How to ensure good teamwork at your job

Working in a team at your workplace can be a boon if you have good people around and there is enough understanding. However, it could also turn out into a nightmare if the people you are working with are not compatible or competent enough. If your job profile is such that it requires working in a team, then you have to be a good team player and a good team player ensures good work not just personally but also for the whole team. While individual performance matters and is important, what is more important is the collective output of the team. So, at times, you would need to keep your preferences and opinions aside for the common interest of the team.

The first and foremost mantra for good team work is the ability to communicate one’s point well. This applies to all types of job places. Whether you are in a banking job, marketing job or technical jobs like software job , it is unhindered and effective communication that leads to good team work. Team members should be able to communicate with each other in an unrestricted but polite manner. The key is to be assertive but not aggressive. While talking to the team members, one cannot get pushy. Also, the communication with the team leader should be a two-way affair where subordinates are allowed to present their point of view.

The leader of the team should be strong enough to take decisions and have effective implementation of that plan. For any team to work in coherence, it is important that the goals are defined well and the strategies put in place well in advance. The team leader should be able to lead from the front and should be able to keep team goals above personal objectives. A good team leader is fair, objective and exemplary. He/she should be good at delegating responsibilities and ensuring that the work is fulfilled in time. The leader should be able to guide and mentor the team.

In a team, it is natural that there will be conflicts of opinion because there are so many heads working together. However, it is conflict management and abandoning of ego that can lead to conflict resolution. It is the job of the team leader to ensure that a conflict is resolved tactfully and objectively without hurting anybody personally and keeping the team’s common goal in mind. For that, it is important to build the trust of the team so that they believe that no difference in opinion can mar the team’s overall performance.

If the goals are clearly defined and everybody is assigned roles as per their strengths, the chances of a team not working well are remote. It is then the duty of the team leader to ensure that the team works in tandem and the job at hand is accomplished satisfactorily. The learning is high while working in a team because people get to learn form each other and also from the conflicts that they are faced with. The key is to be open-minded and accepting opinions of others too. If one understands these basic tenets of working in a team, success can’t be far.