Individual success through team work

Individuals can no longer perform tasks successfully in a manner to create value for business organisations. Regardless of where you are in the hierarchy, commercial value creation is a function of synchronising and synergising individual tasks across all levels of a business organisation to produce a service or a product in the most cost competitive way.

'Together we are stronger' is a common theme used by teams across all fields, not limiting to business.

The best example we can use as Sri Lankans is the excellent intra and inter team work by the three armed forces and police in a well-coordinated air, sea and ground battle to eliminate terrorism.

However, the team's success depends on the capacities, competencies and skills of individuals. Brilliant individuals make brilliant teams.

I have in the past spoken about various elements of individual development and as to how one can tap into the inner recesses to optimise performance.

The common feature of all winning organisations is brilliant team work. Effective and timely planning, coordination, collaboration and execution, minimise value loss through the value chain.

Hence, team-building skills are so fundamental to your success as a leader. Even if you are not in a leadership role yet, understanding team work can make you a better performer and give you an extra edge in the organisation.

When your team can accomplish something much bigger than a group of the same individuals working on their own, one can say that team work has paid .

You then have a strong synergy of individual contributions. 1+1 > 2 (one plus one is greater than 2) is the mathematical illustration of team work that amply shows success.

Success of team work doesn't happen by itself

In the real world, success of team work rarely happens by itself, without focused team-building efforts, there is simply too much space for problems leading to value loss.

Different personalities, instead of complementing and balancing each other, may build conflicts. People with similar personalities sometimes fight for authority and dominance in certain areas of expertise.

Even if team goals are clear and accepted by everyone, there may be no team commitment to group goals or no consensus on the means of achieving those goals; individuals in the team just follow their personal opinions and move in conflicting directions. There maybe lack of trust and openness that prohibits clear communication leading to breakdown .

What it takes to build a winning team; collective and independent approach

The team must have common goals and a vision, where each member understands their role, and how they can integrate personal aims to it. Realistic results can be measured, and you can assess how far the team has gone in terms of achieving goals, and what should be done if it is otherwise.

It is also wise to encourage interdependency since every team member must understand the extent of their contribution, and how it affects the overall efforts of the whole team.

Interpersonal competition must be shunned as they hinder the team's development.

Team members should understand and appreciate differences.

Individual contribution is what makes up a team, therefore members must understand themselves, and realise that not all are equal, hence other members' roles in the team should be valued.

You must also ensure that all members are competent and understand what each project entails, and also ensure that you have the right people in your team, as far as different abilities are concerned. You must also understand in which area your team is lacking, and participate to fill the gap promptly for the overall success of the team.

Effective communication is vital

In the process of building a successful team at work, effective communication is vital for any team since the direction in which communication flows should be imparted to members, as well as how to communicate with each other. Communication is very important, especially in linking departments. Always remind the team of its purpose.

Members must be given a constant reminder regarding the reason for their collective effort, and what they should be looking forward to, to keep them focused.

Making it happen and keeping it alive

Team work should be essentially embedded in the organisation's culture and constantly reinforced through activities and visuals to keep the team together for sustained performance.

Team work stimulating posters and art prints, corporate team building exercises, activities, and games, seminars, workshops, articles and virtual teams are some ways to keep the people together.