Effective Team Communication

It doesn’t’ matter if it’s a personal or professional affair, the foundation of all successful interactions is based on effective communication skills. Know how to develop effective team communication skills in order to attain the desired goals, smoothly and successfully at the workplace, with clients and family. But the focus here is on the effectiveness of team communication.

Most organizations, now, work on different projects simultaneously with separate teams allocated to each project. Depending on the project size and scope these teams can be small or large. Irrespective of the number of employees in a team, it is essential that every member of a team understands and shares relevant information related to the project. It is also important that they have a clear picture of their roles and responsibilities with respect to the project and deliver accordingly.

Therefore, in order to ensure a successful project execution, it is important that the team members share a healthy relationship based on trust, confidence and mutual understanding. Follow the tips given below and start practicing them within your team:

1. Always respect all your fellow team members, irrespective of whether you are just a team member or a team leader.

2. Keep every team member informed with the latest project updates or project issues.

3. Define the role and responsibility of every team member clearly to avoid confusion or un-necessary re-work.

4. When in a meeting or discussion, let every one have their turn to speak and suggest. It is of no use if you alone keep talking and ignore what others have to say.

5. Listen to others’ opinions and use their suggestions if found to be effective. Listening plays a significant role in effective communication. Repeat others’ words to acknowledge their point of views.

The best tips are those that come from observing your own team. Look at what they do and how they work, talk to them about the work process – that’s communication. Keep doing this and you’ll find that you’ll be finishing each other’s sentences in no time!

The Importance of Common Goal in a Team

“Respect your fellow human being, treat them fairly, disagree with them honestly, enjoy their friendship, explore your thoughts about one another candidly, work together for a common goal and help one another achieve it.” - Bill Bradley (American retired NBA Basketball Player)

You hardly ever hear the word supervisor anymore in organizations that over the last 20 years have embraced teams and teamwork as an effective way of doing business. It’s the norm to find Team Leaders in companies because employee motivation and morale improves dramatically when people feel valued and when their contributions make a difference. Anyone would tell you that it’s good to be part of something worthwhile.

It’s all well and good to want to work in a team, however, managing teamwork is challenging and some organizations fail to gain the benefits that teamwork can provide. Teamwork has to be well managed. A balanced team composition is essential. Team members have to be carefully selected. The full range of knowledge and skills required must be present. Team members need to be committed to the task.

Team composition is critical for success. Working together is essential. Harmony and a positive attitude are critical. If the team is not working together, then the expected gains will not materialize.

An understanding of the common goal/task is also critical. People have to be clear as to why the team exists and what the purpose is.

A team is a group of people made up of individuals who each contribute their individual knowledge and skills. Synergy, where the collective whole is greater than the sum of the individual parts, often occurs where teamwork is working well. Teams benefit because individuals often do not have all the knowledge and skills necessary. Teamwork as a concept has grown over the last 20 years. However, teamwork success is not automatic. Teams have to be established for the right reasons. Team member selection is very important, as is ensuring that the team purpose is clear and agreed upon. To help you realize the importance of common goal in a team, here are some points for personal reflection:

Is teamwork used extensively in your organization?
Are teams achieving what you expected?
Are teamwork problems being addressed?

When a Team is a Team

Take a look the people who think belong in your team at work. Do you know what makes a team or perhaps it’s a just a term that you used to group people. If you’re serious about getting a team together, it’s time you recognized what makes a team.

When a team meets to resolve a team problem, each team member contributes a different type of perspective to the discussion, and tries to achieve a different effect. One person may want to clarify the problem being discussed; another may suggest ideas for resolution; a third may try to analyze the situation and produce an explanation of how the problem came about.

Coaches produce agreement and harmony across the team, trying to create a positive team atmosphere and reach a consensus.

Crusaders produce a sense of priority, stressing those issues that have most importance so that discussions are focused on the most valuable topics

Explorers uncover new potential in situations and people and explore new areas and the possibilities that they present

Innovators produce a sense of imagination and contribute new and alternative perspectives and ideas

Sculptors bring things to fruition, producing action to address the most urgent matters, and using tools or techniques that they know (from experience) will work

Curators produce a clarification of ideas and information, producing a better knowledge and clearer picture of any situation

Conductors produce structure and introduce a logical organization into the way things are done

Scientists produce explanation of what is happening and the cause of problems, and generate models to demonstrate how things work

Each team role contributes different sets of soft skills showcased in the way the team interacts. Look into working out the contributions each one is making to the team, and you will see a real team forming before your very eyes.

Appreciative Team Building

Rather than repair deficits, appreciative team building expands what already works. Through examining your moments of greatest success, you'll discover your team's unique combination of talents - your positive core. With these strengths as a guide you'll dream your ideal team, then design and implement specific ways to sustain more cohesiveness, creativity, shared meaning and productivity.

In appreciative teams, pride becomes contagious; trust and engagement grow. The appreciative process can be applied in almost any team initiative:

1. Newly formed teams that want to quickly establish effective roles, responsibilities and norms.

2. Teams aiming for more powerful collaboration.

3. Ongoing project teams facing special challenges.

4. Teams needing renewal or clearer focus.

5. Leadership teams for strategic planning.

6. Whatever the focus of change, the appreciative process frames the agenda affirmatively.

7. Within every complaint lies a dream of how things might be.

Through appreciative team building, you'll construct team roles and relationships that bring these best possibilities to life.