Team building skills are essential for every aspect of life. Whether your a manager, entrepreneur or just setting up a neighborhood park clean up, basic team building skills can determine the success of any project. Needless to say, many projects and events have failed because team collaboration and team work was sacrificed for individual grand standing and personal achievements.
Belonging to a team sets you up for greater effectiveness that you never could accomplish on your own. Organizations and groups that promote teamwork create environments that lead to greater productivity, creativity not to mention a feeling of ownership. Here are 8 basic strategies for effective team building:
Common Goal
The success of any group project is that there must be a clear single goal. Many teams fail when there are multiple agendas. Teams and organizations that succeed are those that have communicated a common purpose and goal.
Clarity Goal
With all communication clarity is a must. Great communication keeps team members from aborting the core of the project due to lack of understanding of the overall purpose. Frequent communication of the project purpose can be vital in keeping the team on track.
Commitment From Each Team Member
For a group a people to function as a productive team, there has to be a commitment from each team member to the team. This can be the fall of many team projects when there is a lack of commitment.
Do What You Do Best
The purpose of assembling a team, is to group together individuals that have specific skills to accomplish a specific project. The purpose in which an individual is selected is based on their skills that they bring to the task. When putting a team together, there are two ways to look at this approach. You can select those that you can guarantee their performance or mingle in new members to set the tone for productive team collaboration.
It’s Not About YOU!
The hardest attitude to grasp in playing a role on a team is that “it’s not about you.” It not about your resume, what others will think, it’s about playing a role to accomplish the goal or task that has been given. The hardest challenge to any project lead or manager is getting a group on individuals to function as a team and place their personal ambitions to the side.
You’ve Got to Talk to Each Other
Not only is communication of the project goal vital, but frequent updates of the task is important. With multiple tools at our fingertips like email, mobile phones, wiki’s, and project management software, to not communicate is a sure sign of lack of commitment from team members.
Work as a Team, Play as a Team
You can tell when teams have spent time together both in a working and social environment. Successful teams can anticipate what others will do and how they will respond. This can only happen by being together. Any person that is responsible for building teams will factor in the importance of spending time together both on projects and in non-working events.
Everyone Can’t Lead
Every task must have a project lead. There are many ways to choose a lead. Some managers choose to select by an individual’s area of expertise or their ability to communicate and manage projects and people. The ideal situation is to delegate to an individual that is skilled in both areas.
What areas as a team player can you improve on? What areas in your work or personal life can you see the value of team building?
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photo credit: sidehike
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