Together Everyone Achieves More!

The TEAM (Together Everyone Achieves More) concept is a very powerful one because when team members work together for the good of all, everyone achieves more. Here are some of the positive aspects of teamwork.

Goal oriented

The highest priority for team members is achieving the team’s goals. There may be team members who have strong personalities, possess highly specialized skills, and commit themselves to a variety of personal objectives—but the most important thing is the success of the group. To function effectively, members of a team must be flexible, trust one another, and wholeheartedly support every member of the group in its progress toward achieving its goals.

Collaboration

When team members work well together, collaboration is a big benefit. People want to work well together and support one another because they identify with the team. They want the team to shine and be successful. Individual competitiveness is reduced. For the sake of the team, people want to do more than cooperate with one another. They collaborate; they willingly invest themselves in the team effort.

Communication

When people have learned to support and trust one another, they share what they know freely. They realize how important it is to the team to pass on the information that members need to operate more effectively. Information flows freely up, down, and sideways; so communication becomes another benefit.

There can’t be collaboration and support in a group without communication among the people in the group. The way people communicate with one another—both in words and nonverbal clues—not only reflects how they feel about working with one another, but it also builds (or detracts from) the team’s effectiveness. Good communication gives clear messages that are conducive to people working productively and without misunderstandings.

Better use of resources

There is a more efficient application of resources, talents, and strengths, because people are applying them willingly and sharing them with other members of the team. Whenever one member of a team lacks certain knowledge or competence, another is there to fill the gap.

Better decisions

Decisions and solutions are made simultaneously with everyone generating and evaluating more options. Those decisions are made by consensus, which means they are usually better than what even the brightest person in the group could come up with alone.

Higher commitment

People who are responsible for decisions and solutions own them, so they feel committed to carrying them out successfully. These team members feel a strong commitment to the team itself not to let it down.

Quality

There is more concern for achieving quality and accuracy, because employees feel they are part of a team effort. They want to make the team look as good as possible. In addition, because team members work collaboratively, they ensure that each member gets what he or she needs from the team to turn out the best possible work.

Problem resolution

As people on a team learn to take other members at face value, they build trust and credibility. Disagreements that affect certain team members become issues for the entire group to deal with, because they can affect the working of the entire team. Team members, therefore, don’t have to resolve differences on their own. The whole team pitches in to help.

It is more important today than ever before that we work well in the team environment. I hope this article reminds everyone of the important benefits of teamwork in every aspect of our lives.