The pandemic of coronavirus brought unprecedented stress to society at large. At work, companies needed to adapt quickly and many of them needed to adhere to the remote work to continue their activities. All these changes and difficulties brought to light the importance of teamwork.
However, maintaining the same performance and quality in group work during the home office and the effects of the pandemic on a daily basis is a complex task. Employees feel increasingly isolated as the months go by, which makes team integration difficult.
For this reason, companies need to rethink their strategies and value team work even more. To help you in this mission, we have prepared some important tips that will encourage your team. Throughout the text, you will find:
- be present;
- stimulate communication;
- learn to live with diversities;
- carry out a planning;
- establish clear goals and objectives;
- reinforce the group's sense of commitment;
- discuss continuous improvements;
- celebrate achievements.
Coronavirus has also made it difficult for employees to interact with the company. As a result, the feeling of belonging to the team ends up being harmed. If you want to go deeper into this topic and understand how to motivate employees to feel part of your business, we recommend reading this another article.
Now, in today's article, we will understand in practice how to encourage teamwork to count on always engaged employees. Come on?
What does teamwork really mean?
Teamwork is the practice of integrating the work of members of the same team so that the execution of the task is carried out in a shared way in order to achieve better results.
However, talking about teamwork is easy. It's really difficult align interests, competences and skills of different professionals. Therefore, it does not mean just bringing a group of people together, it is necessary for companies to develop the habit of integration and collaborative work.
That is why many organizations find it difficult to implement this concept among their employees.
So that in fact the team work developed, it must be borne in mind that it takes time and requires changes in organizational culture and the way the company interacts with its employees.
How did covid-19 show the importance of teamwork?
Since the beginning of 2021, the dynamics of companies have changed. The COVID-19 pandemic forced several sectors to drastically change their operations, shifting most of their workforce to the home office.
Many companies faced great difficulties in adapting to the new reality. Those that already had more integrated teams, managed to stand out and achieve success more easily through online collaboration tools.
According to a recent article by Harvard Business Review, Culture Amp, a software company, saw an increase in transparency and trust across the organization, as teams were forced to make autonomous decisions quickly at the start of the pandemic.
Still according to the article, conversations between remote teams have become more focused and less subjective. As a result, productivity and quality of results have improved.
In addition, it is clear the importance of tools and technological resources for remote work to work, having well-developed communication and a culture of consolidated integration were key parts to adapt to the new work dynamics.
So it has become imperative that organizations create enabling environments for your teams to be able to relate and work collaboratively.
In addition, on the part of employees, the coronavirus crisis highlights the need for professionals to have some skills important behavioral issues.
A survey by PageGroup highlighted that the The skill most valued by large companies in Latin America is precisely the ability to work as a team (47%). In Brazil, the most valued behavioral skills are:
- emotional intelligence (42.9%);
- team work (38.4%);
- assertive communication (31.1%).
Still according to the research, these skills will receive even more relevance after the crisis, since they are being essential for overcoming the instabilities of the moment.
Having emotional intelligence and the ability to work in groups are essential to adapt quickly and make decisions in the face of so many uncertainties.
8 tips to strengthen teamwork in your company
As you could see, the job market is increasingly demanding, selecting people with a strong capacity for adaptation, flexible and who know how to see in the other the opportunity for new learning, exchange.
Therefore, your company must not only look for talents capable of carrying out group work, but also develop this habit in your current employees.
Here are some ideas to boost collaborative work in your company:
1. Be present
THE team leadership has a fundamental role in this task. He must closely monitor the development of his subordinates' activities and the way they relate.
He must be prepared to assist the team in possible setbacks, ensuring that no problems hinder the final result of the projects. In this way, it is seen as an example to be followed and, thus, employees strive more to contribute to the overall performance of the team.
2. Stimulate communication
THE internal communication it is crucial for teamwork. Therefore, encourage dialogue between team members to avoid conflicts and for everyone to participate in decision-making.
Thus, it will be possible to have a more cohesive team that agrees with the steps that will be followed. This also allows for the creation of a more pleasant and pleasant working environment.
A team that is in the habit of communicating is able to act more independently, resolving internal conflicts without the need for superiors to get involved.
3. Learning to live with diversities
Another important point for teamwork to work is to understand that it is made up of different professionals with different skills. Therefore, conflicts and clashes of opinion are common.
The larger the team, the greater the care that needs to be taken so that there are no setbacks between members.
In these situations, leadership also plays an important role. The manager must resolve the situation fairly and consider the opinion of the majority and the best practices for solving the problem.
To change the behavior of the teams in situations of differences of opinion, it is necessary to transform the entire organizational culture, always encouraging dialogue and voting to arrive at the best solution.
4. Carry out a planning
For employees to work as a team, all the work to be carried out must be organized in stages. In addition, the roles of each member must be well determined.
Thus, it will be possible to have greater control of who will perform which function and how long each step will take to complete.
Planning is indispensable for the organization and success of group work. Everyone is able to carry out their work in a focused and conflict-free manner.
5. Establish clear goals and objectives
For teamwork to be successful, it is necessary to determine what the missions and objectives to be achieved will be. This is important for employees to work in a committed and effective manner.
Each team member must have both their individual and group goals. In this way, employees will know that in order to fulfill all of their objectives, the group's overall work is important.
6. Reinforce the group's sense of commitment
As well as establishing goals that depend on the entire group to be carried out, the company must reinforce the employees' sense of commitment to the group.
For this, it is necessary that employees dedicate time to the development of rules and guidelines for joint relationship. Thus, they will feel an important part of the decision making related to group work, reinforcing the sense of belonging to that team.
7. Discuss continuous improvements
It is important that employees are able to self-reflect to find errors and points for improvement in group work. The team must openly discuss the rules, processes and the interaction between its members.
From this, together, they will be able to identify the factors that may be impairing the group's capacity and, thus, arrive at improvement strategies.
8. Celebrate achievements
And finally, when your team is able to fulfill its objectives and have good results, it is necessary to recognize the group work.
Therefore, seek to celebrate the achievements of group work, emphasizing that this would not be possible without the collaboration of all. This will help in the integration of the team to always deliver good results.
Now that you know a little more about the importance of teamwork, it's time to follow these tips and put it into practice in your company. Keeping your employees together and working collaboratively will be essential to overcome the moments of crisis and achieve more and more results.
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