Team members who work effectively with one another have the capacity for increased productivity. Successful teams comprise members who have an understanding of their own roles in the group as well as their teammates' roles and responsibilities. Working in a collaborative fashion, effective teams have the ability to agree on goals and strategic plans, divide work equitably and work together to develop new ideas and concepts. In this way, each team makes a contribution to organizational productivity and effectiveness.
Forming the Right Team
Creating an effective team begins with selecting the appropriate people. Good teammates work well in groups, are flexible of others’ work strategies and understand how to effectively compromise. Team members should be qualified for their tasks and should have no personal or professional conflicts with other team members, which can decrease productivity, whereas a work environment where teammates are amicable toward one another has the potential for increased group productivity.
Providing Appropriate Direction
For a team to be effective and increase its productivity, it must have solid project direction from its superiors. A good manager will provide detailed instruction about team projects including goals, measurements and timelines for completion. Depending on the nature of the assignment, a manager might opt to designate specific tasks to individual team members, taking into consideration the individual strengths and performance backgrounds of team members.
Ensuring Individual Accountability
One of the best ways to increase team productivity is a system in which each person is held individually accountable by the group. Creating an internal system of checks and balances will ensure that each team member is pulling his weight, contributing equitably to the workload and meeting all pre-established deadlines. This approach will help prevent under-contribution and failure to complete work on time, all of which have the potential to slow the productivity of the entire team.
Benefits of Team Support
Teams that effectively support other members can increase productivity. In any group there are individuals who naturally fall into leadership roles and those who have greater productivity. When team members self-assign tasks that each is best suited for, it leads to a team dynamic in which each individual is using his own strengths and talents for the group's benefit, leading to increased productivity and quality of product.
Two Together Beats One
It's true that when two people work on the same project, the project has more work hours devoted to it and, thus, is costing more than if only one person worked on the project. But researchers have confirmed that in such circumstances, each individual's productivity increases above their productivity level when they worked alone. In fact, the weaker worker's productivity increased an average of 10 percent.
Teams Increase Motivation
Just the idea of teamwork improves productivity. Team members who work near each other motivate each member to be more productive, even when they are each working almost entirely individually. In fact, virtual teams that never actually meet also increase their productivity over individuals working without being part of a team. Apparently, simply knowing you're part of a group that shares common goals and depends on each member to excel is enough to increase each worker's productivity.
Teams Improve Morale
The feeling of belonging to a group increases each person's morale and the team's overall morale as well. Team members report feeling that they have support from others on the team. When each team member has an assigned role, he feels appreciated by the other team members when he meets deadlines and completes his tasks well. This positive feedback from other team members motivates each team member to continue to excel in her work so that she will continue to be appreciated as a valuable member of the team.
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