What is Teamwork and Why is it Important

"Teamwork is the ability to work together toward a common vision. The ability to direct individual accomplishments toward organizational objectives. It is the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results." - Andrew Carnegie

The reason behind the encouragement of cooperation and collaboration is to promote interaction, trust, enrichment, comradeship and support in a team that will usually lead to the accomplishment of goals. A team is a group of people who has individual skills, judgment and experiences. Everyone within a team has a basic role to perform but at the same time is jointly responsible for the overall result. All these put together produce an exceptional outcome.

One piece of log creates a small fire, adequate to warm you up, add just a few more pieces to blast an immense bonfire, large enough to warm up your entire circle of friends; needless to say that individuality counts but team work dynamites. - Jin Kwon

Building Effective Teamwork - Team Building Tips

Create the vision or goal.

Individuals need to have a vision to drive them to take action. Your role is to induce them to see the future both for the organization and their own personal growth and development.

Shift the mentality.

A leader has to encourage and direct his team members to shift their mindsets from taking individual credits to that of succeeding together. He has to create their awareness that working together in a group will produce faster and bigger result than each one of them doing it alone.

Utilize each person's uniqueness.

Each individual has different and diversified knowledge and skills. A manager should select his team members and give them different roles to perform, each contributing to the overall performance and objective.

Provide training.

Leaders should provide team building training, exercises and workshops that teach and emphasize the benefits of working together. The trainings will equip the individuals with the knowledge and skills on problem solving, communication, negotiation and conflict resolution.

Empower and encourage.

Empower and encourage the team and you will instill them with more energy. Acknowledge and give praise on their creativity, diligence, commitment and resourcefulness. Become a better listener and influence them to do the same.

Reward and give recognition

Combined individual efforts produce a winning team. Rewards on an accomplished goal should promote and encourage future cooperation among the team members. This does not mean that each individual will get an equal reward. You could break down the performance and offer individual recognition for a special contribution.