Ensuring Effective Teamwork in an Organisation

Generally, the term 'teamwork' means the actions of individuals, brought together for a common purpose or goal, which subordinates the needs of the individual to the needs of the group.

Teamwork, when used narrowly or technically refers to the process of working collaboratively with a group of people in an industry/organisation to achieve a goal.

Deductively, teamwork is sine qua non towards the sustenance, growth and development of an industry, business or organisation as it involves pooling and tapping all the individual's skills together through co-operation and injecting these new skills totally to the already existing level of know-how in the business so as to move the industry from its present level to a much more productive stage of development. Teamwork belongs majorly to the labour related means of production as it involves human initiative being pooled together and of course implemented by capital means of the organisation and sometimes through the same labour if the industry is labour intensive. Since the protégé constitutes the large scale of the labour force of any organisation, factors that must ensure effective team working in the organisation cannot be got over.

A lot of scholars have aired their views on the best practices that can ensure effective teamwork in an organisation.

Writing on ' Tips For Building an Effective Team", Riley Jones, identified that the first step to building an effective teamwork is effective communication of the team's goals.

Here, it is meant that the protégé must be attentive and attuned to the team's objective and goals. This certainly ensures the whole team is focused towards achieving a common objective. The role of the protégé can be divided ensuring that their responsibilities do not overlap. Giving everyone a free hand in their domain will guarantee that your team tastes success very fast.

Very closely related to this vintage point is the fact that the protégé must be informed with face-to-face briefings as this helps them feel useful and important.

On the second note, it is crucial to involve the complete team while making necessary decisions. This makes them feel necessary and more responsible towards their roles. Brainstorming as a team will additionally throw up better concepts and solutions. Here, there has to be a general consensus on what the mentor wants the protégé to do and not an individual's opinion. The protégés have to exercise as much self-direction and self-control as they can on routine things. The mentor may need to say what exactly he wants them to achieve, but they must decide how to deliver it.

Third, the mentor must inform all the members of changes in the organisation and not to spring surprises. There might be new innovations or the management can change certain routine policies in the organisation, but is the duty of the mentor to inform them in a meeting and not inform them individually or not inform them at all except if they do anything contrary to the changes in the organisation.

Lastly, the mentor must be a good listener and he has to act on their objections when they have good ideas. The mentor must always give good reasons for declining to act in their objections.

The points outlined thus far are practical in nature and if applied religiously can turn around any organisation's productivity to a much more enviable level.