Culture, in any environment, has the power to unify people, regardless of their differences. Take sports, for instance. There is a culture of team solidarity and winning. There is also love for the talent and energy involved in basketball, tennis, or any other sport which can unite individuals of varying ethnicities, religions, and economic classes.
As such, when a soccer match is on, nothing else matters but the game. It is equally important that a culture of teamwork is established and encouraged in the workplace. Although individual pursuits and successes are important and should be celebrated, the shared goals of the team must come before any other.
Before we discuss how to collaborate with your team, let’s learn how to identify a cohesive unit.
Qualities of a Cohesive Team
- They give to each other and the company without conditions.
Wanting a raise or promotion, for example, are not bad things. However, you shouldn’t help your team members and do favors with this objective in mind.
There might be a more appropriate place for quid pro quo, but it often devolves into unnecessary politics and acrimony. Members of a cohesive team give their best and look out for each other simply for the progress of the company.
- Every member knows and appreciates the professional strengths and weaknesses of their teammates. Annoying as it might be, it is a fact that no one can be good at everything.
Indeed, there is so much to do that it would be a feat to be good at most things. As such, among the functions of each member of a united team is that they should complement each other.
They should leverage the strength of their teammates when necessary, and freely offer their own strengths to make their colleagues look good.
- They trust and will rely on each other. There is never really a team if the trust is absent. You might label a group of people as being members of a team, but this alone is of no outcome—they will march as individuals and achieve little or no results.
Trust is built when individuals find that they can rely on certain people. To ensure that this is the case, workers should be hired based on their dependability and emotional intelligence.
- They openly and respectfully communicate their thoughts and feelings with each other.
Bye, office gossip. There will be no need for backbiting and similar behaviors when team members respect each other and can freely air their grievances.
- They have shared goals and priorities.
For any team to have longevity and be productive, they must bond over something bigger than their personal ambitions. The most successful teams have a clearly defined purpose, and this eliminates confusion, reduces the chance of conflicts, and ensures that they stay focused.
- They accept and are happy with their role in the workplace.
Often, it is in the absence of role identification and acceptance that sabotage, unscrupulous office politics, and backbiting occurs.
This unfriendly environment is not the natural habitat for creativity. The best teams are those where the members recognize the boundaries of their position and do not mind it one bit.
- The team members are autonomous.
While they still answer to their superiors, every member is granted the freedom to contribute with respect to their roles.
People need this kind of responsibility to perform at their best. If you hire workers for their skill and experience, micromanaging them is, in a sense, demeaning.
- The team grows from occasional conflict.
Cohesiveness does not cancel the potential for disagreement. Personalities will clash, and misunderstandings are inevitable.
However, conflicts do not excuse disrespect or physical harm of any kind. A unified team understands that disagreements are not only temporary but also necessary for growth. Such clashes are also quickly resolved.
- They are a diverse bunch.
You may be wondering why this is important—it is actually quite simple. If your company serves a diverse customer base, then you need a diverse team to properly attend to them.
Teams that include both sexes and individuals of different cultures and nationalities have a better chance at gaining and retaining customers.
- They hold each other accountable.
This is actually more difficult than it might seem. One reason why most teams never achieve accountability is that it is reciprocated.
If you point out a team member’s errors and expect them to do better, they are obligated to return this favor—although it does not always seem like a favor at the moment.
Successful teams know that accountability should not be feared or despised. It is done with acceptance and for the growth of the team.
- They achieve results.
While you cannot always trust numbers to tell you the truth about things like accountability, trust, emotional intelligence, and responsibility, they can reveal a lot about the cohesiveness of your team.
It only serves to reason that members of a strong team will meet their shared goals more often than not.
10 Tips for Team Collaboration
- Why should they collaborate?
You may do a little visualization here. Picture the members of your team seated before you and waiting for an answer to this question: “What are the objectives of this team?”
This question is even more pertinent if some or all of the members of your team will be working together for the first time.
Let them understand, in clear terms, the purpose of their collaboration and why it is crucial. They need to know what the success of their team means to the company.
By doing this, you will also help each member know why they were chosen to form the team.
- Every team member must be assigned a role.
After assembling them, each individual in the team should know the specific task(s) they will be handling.
Since the team members already know how they fit into the team, the roles assigned to them should leverage on their individual strengths.
If necessary, you—as the leader of your team—may form a hierarchy. This is especially important for large teams.
- You will need a team culture.
If different people must share a space and interact with each other, then there must be a culture that helps them act in the best interest of the company and leads to individual happiness—or job satisfaction.
It is more than just the boring, old, but highly necessary rules and regulations.
Culture is that unwritten—and mostly unspoken—set of values and beliefs that guides behavior and fosters meaningful relationships.
It transforms the workplace from a building of routines and long hours to a place of excitement and joy. Contrary to popular media, this has very little to do with ping pong tables or napping areas.
While these rules might form a part of it, the most important aspect of workplace culture are the relationships and how they lead to better productivity.
Good culture prevents toxicity like discrimination and harassment of any kind and fosters supportive environments. It is a safe space for every employee to grow without fear.
Now, teams within a company can have their own cultures, but they must not conflict with the general company culture.
- Trust is non-negotiable.
As the leader, you cannot ignore the fact that members of your team do not trust each other.
It might even be that you do not trust individuals in your team, as qualified as they might be.
This is not a small thing that should be allowed to continue if you care about the happiness of your team and want them to easily meet their goals.
Usually, distrust is merely a symptom of a much bigger problem. It could be that the team culture has been broken, and toxicity has found its way in.
In the workplace, people often worry about getting in trouble for speaking up when they have seen or experienced things like harassment.
Team members should be encouraged to freely share their thoughts, either in private to the appropriate authority or during meetings. Remember that shaming and blaming only breeds more fear and distrust.
Team culture and the need to maintain it should, in fact, be discussed in meetings.
- Conflicts are likely but be quick to resolve them.
The opportunity to notice small conflicts and attend to them are one reason why teams are important within a company.
They might, otherwise, go unnoticed and cost the company. However, vigilant managers would catch the little disagreements and malice before they grow into something more destructive.
Be careful not to pick sides or be quick to punish who you believe is at fault. Instead, truly listen. You want to resolve the conflict and mend the relationship at the same time.
- Be transparent and human, connecting with every member of the team.
The idea that leadership must be mythologically strong and infallible is just unsustainable.
It does not do any good to both employee and leader. Here are two facts that should be common but are often forgotten:
- People want to be led by other humans.
- People want to be respected and followed for being human.
You may scare people into obedience; such a team cannot be as productive and last as long as the one led by transparency, honesty, vulnerability, acceptance, and competence.
When you lead by autocracy, the individuals in the team may feel unheard and unappreciated. It is unlikely that this atmosphere will yield true loyalty.
- Praise does not create complacency.
Some managers are convinced that telling their employees that they have done a good job—or rewarding them in some way—will stunt or lower that employee’s productivity. This is a particularly misguided belief.
Think back to when you were a little child. You never stopped trying to read when your parents or teachers praised you. As you grew older, you were not complacent about sports, music, or any other interest you had because you were congratulated.
If anything, praise gave you faith in your abilities and made you want to impress those who cared about what you did even more.
By withholding commendation, your team members will feel less passionate about their tasks; you want a passionate team because this gives birth to creativity.
- Celebrate team victories.
Positive reinforcement, as described in the point above, works to get individuals motivated, but it is also effective with groups.
Periodically, you want to celebrate the achievements of the group instead of focusing on individual successes.
This celebration could be done as a small party or an outing. In this way, you not only encourage the team to produce even better results but to collaborate more with each other, too.
- Remote collaboration actually works.
In many ways, this is a brave new world. There is no doubt that only those who embrace progress, whether technologically or ideologically, will come out ahead of others.
In the case of remote teams and collaboration, managers and company leaders must embrace the online applications that make these possible.
One would not think that this is the case, but studies show that working from home boosts productivity.
This means that organizations must create structures which allow those who can contribute to the company from home do just that.
Slack, Basecamp, and other resources can be used to successfully manage remote teams.
- Measure improvement and productivity.
Data and surveys are everything in business. Without them, you would essentially be shooting blind when it comes to growth.
By measuring the team’s productivity, you would know when something is wrong—which can be broken culture, employee dissatisfaction, etc.
You should also conduct a survey within the team to know what must be improved. This is a more precise way to boost productivity.
Use this table as a guide to carry out a survey within your team. Feel free to modify and add more questions.
| Yes | No | |
| Are you clear about your role in the team? | ||
| Do you trust the mechanism within the team for conflict resolution? | ||
| Are you inspired by the team to do your best work? | ||
| Are you inspired by the team’s leader to do your best work? | ||
| Do you ever feel scared to share your thoughts? |
Necessary Skills for Working in a Team
- Time management: To succeed as a team, every member must be reliably competent. This means that they must promptly complete and turnover their tasks. To avoid individual delays that reflect badly on the team, every member must improve their time management skills. Time management can also help teammates do more with less time. Those who have acquired this skill can stay productive regardless of the pressure.
- Problem solving: This is more than just voicing random solutions and hoping that one works. It is a methodical process that begins with identifying a problem, figuring out its cause, coming up with solutions, and finding ways to implement them. The job of identifying problems should not be left to the leader alone. Those who can do this are an asset to any team. Problem solving prevents teams from wasting time and aids efficiency.
- Listening: One of the causes of conflicts within teams is misunderstanding, and misunderstandings often arise when there is more speaking than listening. Team members must realize that unhealthy competition that leads to infighting will neither be rewarded or tolerated. As such, they must respect and appreciate each other’s opinions and be open to learning from their teammates.
- Emotional intelligence: Friendships are not compulsory in a company, but for a team to really work, they can be helpful. Social skills and empathy—two of the elements of emotional intelligence—are some of the fastest ways to build meaningful and lasting relationships with team members. It does not take a lot to imagine how social skills can spark and build friendships. Empathy helps us relate to the thoughts and feelings of other people. Emotional intelligence, in general, fosters trust and bonds people.
- Communication: No relationship can succeed if those involved keep their feelings hidden and refuse to share their thoughts. In many cases, communication is hindered by either the team culture or the leader. If this is not the case, then team members must be encouraged to speak freely. Communication is not complete until the one who is listening understands the message. As such, team members should be able to clearly and explain their points vividly.
FAQ for Team Collaboration
What are the top three skills for team collaboration?
This answer is debatable. However, to promote team bonding and productivity, one might say that communication, problem solving, and emotional intelligence are the most important skills.
Why is team collaboration important?
It challenges people to think and create in new ways. It also improves employees’ people skills, which results in better customer service.
In Summary
Assembling a strong and productive team demands some effort. However, when done right, it can be truly formidable. Hopefully, you have been enlightened enough to help your team collaborate better.