How Effective Teamwork Leads To Success?

It can surprise you, but teamwork is not a natural human process. But does it mean that we need to do all the tasks individually? Richard Hackman, a Harvard professor and expert in social and organizational psychology, argued that teamwork is less productive than the individual in most cases. Hackman defined two reasons for inefficient teamwork. First, teams are usually managed and formed incorrectly. Second, teams generally get a type of work that can be better performed individually. If we learn how to fix it, our organization will have a highly motivated and productive team.

In this article, Amoniac OÜ will share our point on managing and building effective teamwork. We will define the most significant challenges in creating teams and outline how beneficial the organization can be in a well-organized partnership. This article will be pretty helpful for developers, as teamwork in the IT industry is the ground for effective performance.

Why Teamwork Fails?

As you can see, not every business knows how to create an efficient team. When we speak about a team, we usually mean 3-12 people working together to achieve a goal. It can be a small team of up to 5 people or bigger groups of up to 12 people. There are five characteristics of teamwork:

• Collective work. It is not a few people who work with their tasks. It is people who are connected by common aims.
• Positioning of each person in the team. Every person understands the final goal, has responsibility for some tasks, and realizes its role.
• Open communication. The team usually is an open place for honest and trusting communication.
• Autonomy. Each team is a part of a more considerable organizational structure.
• Synergy. The results from teamwork used to be more valuable than the results from individual work.

It looks like creating a team is not a big deal. But in fact, we see how often those teams have the weak motivation and internal conflicts. It happens when the organization does not ensure efficient team management. But there are a lot of ways to change it.

How The Company Will Benefit From Well-Organized Teamwork

Before we jump into a discussion of how to build an effective team, let's discuss how beneficial it can be for the company.

1. Boosts creativity. Teamwork makes people share different perspectives on discussed solutions and ideas.
2. Increase productivity. It is proven that team members inspire each other to be more productive.
3. Encourage team members to take healthy risks. It means that people feel responsible, aren't afraid to share thoughts, and work independently.
4. Fast learning. Another benefit of teamwork is that it allows people to learn from each other faster.

There is no doubt that companies need to invest in team management. It is the best way to improve the business processes.

How Effective Teamwork Building Look Like

If you have already decided to create teamwork in your company, you need to clarify what makes this work successful. What makes any team efficient, productive, and motivated? We define the most important things to consider in this building process.

1. The team should be factual, not nominal. A real team has a fixed number of members, and everyone knows their roles and responsibilities.
2. All team members understand goals and strategy. A productive team needs to know what aims they need to achieve.
3. Organizational structure should support teamwork. A good team structure should make the work easier, not more complicated. For example, if one person approves the work of 12 people, it will probably be inefficient for the workflow.
   
4. Positive organizational context. What does it mean for the organization to ensure a positive context? First of all, team members need to have all the necessary resources and support from management. Also, they need to be rewarded for good work.
5. Opportunity for high-quality training and mentoring. To have access to trainers and get answers for their questions will make teams more beneficial for business.

The Best Cases of Good Team Work

One of the most well-known examples of productive teamwork is how Steve Jobs bought Pixar and made it a successful company with good team organization. In the 90s, it was a small company that produced computers. They moved to the old factory and started working there. But Jobs wanted to expand the potential of every team member. He created an open space where people could communicate and solve problems together. It was a great solution, as it boosted team productivity and creativity. And we know how successful Pixar became in years. Another example of good investment into team building is Google. 10 years ago, they decided to research what makes a good team. They launched a survey for their employees and were surprised by the results. The best units need to ensure that it is psychologically safe to work with those people. It made Google focus on this issue, investing in a positive team environment for efficient work.

Final Thoughts

Teamwork is something we need to learn. This article outlines the most critical characteristics for effective teams and defines what to avoid in building a good team. There are many reasons why investing in team management is better than hiring more and more people. Organizations need to establish an appropriate structure, ensure a good environment, and define clear goals. It can be difficult, but the business will benefit from productive and creative teams.