“Teamwork is the ability to work together toward a common vision. The ability to direct individual accomplishments toward organisational objectives. It is the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results.” –Andrew Carnegie

Working in a team should create opportunities for every member to stretch themselves, hone their skills, generate new ideas and get motivated to work more effectively together and achieve great results, knowing they are fully supported.

Below are 4 key indicators that your team is working effectively together.

1. Shared vision, goals and values

Most teams comprise individuals with diverse background experiences, perspectives, opinions, personalities, ways of working and behaviours.

In the absence of a common goal or purpose and understanding of what will motivate them to work together, conflict and disagreement can prevail.

You can bring them together by working together to agree, and then articulating a shared vision and making sure that everyone in the team is on the same page in terms of what is important and the goals you are aiming to achieve, to create a harmonious environment in which the best work can be achieved. This can also be done by recognizing them for all the hard work they’ve been doing throughout the time spent at your company. Lots of employers have started giving out corporate glass awards that represent an appreciation for their employees. It’s a great motivating tool that will work in the team’s favor.

2. Clear tasks and responsibilities

Defining who is working on which task means you won’t end up overlapping or leaving gaps in the work to be produced because of a lack of communication.

If everyone knows what they are doing and when, the team will be much more productive and the goals will be reached much more effectively.

Having clear milestones to accomplish, broken down into smaller tasks and clearly and fairly allocated amongst the team, will considerably reduce some of the stress and anxiety that many face in the workplace.

Make sure that everyone knows that the team only succeeds when everyone succeeds, provide them with the right project management tools, and encourage them to help others once they have completed their tasks.

3. A skilled team leader with a well-specified role

A team leader can hold everyone together as well as guiding the team members towards success.

And, an effective leader will help motivate the team, provide a listening ear if anyone is struggling and make sure everyone stays on task so goals can be achieved on time.

Team leaders should always remain flexible so that they can be direct when required but also allow individuals to develop their own autonomy.

4. Communicate

The most important aspect of teamwork is definitely communication.

Communicating with your team members will not only increase the quality of your results, but it will also make the working environment much more harmonious and enjoyable.

You can practice your communication skills during teamwork tasks as every individual will prefer a different type of communication and it’s important to be able to cater for all styles to enable all team members to know what you require from them.

Encourage sharing of best practice to create learning opportunities to enable each team member to improve their skillset and help personal development.

If you’re interested in benchmarking how well you lead your team to perform effectively you may find my 5 point checklist very useful and you will find it here…