Importance of Team Work in a Company

“There are plenty of teams in every sport that have great players and never win titles. Most of the time, those players aren’t willing to sacrifice for the greater good of the team. The funny thing is, in the end, their unwillingness to sacrifice only makes individual goals more difficult to achieve. One thing I believe to the fullest is that if you think and achieve as a team, the individual accolades will take care of themselves. Talent wins games but teamwork and intelligence win championships.” Michael Jordan

What is a team? According to the Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary, a team is–A number of persons associated together in work or activity.

What is teamwork? Work done by several associates with each doing a part but all subordinating personal prominence to the efficiency of the whole.

“Teamwork is the ability to work together toward a common vision. The ability to direct individual accomplishment toward organizational objectives. It is the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results.” Unknown

Teams come in all shapes and sizes. Parents working with teachers to help students achieve their potential are an example of a team. So is the individual employed by an organization, working together with their colleagues. The coach of your favorite team working with staff members and players forms another unique team. So what makes one team more successful than another?

They have a mission: Successful organizations have a mission statement. What is a mission statement? A mission statement describes your organization/teams purpose. It captures the qualities that the team wants to develop, what the teams goals are, and how the team is going to get there. In other words, it is a road map.

Winning teams set realistic, attainable goals. Once their goals (objectives) are reached they set new goals. Winners need to be challenged. There needs to be a team awareness and communication. Team members must be aware of what is happening around them as it relates to the teams overall game plan. That awareness involves a perception of how the individual is doing. For an athlete that might be how they are doing in class, on the court, and in their dealings with other people.

Communication is a two way street. A team that communicates together is more likely to do the things necessary to be successful.

Successful teams are disciplined teams. My main rule dealing with athletes is: Be where you are supposed to be, doing what you are supposed to be doing, when you are supposed to be doing it.

They are committed. They are willing to do Whatever It Takes, (WIT), to help the team achieve their goals. Their commitment must be legal, moral, and ethical. Their individual goals are secondary to the goals of the team.

Periodic review of team and individual performance. Athletes, as well as those who are part of a business organization need feedback. They need to be told what they are doing right, and what they need to work on to improve individual and team performance.

They have a winning attitude. They believe in themselves, their teammates, and their mission. They don’t allow negative “stinking thinking” to sidetrack them. They associate with other “winners”. And they know that success leaves clues.

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” Unknown

“Coming together is a beginning….keeping together is progress….working together is a success.” John C. Maxwell

Motivation In Your Business

Many people want to work at their business. It could be businesses they run from their household or one other from an office.  They want to make progress, make new things happen and make a profit.  The average person has so many ideas that they cannot accomplish them all in one day. But many good ideas produce good businesses.   There seems to be one problem that is common among all of them-the need to get motivated.  Motivation is the energy and push behind what makes people work their best.   How do I get started is what many people ask?  There are old saying that says “just do it,” or “go for it.” These work for some but not all.  There are a few underlying forces that drive many people to get motivated.

  The anticipation of acquiring money can man make people work.  More and more people every day are acquiring work for a pay to take care of their households.   If your goal is to help people save money that can be a motive.  If you plan to make a huge profit yourself, it can be worthwhile to sacrifice a little time to get motivated to do it.  Some managers in a business need to get profits through people.  Ask a few people and they will tell you that it is money that motivates them.  Money lets them acquire the goods and services they want and need that are important.  Be ready to prove people wrong if they tell you that you cannot do it. Show them you can do far more than they can handle.  Put a lot into proving yourself but do not burn out too quickly.

  Innovation brings competitive workers.  Competition is a way to get many people to work extra hard.  Getting people together to work competitively then offering them a prize is a good motive.  Some competitions are top sales for the month, most sales or most new customers.  The more rewards that are offered for doing better that the next worker the more motivation will be exerted. 

  Some people are motivated by helping others.  When people are helping others they feel like they are reaching out and contributing to others; they are taking a step further than the least effort and giving knowledge to others. When they help others they receive appreciation.  Appreciation makes motivation.  No one wants to be taken for granted. Everyone needs to be appreciated for what they do.  Most business owners do not offer appreciation to their workers when it really costs nothing and has such a large influence.  To say thank you on the job well done would be suitable for business owners.  When people see themselves developing, it brings on motivation.  Most people want to develop.  Development can take place with a training course, seminar or conference.  People can be challenged with special projects in the business community.  They can measure their progress in their own manner.  Workers get motivation when they grow in the right environment.  They need to be appreciated, respected and they will give 100 percent of their time.  A work environment should give workers the chance to attain their goals.  Small business people should also create an environment that is honest with success ongoing and training continuous.  They should solve problems with others.

  By the time people become managers of a small businesses they should model the behavior they want from their workers.

Are You a Leader or a Manager?

I want to talk to you about something very important to the success of your network marketing business: you must become a leader to succeed.

My question to you is: Are you a leader or a manager?

You see, when you go to school, you don’t learn to become successful; what you learn in school is how to become a good employee!

And that’s a problem for me, you see I never wanted to become an employee (no matter how highly paid); I’m a natural born entrepreneur!

You see being an employee is good (for some people), but being a boss is better; in the same way, being a manager is good (for some people), but being a leader is far better but you don’t learn that.

Below, I want to review with you a comparison list between a Manager and a Leader.

• People follow the manager because they are told to. 
  People follow the leader because they want to.
   
• The manager uses the fear of loss to make people work.
  The leader uses goal achievement to make people work. 
   
• The manager is controlling his people.
  The leader is caring for his people. 
   
• The manager is the sole decision maker.
  The leader always brainstorms and consults with his team. 
   
• The manager is limited by his own capacity.
  The leader can leverage the energy of his team. 
   
• The manager has employees.
  The leader has partners. 
   
• The manager make people work.
  The leader work with his people. 
   
• The manager tells people what to do.
  The leader shows people what to do. 
   
• The manager is feared.
  The leader is respected. 
   
• The manager sees people as expenses and tools as asset.
  The leader sees tools as expenses and people as asset. 
   
• If the manager fails, his employees will leave him.
  If the leader fails, his team will support him.

Basics of Team Building

A team may be defined as a group of people who come to achieve a common purpose. The word team is derived from the use of oxens or bullocks shackled together to create a focused, shared force for transporting heavy materials. Although there is no magic formula to build team efforts effectively however there can be a concentrated effort as to how a team works and this in turn would yield you with greater capability to help you building great and effective teams.

Team building, a word used most frequently these days. Almost all corporate companies whether big or small have realized the need and importance of team building. Because of the different personality traits it is always important for the companies to build strategies that could enhance the productivity of the employees in a team. So many companies have now adopted many team building practices and efforts to create a more motivated team workforce and develop an atmosphere an atmosphere where people support each other as a team and to foster organizational learning. The task of building teams is not as easy; however there are many techniques, methods, principles which can be applied to create highly effective teams. One of the many methods of building effective team building based on the stages of group development viz., Tuckman model is explained below:

Stages of Group Development:

Dr. Bruce Tuckman in 1965 developed a model on the basis of stages in the group development called the Forming, Storming, Norming and Performing theory. The Tuckman’s model explains that as a group matures; establish relationships the leadership style also varies. In the initial stages the leadership style followed is directive in nature, as the relationship progresses the style changes to coaching, this leadership style would be followed by participative leadership where in both of them work together and the leader also participates in the activities delegated to the follower. As this progress the style changes to delegation.
However he has split the explanation into four stages and the features of each of the stage are explained:

Forming:

There is high dependence of the team on the leader. There would be little agreement in the team other than the instructions received from the leader. There will not be much clarity on the team’s objectives, purpose, role and the individual responsibilities. The leader in this stage usually follows directive approach and   has to answer many queries.

Storming:

The decisions do not come easily in a group. There would prevail a scenario for clashes as the group members make an attempt to establish relationship. There might be power struggles and the knowledge about the purpose and existence of the group increases. In this stage the team needs to be focused on its goals and the leader needs to make sure that they do not deviate and become distracted by relationships and emotional issues. There would be a requirement of compromise to enable progress.

Norming:

This is the stage where the team comes to terms and there is feature of agreement and consensus prevailing in the group. There is complete clarity of roles and responsibilities. In this stage the team can engage in fun activities. The team discusses the working style and there would be prevalence of complete respect for the team leader.

Performing:

The team at this stage is more strategically developed and there is complete knowledge within the team of what the team is doing. There is shared vision and at this stage the team can manage all its affairs without the interference of the team. There is a high degree of autonomy within the team and even if there are disputes, they would be resolved within the team positively. Here the leader merely delegates and merely oversees the work.

Team building the way to success

These days team building is the key to success, you would have heard it many times isn’t it. It is of vital importance that you socialize with your team and become a part of it rather than thinking to be a part of it at a later stage. Many people in their workplace would have seen team building and practiced it also and few understand the experience of how to work in a team. In simple words could be the output of feeling a part of something larger than you. 

In team oriented environment you work with the other player to effectively produce the results and thereby contribute to the overall success of the organization. Inspite of the fact you have a particular job function, and belong to a particular department, the fact lies that everyone is associated with the accomplishment of the organization’s mission and its objectives. The objectives drive your action and the actions serve towards the objectives. 

However in the real time scenario the team work success happens with focused activities and goals. There is so much scope for problems to pop up. 
These can be possible because different personalities, the wish to get authority and dominance, lack of commitment levels, or it could also be because of lack of agreement on the ways or means towards the achievement of goals. Hence there arises a need for a good team leader to set things right. 

Here are some of the tips, techniques can help you to build a team that is co-operative and effective as well: 

• Ensure that there is complete clarity of team goals. Be sure that there is complete understandability of the goals among all the team members. 

• Have a check that the team members know what their responsibility is and ensure that there is no overlapping of tasks. Sometimes there may be chances that two team members may be inclined towards getting control over the same area. Make sure you divide that area according to their individual strengths and give them complete control over that task. 

• Develop a relationship of trust by spending time with each of your team member and developing environment of honesty. Provide opportunities to the team members so that they develop a sense of belongingness towards the team and feel comfortable to speak frankly. This can be done by giving them some time to speak for socializing with each other; all these activities in turn will encourage openness. 

• It would be a very effective idea if you take an effort to involve all the team members for decisions that depend on team consensus. This would increase their satisfaction levels and give them a feeling of self importance. 

• It is important that you not only give the negative feedback but be generous positive feedback also. 

Team building can pose many challenges but it is of vital importance that you resolve them and don’t leave it to chance.