Teamwork Cohesion : 9 Lessons for an Effective Teamwork

A good team can work wonders for your department and organization. Together, people can deliver results in far quicker time and higher quality than a single individual. So, teamwork cohesion ought to be looked after for more productivity.

These days companies look to hire people who work well in groups and who can prove to be both a good leader and a team player. A good employee can transition seamlessly between collaborating with others to working on their own.

Some people have this ability naturally, but others can acquire team-building skills through training and guidance. Businesses and firms regularly have their employees go through team-building workshops and exercises to keep the workforce cohesive and stable. Several factors make a competent team possible.

1) Communication, The Way For a Good Teamwork Cohesion

For a team to perform efficiently, all members need to be on the same track. Keep everybody informed of new changes and developments by delivering constant updates.

Today it is easier than ever to coordinate efforts using smartphone applications like group messengers or synced task apps. An open channel of communication allows members to freely express their feelings, ideas, and opinions, which avoids conflict and keeps teamwork cohesion on track.

An informal environment removes barriers to communication. However, workers must be comfortable enough to confide their reservations and issues.

2) Inspire By Being a Leader

A team leader unites individual efforts and guides them in the right direction. It is his job to create a positive work environment and keep everybody motivated and inspired. When a crisis hits, team members look up to their leader for support and assistance.

A good leader leads by example. The best way to inspire others is to do it yourself. If you want your team to exhibit a lively, committed, and proactive attitude, you must adopt the same approach yourself.

Members who are comfortable discussing issues and problems with their supervisors are also better able to solve them.

Leaders help their subordinates overcome obstacles by providing advice and support. They should also always be available and ready to stay in late for the sake of the team. Leaders who maintain an informal teamwork environment are quick to gain the trust of others.

A friendly atmosphere in the office will add to teamwork cohesion. They will also be more likely to speak up their reservations and ideas, giving critical insight into the project.

3) Outline Clear Roles

A team must have clearly defined roles and responsibilities outlined for them to reach the desired teamwork cohesion.

Tasks should match the skills, knowledge, and capabilities of the individual.

The best way to do this is, consult and discuss the tasks on hand with your team. Make a list of tasks that need to be completed to reach your goals. Those who can perform specialized tasks will step forward and take responsibility for it.

When a person enters willingly into a task, they will be self-motivated to work and better understand their role in the organization’s grand scheme.

4) Teamwork Cohesion Through Resolving Conflicts

Each individual is unique, and it’s only natural that work styles differ from person to person. Conflict is bound to arise within a group at some point in time, no matter how well the teamwork cohesion is maintained.

To counteract conflict, have a structured response in place beforehand. Conflict resolution in the form of detailed instructions on how to act will solve the issue as quickly as possible, efficiently, and productively.

Also, to mediate disputes, ask the team members to talk directly about what’s bothering them. The instructions on conflict resolution should require members to submit documentation or proof to resolve the argument.

Rather than playing the blame game, a sufficient teamwork cohesion will be proactive and focus on a solution rather than taking sides.

5) A Good Teamwork Cohesion is Generated By Respect For Diversity

Efficient teamwork is one that relies on a diverse set of skills and capabilities. If the majority of the team are financial specialists, it will significantly narrow the scope of work that the team can accomplish.

When recruiting and assigning team members to create a group, search for people who balance the others in terms of skill, experience, and personality. Take advantage of the differences, and also encourage the team to voice their opinions.

The divergent viewpoints will provide well-rounded feedback and ideas to the group to perform better.

6) Allow Your Team To Work in Teamwork Inspiring Environments

Google has become infamous for its open office environment. Whether you are a proponent for the “open workspace” design or not, it’s hard not to admit one thing–wherever there is open space, people are free to collaborate.

And this is precisely what you should want to happen within your creative team. If you’re interested in getting the best teamwork cohesion, give your team more options concerning their work environment.

By doing away with the typical office settings and cubicles, people tend to feel more freedom to brainstorm and think outside of the box.

7) Resist the Urge to Hover for Better Teamwork Cohesion

In many cases, employees are not trusted to use their judgment when completing specific tasks. Instead, leaders tend to micromanage by recommending that teams work according to a plan they’ve already outlined.

The problem with this is that your team will be less productive due to the constraints they feel. Your team prefers to brainstorm on their own.

Talented people are more likely to give their best when they’re allowed to have freedom over their own time. So instead of providing a list of procedures, be firm about what you want as a result and allow your team the freedom to come up with ways it can get done.

Just make sure that status updates are both timely and necessary and that you make yourself scarce between these meetings.

8) Place Emphasis On The Learning Process

As a leader, it’s not only your job to get the most work from your team but also to encourage their development, which can be accomplished in part by encouraging them to use every project as a learning experience.

Employees nowadays appreciate the freedom to explore new ideas and technologies. By emphasizing how important it is for them to explore, they’re more likely to offer new and exciting insight.

They may discover easier and more time-efficient ways of reaching your goals. Managing a team takes patience and willingness to understand under what conditions the team is most productive.

Instead of micromanaging, allow for an open environment, avoid excessive status reports, and encourage exploration. All it takes is being aware of their freedom and making the proper provisions.

9) Use Project Management Tools for a Better Teamwork Cohesion

It’s not easy to build a successful business from the ground up. It’s even harder to keep that business profitable when growth does take off. It takes a village to keep the organization running smoothly and efficiently.

It also takes the right tools. One of the fastest ways to eat into profit margin is to let projects get out of hand because of poor management. Scope creep and timelines eat away at profitability.

You’ve identified a need in your organization: better communication and collaboration. Your first thought is to start searching for new tools to help in that effort. It’s not a wrong instinct, and we’ll dive into a few of those tools you can look into below.

Skype

But, there may be tools folks in your business are already using that could be implanted as a company-wide standard. A couple of the most common examples would Skype.

Skype cuts down on the need to walk to somebody else’s desk or set up a meeting in the conference room for quick chats. Plus, it’s completely free to use.

While this tool won’t provide a complete solution to your project management concerns, they will increase efficiency without additional cost. That’s an easy win.

Trello

Trello is a straightforward tool to help individuals and teams work together to finish projects on time and scope. It uses a simple system, basically replacing the need to track tasks in spreadsheets and, God forbid, sticky notes.

It’s a quick visual representation of what needs to be accomplished, what has been accomplished, and more.

Trello is a great project management tool that can track tasks from idea to implementation by assigning them to different boards. File sharing is another important and often overlooked piece of project collaboration.

Slack

Unlike complicated and challenging to manage email conversations, Slack provides your business with a chatroom platform for effective communication.

It’s designed in such a way that it allows you to organize communication by channels. Also, you can follow private messages to share information and files.

Slack combines an intuitive UI with both group and person-to-person messaging. It also allows businesses to control who can use it through the invitation system.

Slack appears to be just another collaboration solution, but it is a revolutionary innovation for teamwork cohesion.

Google Drive

Google Drive is one of the most popular tools to accomplish easy sharing. You don’t want to have to rely on sending large files through email or messaging systems.

You might have the internal bandwidth to handle huge files, but if you’re communicating with third-party vendors or clients, they might not accept them.

Basecamp

The previously mentioned tools all serve just a couple of business needs.

You can use Skype to facilitate communication, but it won’t help you track time-sheets or keep a database of client needs. If you’re looking for a complete solution, Basecamp has a few options to keep your teamwork and company running smoothly.

Basecamp allows you to do many different things, but the focus is on making communication between teams—and clients—straightforward and streamlined.

Of course, if you’re looking for tools to help teamwork cohesion, you could always go with the app called Teamwork Projects.

Teamwork

Like Basecamp, there are numerous pricing tiers to help businesses develop the most effective solution tailored to their needs.

With Teamwork, you get all of the project management staples, like Gantt charts and billing, with the bonus of collaboration tools and file sharing. Whichever tools you decide to use, make sure it’s the right fit for your company.

There are various project management tools and techniques for business collaboration out there to help you become more efficient. And, increasingly there are more and more tools being designed to support specific niches or industries.

So before jumping into those apps, do some more research on your specific industry. You could be surprised to find the perfect collaboration tool just waiting for you.

In Conclusion

It’s true; people nowadays have their brand of work ethic. Unlike many, they tend to resent the idea of strict schedules and absolutes. Instead, they opt to work according to what inspires them the most.

As a leader, you must consider which management style suits them best. The best way to manage teamwork cohesion is to design every element of their jobs around the idea of freedom.

It does not imply that you should allow them to miss deadlines or concede to their direction for the project. However, what it means is that you should be mindful of how you communicate your leadership. Also, under what guidelines you place them.

Whenever you find your team needs to improve communication, follow-up, and organization, search for the right support app or tool. It will make the need for micromanaging go away, besides getting the team to contribute and share essential information to succeed.