What is a team?
In the dictionary, one of the definitions of a team is “a group of people organized for a particular service”. In this simple definition, perhaps the key word is “organized”, which means “Ordered, ordered methodically”. However, what method is this that could provide a neat environment for performing a particular service?
Operating as a team is essential to achieve a competitive advantage in the market and maintain high organizational performance. A team must cooperate and not compete; it must be a team and not a group: many people work as if they were on a production line, where the work is individual and each one is concerned with carrying out their own task.
However, a work team needs time so that its members can fix their individual differences in perception and way of working; but time is a scarce commodity in business today. So what can be done to facilitate the establishment of a real staff in the limited time available for such? An environment conducive to teamwork would be the answer. This environment must have some characteristics that favor the construction and maintenance of integrated work teams, such as:
• Conflict prevention;
• Motivational policies;
• Fair rewards;
• Well-targeted training;
• Incentive to innovation and creativity;
• Appropriate management style;
• Clear objectives;
• Horizontal organizational structure.
The team leader’s incentives for each of its members to know a little more about themselves also contribute to adjusting the differences between its constituents. According to Maria Inês Felippe, psychologist, Master in Creative Development Potential from the University of Education of Santiago de Compostela in Spain, self-knowledge results in a better adjustment and achievement of maturity and emotional control, which brings with it:
• The ability to understand others and make ourselves understood by others;
• The possibility of judging ourselves and others as objectively as possible;
• The satisfaction of accepting ourselves and accepting others, admitting that nobody is perfect, and that we will also find qualities in ourselves and in any other human being, if we really want to find them;
• Knowledge of their abilities and shortcomings, how and what to improve.
On the other hand, the daily routine of a true team basically requires three conditions: optimization of communication between people, coordination of the actions of its members and establishment of operating procedures for holding meetings in the daily work space.
The conclusion is that a team is the result of an environment willing to flourish in the way it organizes the interrelation of its members. To quote Henry Ford: “Coming together is a beginning, keeping together is progress, and working together is success.”
References:
FELIPE, Maria Ines. 4 C´s to Compete with Creativity and Innovation. Rio de Janeiro: Qualitymark, 2007.