, and we put our faith and commitment into this
mode of thinking. Competition can be fun and rewarding if we can get this
powerful drive aimed and the right target. The problem we see in a lot of
situations is that teamwork in the workplace is being killed by “friendly fire.”
In other words, we are directing our competitive energies at looking better than
another person or looking better than another team in the organization. All too
often we compete for personal rewards at the expense of others. We act as though
our department is in a race with other departments, and we take our eye off the
real competition. The fact of the matter is that we have found few organizations
that are committed enough to base some of the reward system on teamwork and make
it a priority. It seems that in earlier generations it wasn’t a big problem and
teamwork was naturally rewarding. People on the farms and ranches had to
cooperate to survive. Successful crops and survival of the livestock depended on
joining the efforts of many. Barns and homes were constructed as a result of
teamwork, only we called it being neighborly. Amazing things could be
accomplished today if we could get members and leaders to trust and commit to
the teamwork process of joint problem solving, consensus decision making and
shared leadership and win/win conflict resolution.
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About The Author If you would like to learn more about teamwork in the workplace visit www.cmoe.com or contact a Regional Manager at (801) 569-3444. |
source www.article-emporium.com
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