Many company leaders are beginning to recognize that teamwork and collaboration between employees leads to better results compared to working individually. In fact, new studies are consistently uncovering the benefits of increased collaboration in teams including an increase in the overall profitability of a company.
However, these benefits only occur when teams are built effectively. Leaders can’t plan one-off team building exercises and expect any real change. Effective team building requires planning, time, and devotion from those leading. Ignoring team building can lead companies to conflict, lower productivity, and performance, but if you choose to foster a collaborative environment, employees will become more united. In turn, leading to higher productivity and performance. To help you get started, here are five steps to building an effective team:
Establish Leadership
Before anything else can be done to build a team, proper leadership has to be established. How a person leads sets the tone for the entire group, so it’s important that the right skills are developed, such as empowerment, integrity, and loyalty. It’s also important for managers to establish trust with all team members. This will lead to more efficient and effective work even when managers are inevitably out of office.
Set Ground Rules
Setting ground rules up front is also essential for a successful team. Taking time to set ground rules can help the group identify their goals. All members should be involved in this process. This way they have a say in the team rules and policies, and are also present to agree to what is decided.
Having ground rules can also help prevent future conflict between team members. Being proactive and identifying potential problems or conflict areas can avoid those problems later on.
Develop a Roles Document
On top of setting ground rules, a document should be created outlining the roles and responsibilities for each member. The roles document is just as important, if not more than setting ground rules. Roles documents outline specific duties and tasks each team member is responsible for which ultimately leads to less confusion about who is in charge of what. A roles document is also an easy way to hold each member accountable.
Foster Team Building
Team building is essential to creating an effective team and helps build connections and trust between team members. According to a recent survey, 97 percent of employees believe that a lack of alignment or connection with their team directly impacts the outcome of projects. Team building can help build that alignment and connection. All of which is important because teams that are comfortable and trust each other tend to be more open to collaboration and sharing ideas.
Foster an Environment of Openness
The final step for building an effective team is creating an environment of openness. Employees have to feel comfortable to say what is on their mind. Placing an emphasis on collaboration and teamwork isn’t going to be helpful if employees are nervous to mention ideas out of fear of being wrong or judged. By creating an environment that encourages everyone to be open about their thoughts, more productive conversations can take place within the team.
Building an effective team is crucial to the productivity and performance of employees, and even the business. It is important for managers to remember that team building is ongoing and requires time. You can’t put work in at the start of a team and let it fall to the wayside in the future. You also can’t expect the team to immediately be comfortable with each other. Eventually, your team will begin to trust one another and tackle projects cohesively.
To learn more about fostering relationships with employees check out our blog how to maintain positive relationships with employees!
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