Thursday, March 6, 2014

Tips for Team Effectiveness
            Four main elements affect how successful teams will be when working together. First, teams need goals that focus their skills. Second, good parameters are needed to help the team stay on track. Third, a good environment is needed in which to work, one in which correction and objections can be heard without insult. Last, and arguably most important, a good leader is needed to help create all three of these things. When you implement these four things in your businesses’ teams, they will become happier, more productive employees.
Goals give great motivation
            Goals and rewards give teams incentive with rewards to go beyond what has been previously done and really push for the best possible results (Heathfield).  One set of goals may not be right for your employees. A tiered structure of goals may better fit your employees’ needs. A tiered structure will give new and inexperienced employees a chance to succeed on some level while giving them room to grow. This would also give other employees the chance to push themselves and go for those really high reaching goals and rewards.
Parameters keep teams on task
            Parameters are like the banister on the staircase; they are sometimes needed to keep the team on the right track, but they must also not get in the way of creativity. These guidelines keep teams out of lawful trouble or already explored areas that have failed. Anyone can come up with a bunch of rules, but a harder challenge is creating good parameters that guide the teams while not constricting them into doing what has always been done. Leaving room to grow is important for any company looking for better and more efficient ways of doing things.
Environment fosters better ideas
            The leader is primarily in charge of crafting the environment to be conducive to good group habits. In order for a teams to work well together they must be able to freely share ideas, thoughts, plans, and goals (Steps…).  If a good environment is not in place around the team, then symptoms of groupthink may take place. This could lead to bad ideas, which seem to be supported by everyone, becoming the accepted approach. Leaders must set the standard of respect amongst the team. They must also encourage constructive criticism and set the example of receiving this criticism well.
Team leaders guide the team to success
            Team leaders are the driving force that pushes the team forward with their good people skills. Leaders have many different roles in the group. They match people and their skills to tasks in a project that produces the best results. They act as mediators to convey ideas between different people with different backgrounds or as an intermediary to resolve disputes. A good leader must also be able to step down when another takes the lead in a specific area.
            Challenging goals, structured parameters, respectful environment, and a good leader are attributes that can be applied to any team no matter its purpose. When your business implements these elements in your teams, you will see the results of hard working employees that are supported and driven to accomplishing their projects.




References
Heathfield, Susan M. 12 Tips for Team Building. Retrieved from About.com:            http://humanresources.about.com/od/involvementteams/a/twelve_tip_team.htm


Steps to building an effective team. Retrieved from University of Berkley HR:             http://hrweb.berkeley.edu/guides/managing-hr/interaction/team-building/steps

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