A team culture is necessary for success. Working together effectively is not automatic. It requires a specific effort and the development of a culture supported by executive management. Shared experiences create unity and value. Knowledge transfer is essential for the growth of an organization. Without the transfer of knowledge and the sharing of successes, it is difficult for the group to share a vision and work towards common goals.
1. Create an intentional communication strategy. Your management team must understand and support a common vision. This requires clarity. Clarity begins with effective communication. Make sure your management team’s communication reaches all employees.
2. Do not establish intentional competition in the workplace. Try to make sure that individual skill sets complement each other rather than compete with each other. Distribute responsibility and authority by alternating leaders for various tasks. Look for potential stars and introduce coaching and mentoring as a skill set.
3. Create team ownership in the decision-making process, but not committee management. Avoid groupthink by making sure people express opinions openly without intimidation. Responsibility must be accompanied by authority and accountability.
4. Build trust and respect by giving trust and respect. Act as a coach or mentor and not as a boss.
5. Create off-site team building activities on a quarterly basis. Social gatherings, sports activities, laser tag or other activities that generate unification and mutual trust.
6. Don’t just talk about empowerment and delegation, believe in it and demonstrate that belief by allowing team members to make decisions and act independently.
7. Take complex plans and strategies and assign responsibility and ownership. This creates more efficiency and boosts creativity. Assign responsibility according to individual passions.
8. Brainstorming should be encouraged to unleash team innovation. Bouncing ideas off each other stimulates creative thinking that leads to creative solutions. This in itself unites individuals in a common purpose.
9. Ask for solutions assigning both responsibility and empowerment. Ownership of ideas and initiatives generates commitment. Involving the team in creating directions and solutions through empowerment generates commitment to the tasks necessary to meet the objectives.
10. Challenge your management team. Confidence in team effectiveness minimizes risk by being more flexible and adaptable than relying on one person. No single individual can jeopardize success. The loss of a team member can be overcome without losing sight of the goals.
