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Teamwork: Successful together – part I

What makes a team successful?

Teamwork is more important than ever, not only for organisations. When looking for a job, candidates most often inform themselves about teamwork in a company (77%). In addition, they want to get to know their future team colleagues (63%) as well as the future manager (95%) during the job interview.1 There are good reasons for this: A global study from 2020 shows that teamwork has a high influence on the motivation and commitment of employees. Respondents in the study were 2.6 times more likely to be fully engaged if they worked in a team. They were 14 times more likely to be fully engaged if they trusted their team leader.2 The more engaged employees are in their daily work, the higher their performance and therefore the better their results. Companies benefit from this. It is therefore all the more important to align the corporate culture towards successful teamwork.

What characterises a successful team?
Teamwork is essential for the success of a company. But how does a team become successful so that it works well together and achieves the company’s goals collaboratively? The key factor for the success of teams lies in building trust.3 Teams in which there is a high level of trust between the members are more satisfied with their work, more willing to perform and have a greater willingness to help their team colleagues.4 Especially in virtual teams, there is a strong correlation between trust and effectiveness. If there is a high level of mutual trust among the team members, this can even compensate for the lack of personal contact. This means that trust is essential for the success of the team – and thus also for the company.

The precondition for trust to develop is transparency. Because without a certain amount of information about a situation or an issue, trust is not possible. To be successful in a team, communication must be open and clear. This applies both to the objectives of a project and to decisions, which must be comprehensible. The more open the communication, the more uncertainties are cleared up. The members of a team must be able to rely on each other; doubts are out of place. Transparency avoids doubts. For this reason, transparency is crucial for the development of trust in the team.

To be successful as a team, there must also be a strong sense of cohesion. For a project to be successful, it is important that all competences are bundled. To achieve this, it is necessary that all team members pull together, pursue a common goal and do not compete with each other. A common bond in teams also increases satisfaction, motivation and commitment and leads to higher work performance. A successful team does not only consist of individuals, but of lived trust, transparency and cohesion.

Checklist: What about trust in the team?

Freedom vs. control:
□ Do team members have freedom to carry out their tasks or are there rigid guidelines and control mechanisms?

Decision-making processes:
□ Are decisions made jointly?
□ Are the decisions of the team leaders comprehensible?

Open exchange:
□ Is there an open exchange?
□ Or are there many unspoken issues within the team?

Culture of failure:
□ Are mistakes allowed?
□ Do team members admit to weaknesses?
□ How are mistakes or failures dealt with?

Personal level:
□ Is there a sense of community?
□ Do the team members exchange ideas beyond the working level?
□ Are there joint events in which everyone (gladly) participates?

If the majority of the questions is answered with “no”, there is potential for improvement within the team! In the second part of this article you will learn how these improvements can be made, how trust can be built, transparency created, and team cohesion strengthened:

Teamwork: Successful Together
Part II: Building Trust, Creating Transparency, Strengthening Cohesion

 

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1 StepStone: Erfolgsgeheimnis Team 2019, Patricia Pela, Dr. Tobias Zimmermann. S. 11
2 ADP Research Institute: Global Workplace Study 2020, Dr. Mary Hayes, Dr. Frances Chumney, Marcus Buckingham. S. 33
3 https://www.humanresourcesmanager.de/news/virtuelle-teams-zum-erfolg-fuehren.html
4 https://www.vdi-nachrichten.com/karriere/das-erfolgsgeheimnis-von-teamarbeit-heisst-vertrauen/

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