How To Encourage Teamwork [Avoid Common Barriers]

Without a doubt, when your team members work together as a collective unit, they are more efficient, productive, and focused than if they worked as individuals. However, most of us face one issue: we tend to work on tasks individually without feeling the need to include others in that process. You could ask your employees to work as a team, but some team members might find this situation too challenging, especially if you have mechanisms in place that obstruct teamwork.

The sooner your employees realize they have to work as a team, the better results they will accomplish. But how do you build a teamwork culture in today's complex workplace?

Teamwork benefits the entire organization

A highly efficient team can generate ideas faster, share the workload, and create a culture of empowerment to accomplish better business results. But according to one study, 39% of Americans believe that people in their company don't collaborate enough.

Teamwork may seem impossible, especially in the digital surrounding. You can bypass this trap by building teams that balance the interests, skills, and strengths of individuals while focusing on trust, support, and the value of collaboration.

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In teams that function efficiently, members feel free to share their thoughts while enjoying a true sense of belonging. They feel happier, fulfilled, productive, and valued because they know they support the organization's goals.

Teams that interact freely and exchange ideas boost innovation. Additionally, when you share the workload, tasks get done quicker. Based on numerous estimates, collaboration is an essential factor for innovation success.

Another thing we should pay attention to is employees' loyalty. If they are fulfilled and work with supportive colleagues, they will stay loyal to your company.

Promoting effective teamwork in the workplace

You should employ the following steps to promote effective teamwork:

Lead the way. If you want your team to behave as a collaborative unit, you need to encourage a teamwork attitude within yourself. For instance, involve them in activities you do and offer them support every step of the way.

Ensure your team has a goal. Everyone in your company should be working towards a specific purpose. So, if you want your employees to work together, you need to provide them with clear and achievable goals.

Offer team rewards. What is the purpose of goals if your team members aren't rewarded when they hit them? Bonuses are one of the best ways to motivate people and make them work together. However, don't reward your employees individually; reward them as a team.

Every meeting should be a team meeting. To promote teamwork, you need to define roles and projects. For example, when you want to discuss the upcoming strategy with a particular team member, invite the rest of their team as well. In that case, their team members will have a better idea of their role.

Team building activities. You don't have to organize a large-scale event. You can transform daily meetings into activities to start boosting the team-working culture.

Create a teamwork culture. Teamwork doesn't happen overnight or on its own. It needs to be catalyzed and embedded in workplace culture, eventually becoming an integral part of people. Once this happens, teamwork will be more creative, productive, and engaging.

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Types of Teams Cheat Sheet

If you are wondering how to promote teamwork and enable teamwork culture, here are a couple of ways you might find helpful.

Split the work: teamwork doesn't mean you have to do everything together. Right the opposite, it means being organized and breaking down the project into smaller parts.
Request help: whenever you need support, expertise, or inspiration, ask for it!
Let others hear you: when your team is organized and you are focused on your task, it's time you start talking out loud. Let other people hear what you have discovered so far.
Create a new revision process: make your team members assume the role of devil's advocate and question things from various perspectives.
Celebrate together: appreciate the work you have done so far. Whenever you achieve a milestone towards a mutual goal, it's time to celebrate together.

Ways to encourage effective teamwork

Have you ever worked in a company where people didn't get along or worked well together? You know the type, environment filled with a toxic mess of egos, backstabbers, and glory hunters. To prevent your company from becoming like this one, make sure to encourage effective teamwork, and we are going to show you how.

Establish clear roles: confusion creates chaos, and if we don't give people clear responsibilities, we are risking that someone will try to seize all the power. So, make sure that everyone knows their responsibilities.

Keep objectives simple: a team will bypass all kinds of obstacles, but only if they have clear and transparent goals ahead of them.

Include your team in the decision-making process: your employees will be more invested if they have a say in some basic decision-making process.

Reward their performance: when your team completes a project successfully, ensure that the rest of the company knows about that. You can even give them performance bonuses.

Deal with problems immediately: every company faces many problems daily, but if you put them off, they can quickly get out of control. So, make sure to deal with them calmly and professionally.

The barriers to teamwork

Efficient teamwork boosts professional relationships among employees, staff, and management. Therefore, promoting collaboration increases staff morale and positively affects productivity. However, many companies face barriers that obstruct successful teamwork. In that case, you need to be able to identify those barriers and try to eliminate them. Keep in mind that a company that cannot foster effective teamwork will fail to serve customers and clients.

Common barriers to effective teamwork

Bad leadership. If your team doesn't have an effective leader, then its members won't be productive. Leaders need to set up rules that govern the team and help them accomplish their goals. When a leader lacks vision, the group loses the confidence and motivation necessary to function as a unit.

No goal planning. For a team to feel relevant, it needs to have well-defined goals. For instance, if you are dealing with long-term goals, you need to divide them into smaller milestones so the team can record its success, failure, or make necessary changes.

Bad communication. All successful teams have developed effective communication methods that process incoming information and distribute it to appropriate parties. Great team communication also means that all team members are comfortable enough to express their ideas. A team with poor communication has no way of getting information to team members when they need it.

Personality clashes. People who aren't willing to compromise for the group good are some of the biggest barriers to teamwork. The lack of respect leads to conflict within the team and disrupts the constructive nature of the group.