Teamwork

• Forming Team,
• Organizing Team,
• Managing Conflict in Team

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Teamwork
• Teamwork in the workplace:
• A group of co-workers or employees working together to complete a
specific task or reach a common goal.
• Team members have or share expectations on things like:
• Completing task(s) assigned to them;
• Trust and support of one another;
• Respect of another’s individual opinion or differences

• Practical elements of teamwork may involve:

• brainstorming sessions,
• maintaining open communication channels,
• holding regular meetings, and
• engaging in other collaborative activities.

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10 Key Elements of achieving
Teamwork in a workplace
1. Effective communication -
❖Open and transparent Communication amongst team members
❖Consistently updating each person and never assuming everyone has the same
information.
❖ If individuals keep information to themselves, others will not have a clear picture of what
everyone’s job entails and how far it has progressed, leading to confusion, mistakes, and
even conflict.
❖Team members always need to express themselves clearly and frequently, whether
they’re working independently or collaborating in a group setting.
❖Offering encouragement to the team also inspires the best out of team
members.

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Effective communication (continues)
• Effective Listening (Good listening skills by both leadership and
team members)
• Listen and understand fully other team members’ point of view.
• No interruption – give other a chance to talk before you say anything.
• Use body language and nonverbal communication gestures like eye
contact and nodding to show that you, listener, is paying attention.
• Active listeners also repeat what they’ve heard to confirm their
understanding, e.g., by
• Paraphrasing the main points they have heard to make sure all issues are
understood.
• Seek clarity - ask questions to get more information about the problem.
2. Establish a clear organizational purpose
• Greater awareness by team members on company’s core mandate
• This will in turn allow employees to harness greater independence when completing
personal responsibilities while also taking a proactive approach to fulfilling their
team’s core purpose.

3. Set concrete team goals (Short-term and long-term goals)

• Availability of goals or objectives give team member motivation and inspiration to
accomplish their tasks
• Goals represent direction the project should take thus;
• allowing team members to exercise a level of flexibility and creativity when determining
the optimal or most practical way to reach their desired outcome.
• Continuous reference to concrete team goals also ensures that everyone knows why
the team exists and that all work within the team must ultimately contribute to the
fulfilment of those goals.

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4. Promoting ownership and accountability
• Effective teamwork make team members feel a sense of ownership of the
project or assigned task;

• Encourages team members to be accountable to their work and motivates

them to work prudently;

• clarification of roles for each team member and open-communication also

• encourages ownership and ensures that accountability is continuously upheld

• Each team member(s) need to be responsible and take accountability for the
tasks they must complete; and
• Acknowledge when things go wrong, or mistake happened

• Accountability also:
• implies taking responsibility for errors without waiting for a leader, such as a project
manager, to intervene.

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5. Delegation of work or tasks
• Delegate tasks based on strength
• Team members have different strengths and weaknesses;
• For effective delivery of the team, members need to be assigned tasks depending
on their strengths.

• By identifying all aspects of a project, different tasks can be allocated to appropriate

team members, thus Boosting productivity among project team.

• Delegate workloads appropriately so no single person has too many tasks

• Where a team members feels that he/she doesn’t have the right skills or tools
for the job,
• Its good to communicate, and communicate timely
• Doing so can save the team a problem that may arise

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6. Promote efficiency and avoid micromanagement
• A strong and cohesive team develops systems that allow them to
collaborate efficiently to complete tasks in a timely manner.

• Through working together, team members tend to

• become aware of their own capabilities and the capabilities of the group in general
and can organize the workload accordingly
7. Support employees in building team
cohesion
• All workplaces provide challenges, but having a strong team
environment in place can act as a support mechanism
members.

• They can help each other improve their own performance as well as
working together toward improving their professional development.

• Building bonds on trust and reliance on each other,

• can be extremely important when facing a particularly difficult challenge while
continuing to maintain productivity.

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8. Create a culture of ideas and
innovation
• When a team works well together, colleagues feel more
comfortable offering suggestions and ideas.
• A respectful and trusting team environment will not only enable
colleagues to think more creatively but will lead to more
productive and collaborative brainstorming sessions.
• The ability to appreciate and respect others’ differences and learn
from them.

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9. Reward teams for taking risks

• Safe risks can be extremely valuable to overall team success and

enhancing employee innovation.

• To create an environment that encourages healthy risk taking,

• it’s important to first clarify what smart risks are, and
• ensure that employees understand they will not be judged or punished for
taking risks – even if they don’t turn out how they expected them to.

• In addition to leading by example,

• praising team members for taking healthy risks will also contribute to a more
innovative workplace culture that drives effective teamwork.

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10. Trust
• In order to create an innovative and creative workplace, trust must be
continuously prioritized within teams.

• Building trust takes time and a combination of many other skills

• maintaining honest and strong communication;
• respecting one another;
• navigating conflicts calmly;
• taking responsibility for work and accountability for errors;
• etc
• Trust can be further developed through:
• Sharing success stories and openly congratulating team members for their
achievements
• Creating an accountability flowchart and clearly defining roles
• Encouraging autonomy
• Avoiding micromanagement

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Workplace Synergy
• Workplace synergy
• Can be defined as collaboration of individuals who combine their efforts to
enhance their achievements and attain high level of performance in the
work- place

• Teamwork and Synergy (comparison):

• teamwork simply describes the act of working together or collaboration
among team members, whereas
• team synergy is when the collaboration among team members reach its full
potential
• Example:
• If Teamwork can be seen as ‘climbing the mountain’ then
• Synergy can be regarded as reaching the peak of the mountain

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Building workplace synergy - techniques
1) Improve workplace communication
• Effective communication amongst team members very important
• It makes members of express themselves openly
• Can boost their sense of belonging to the team or company or workplace., hence
enabling a healthy workplace
• It fosters trust and reduces misunderstandings
• Etc

2) Empower team members or employees

Examples:
• Allowing team members to use their skills, talents and power to do the work
• By so doing it shows the workers or team members that their managers have
confidence and trust in them
Building workplace synergy (continues)
3) Encourage or promote Team collaboration
• Collaboration – team members working together efficiently, e.g.,
• To brainstorm new ideas;
• To complete projects, etc

Note: Collaboration – can be achieved through various initiatives such as

• Encouraging open communication
• Undertaking some team building exercises, retreats, thus enhance team bonding and
reducing conflicts

4) Regular Feedback and Communication Loops

• Team members to be given regular feedback to allow them to
• Share ideas,
• Raise concerns, and align goals
Building workplace synergy (continues)
5) Sharing vision, values, and goals
• This brings everyone together in pursuit of reaching common goals
• Enables team members to overcome their differences because they are
aware of a common objective they all are working to achieve.

6) Clarifying Roles and Responsibilities

• Clearly defining roles and responsibilities prevents confusion and conflict
• It ensures everyone knows what's expected of them, leading to effective
collaboration and improved team performance
Building workplace synergy (continues)
7) Training and Development Sessions, example – it helps:
• equipping team members with the necessary skills and knowledge to
perform their roles efficiently,
• team members grow personally and professionally, fostering a sense of
belonging and commitment to the team

8) Celebrating Successes and Learning from Failures

• Recognizing and celebrating team successes
• This can boost morale and foster sense of unity amongst team members
• Learning from failures can help the team improve and grow stronger
Building workplace synergy (continues)
9) Diverse and Inclusive Team Composition
• diverse team brings different perspectives, skills, and experiences
• This diversity can lead to innovative solutions and improved problem-
solving
Conflicts at the work place
• Six Common Workplace Conflicts

1. Interdependence/Task-Based Conflicts
2. Leadership Conflicts
3. Work Style Conflicts
4. Personality-Based Conflicts
5. Discrimination
6. Creative Idea Conflict
Workplace Conflicts (continue)
1. Interdependence/Task-Based Conflicts
• The disagreements arise in an interdependent project network when
• individuals coordinate their tasks so that everyone can successfully get their part
done.

• Example – in building construction work when the brick worker awaits electrician to lay
electrical conduits on the foundation floor before the brick layer can pour in concrete
for slab. If electrician delays that can delay brick worker’s job hence causing conflicts
Workplace Conflicts (continue)
2. Leadership Conflicts
• Managers have different leadership styles, and
• Team members can reacts differently to those leadership styles.
• Some managers or leaders are easily approachable, others not.

• Some managers or leaders are highly technical and strict on rules and
deadlines, and others not and are hardly seen.

• To avoid potential conflicts;

• Mutual respect of differences throughout the company should be emphasised.
Workplace Conflicts (continue)
• 3. Work Style Conflicts
• People have different work styles.
• Some people prefer to work in groups while others do their best work alone.
• Some people need no extra direction to complete a task, while others like external
input and direction every step of the way.
• Some people get more work done under pressure, and others like to knock their
tasks out early.
Workplace Conflicts (continue)
4. Personality-Based Conflicts
• People are all different, and
• At times it’s not easy to work with someone who you do not go along with his/her
personality or character.

5. Discrimination
• Example - harassment or discrimination going on due to age, race,
ethnicity, gender, etc
Workplace Conflicts (continue)
6. Creative Idea Conflict
• Conflict when it comes to idea brainstorming.
• Employees need to recognize the ideas of others, voice their own, and
• Gather the best pieces together for a best solution
How to resolve the conflict/ Conflict
resolution
1) Acknowledge that a difficult situation exists.
• Honesty and clear communication play an important role in the
resolution process.
• If you are a manager get familiar with what's happening and be open
about the problem

2) Give individuals opportunity to express their feelings.

• Some feelings of anger and/or hurt usually accompany conflict
situations.
• Before any kind of problem-solving can take place, these emotions
should be expressed and acknowledged.
 Conflict resolution (continues)
3) Defining the problem
• Defining the cause of the conflict will help in understanding how the issue started.

• Team members affected need to agree on what the issue is and discuss needs that aren't being
met on both sides.

• Problem should be discussed professionally without accusing either member

• Determine underlying need
• The goal of conflict resolution is to reach a solution that everyone can live with.
• Look first for needs rather than solutions,
• Example:
• try to find out why people want the solutions they initially proposed.
• Once the advantages of their proposed solutions are identified, the needs have been determined

4) Find common areas of agreement, no matter how small:

• Agree on the problem
• Agree on the procedure to follow to resolve the problem
• Agree on some small change to give an experience of success
Conflict resolution (continues)
5) Find solutions to satisfy needs
• Problem-solve by generating multiple alternatives
• Determine which actions will be taken
• Make sure involved team members buy into actions.
• Note:
• Total silence may be a sign of passive resistance
• Be sure real agreement is obtained from everyone.
Dealing with Anger
• To effectively defuse anger, remember that the needs of the angry
speaker:
• To vent. An angry person needs to let off steam and release the anger that may
have been brewing for a long time - use your communication skills to allow the
person to do this.
• To get the listener's attention. An angry person wants to know that you are paying
attention - use your body language to show this.
• To be heard. An angry person wants someone to listen to his/her point of view -
acknowledge the feelings you hear so that the speaker knows you appreciate how
angry he/she is.
• To be understood. An angry person wants someone to appreciate how they feel -
try to empathize with their experience so that they feel you understand the situation,
and acknowledge their right to feel the way they do.
• Also when listening to an angry person:
• Be attentive and patient. Keep in mind that they will become less angry as you let
them express themselves.
• Be sincere. Empathy and validation must be both honest and genuine.
• Be calm. Try to remove your own emotions from the discussion.