Teamwork is all about pooling individuals’ efforts and channeling it towards accomplishment and fulfillment of a particular set of activities or tasks. This is done on the recognition that two brains are better than one.
An organization, for it to excel in its operations has to function like a team. The different organs and divisions of that organization are but sub teams that contribute towards the organizations goals. Every individual hence is important and every person’s ability has to be recognized and tapped of teamwork is going to thrive.There are various ingredients that have to be present if a team is going to excel. This paper seeks to focus on the conditions, activities and factors necessary for a high performance team. In looking at this, it will examine other sub-factors such as individual members authori
...ty, their flexibility, skills, drive, motivation, accountability and the sufficient standards that have to be present for a team to be high performing.
One important factor that needs to be underscored in teams is that they are not meant to be permanent; membership to a team is not full time but rather is on part time basis.A team is supposed to bring together expertise and appropriate skills to perform a certain task. After that task has been accomplished that team can be disbanded or regrouped at the management’s whim. The responsibility hence should not be on the teams but on the organization, teams are just but the means to accomplish the organizations goals.
For a team to perform just like an individual, it should be flexible and open-minded. Team members ought to have the knack to experience with new ideas if
by any chance those ideas have been thought of being possible to deliver.It should not be close-minded such that the members are unwilling to take a risk, if it has been recognized as a worthy risk. It should be noted that business decisions like for example investment decisions, are made with no certain outcome. It is the level of the perceived risk and expected fruits that will drive the organization to make a certain decision.
This is the logic behind taking risks and should be emulated by the team members. (Romando et al, 2006) An association of individuals is governed by values and ethics that tend to bind together and guide them on what to do and what not to do.A team too follows clear and agreed upon values that have to be instilled in every individual and put into practice. It is these values and ethics that define the team’s code of behavior and attitudes towards each other and those in authority. It is important for these values to be geared towards realizing the organizations goals to ensure synergy. A team should have a common drive.
This drive should be the force behind the individual’s motivation. A common drive emanates from common goals that the individual strives to fulfill.If the team members lack a commonality of basic drive, they might not be able to perform their tasks uniformly. The drive hence for a high performance team should be the need to improve and increases the current performance or out put of the organization. With a common drive, all the efforts then of the individual team members will be channeled in one direction only. A
common drive simply interprets to a shared common vision.
A vision refers to what someone wants to accomplish in the long run. The team’s vision should in no doubt be in line with the rest of the organization.Without a common vision the team and the larger organization might seem to be pulling towards the opposite end, and then each will be negating each other’s efforts. Realization of an organizations vision requires laying down of well thought out goals, which are not too ambitious as to be unattainable. For a team to accomplish its vision, well laid down plans are vital. These goals should be clearly stipulated and the team members well oriented towards these goals.
This is essential for excellence performance in the set tasks is to be recorded.The management hence has to be vigilant not to set too high goals on the teams lest it ends up frustrating the members (Dyer, W. G, 1996). Teamwork is meant to recognize the individual’s talent laying in the team. It is good to appreciate the fact that individuals have their major strengths and weaknesses. Teams hence should be geared to tap these strengths while suppressing the weaknesses in the individuals.
Teams are supposed to maximize on the members strong points in a way that the other members weaknesses are supplemented.Teamwork should provide the individuals with a chance to grow and gain more skills and experience in dealing with similar problems. In delegating any tasks to a team and setting the targets in relation to the task, the management has a big role to play in whether the way the team performs, almost an equal role as that
of the group members. It is the management that selects the team leader and charges him/her with the relevant authority.
It is important that the responsibilities allocated to the team leader are not meant to bulldoze or to be lorded over other members.In this way it makes it clear that the authority of the members is known and understood. All the members have to understand this authority in line with the responsibilities allocated to each of them. However, no one team member should he allowed to have an overbearing authority and presence in a way that it overshadows the rest. A group leader should only act, as a representative of the group in matters relating to the management and the group members else the activities in the team should be self-regulating (Harper et al, 1992).
As afore mentioned, the team should have a common stand and a common vision. It is this vision that overrides all the other factors. A high performing team should have no clash with the personal interests and the team’s objectives. All the members should have the good of the organization as the superseding factor whose urgency, according to professional ethics, should not be overtaken by any other. If all the members have the interest of the organization at heart, it becomes very easy to accomplish the set goals.
Vital to efficient management of organizations affairs is communication.Similarly in a team, communication is very vital and is one of the key ingredients to efficiency in all the teams’ activities. Communication is both horizontal and vertical. Horizontal communication refers to the interaction between the staff of the same hierarchical status; it is the
communication between the team members. Vertical communication is the communication between the members and the management. The importance of communication cannot be underscored, as it is very vital to accomplishing the team’s goals.
The members need to share their different views and ideas, with each other and with the management.It is this exchange of information that determines the success of the team. The information to be exchanged should not only be relevant, but should also be truthful and factual. The assumptions held in regard to any procedure or task should be tested and proven before implementation.
The team members should be encouraged to be open and sincere towards each other as far as the task at hand is concerned. If the team is to emerge successful, the importance of sincerity should be underscored and upheld at all times. The evaluation by the management and the feedback from either side should be objective and sincere.This feedback is not meant to degrade but to constructively criticize with an intention of improving the status quo. This will ensure that the team members become more open to trying out with possibilities rather than creating additional problems that might negatively impact on their performance (Reddy, W.
B, 1988). In tapping the individual knowledge and abilities, the member’s skills should be recognized. However, it is important for the proper functioning of the group of there to be a commonality of a specific expertise.If for example, it is an accounting task it is vital that the members have some basic understanding of accounting techniques.
This reduces the time wasted by the members and ensures flexibility and synchrony. It is important that the
team be comprised of individuals who are focused and aware of where they are headed. A group of individuals who are not prone to distraction. People who have the picture of the final product in mind and whose effort is geared towards efficiency. Creativity is another key ingredient to a high performance team.
It revolves around coming up with intelligent and apt solutions and alternatives to problems. The members should be well equipped with abilities to coming up with bright ideas and solutions that aim at solving the prevailing problems. How an individual solves the arising conflicts is a good determinant of his/her level of efficiency. Conflicts within a Group should not be looked at as spelling doom but should be viewed from a positive angle. It is these conflicts and arguments that sometimes bring the best out of individual.
Conflicts should be solved amicably and diplomatically.The individual member should possess the necessary skills to resolve conflicts when they arise in a way that strengthens the group rather than breaking it. The individual members should be adequately trained on conflict resolution and management skills. It is important that the teams be action oriented. The individual members comprising the team should bring to the surface their worth and be evaluated on what they have delivered. Whereas the importance of rewards as a management tool is recognized, so is the need to rebuke on any mistake done.
This is all about accountability, the need to hold an individual accountable for a mistake or a good that he/she does. The members hence should be trained to own up to their mistakes and correct them before they get out of hand.
To crown it all, it is important that standards be set and targets put to act as indicators of how well the team is performing or how far away it is to achieving the set goals. Upon the fulfillment and accomplishments of the set targets in the stipulated time then such a team can be said to have performed highly.References:Romando, Richard 2006, November. Corporate Team Building Skills.
Ezine Articles. Retrieved September 28, 2007 from http://www. ezinearticles. com/? corporate-team-building-skills&id=352965 Dyer, W. G (1996) Team Building: Current Issues and New Alternatives. Third Edition.
Reading: Addison-Wesley Harper B, & Harper, A (1992) Skill-Building for Self-directed Team Members. New York: MW Corporation. Raddy, W. B (Ed) 1988.
Team Building. Blue prints for productivity and satisfaction. San Diego. University Associates and NTL Institute.
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