Building a Successful Team at Your Workplace

Working in a team doesn’t come naturally to everyone, it’s a skill which takes time to develop. However when people do start working together as a team in the true sense rather than as a group of individuals, the results are much better. The primary benefit of working as a team is that it allows a company to achieve things which an individual alone can’t. Working as a team enables different minds to work on the same problem and hence come to a solution through mutual support. Below is a list of a few things a manager or leader can do to build a successful team:

Involve people in the decision making process

Involve the people in taking the decisions that ultimately would affect them. For the team to work as a team, the team leader needs to build relationships on the bases of trust and loyalty rather than the fear of power of positions.  The leader needs to adopt a democratic leadership style rather than a dictator one. A democratic leadership style engages each and every team member in the decision making process and encourages team goals. Giving the people opportunity to participate encourages them to take responsibility rather than just take orders.

Encourage diversity in your team

Having people from various backgrounds and experience levels should be encouraged. Having a diverse team of people brings in different perspectives and challenges you to choose the best. This diversity of viewpoints will lead to better decision making by the team as a whole. Moreover it would lead to effective problem solving and more innovation.

Clearly assign roles and responsibilities

It is up to the leader to evaluate each team member’s ideal position in the team and assign him that role. Each member should clearly understand his role and responsibilities in the team. Everyone’s role should be interconnected with other members of the team and their responsibilities dependent on one another for them to work as a team. If people won’t understand the impact of their role on others, they might start working in silo.

Provide regular feedback

Feedback is simply communicating with your team members about what you want from them and how satisfied you are with their performance. As the team leader you should be proactive with the feedback. Feedback is essential to assure that the team stays on track and that it improves each day. One should not wait until a problem arises to provide feedback to the team members.

Recognition

Performance of the team members should never be taken for granted. As a leader always take the time to applaud your teammates for their good performance. A person who feels appreciated for a job well done is bound to put in his best effort in the future too. Making people feel that they made a difference, reassures them that the team is paying attention to their efforts. Moreover giving recognition to deserving people builds loyalty and trust towards the leader.

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