Your Guide to Helpful Teamwork and Successful Work as a Team

Have you heard of that old saying “Teamwork makes the dream work?” The phrase was first coined by author John C. Maxwell in his book of the same name, in which he describes the value of adopting a more team-oriented approach to life. Let’s explore what that might look like for your team, and how you can make collaboration even more effective.

Ready to dive into the value of teamwork? Choose your focus by selecting the section that matters most to you.

1. What Is Teamwork?
2. What Are the Benefits of Teamwork?
3. Why Is Teamwork Important?
4. How To Improve Teamwork in the Workplace.
5. How To Promote Teamwork in Your Job.

What Is Teamwork?

Teamwork is when professionals work together to achieve a common goal. Team members must rely on each other, trust each other’s capabilities, and develop a strong rapport through clear and consistent communication.

There’s also an element of personal accountability in effective teamwork. Collaborative projects have multiple pieces managed by different specialists. Effective teamwork means owning your responsibilities and following through on what you say you’re going to do.

The most successful teams master the art of team decision-making. This is an agile and collaborative workflow that shares responsibility for key operating decisions. According to a Gartner study, 65% of the decisions we make today are more complex than they were three years ago. Therefore, a team-oriented work culture ensures decisions get made and work proceeds in the most efficient way. 

What Are the Benefits of Teamwork?

Teamwork directly influences organizational productivity. In a study that surveyed 1,100 companies, collaborative work environments were 5 times more likely to be high performing.

When employees work as a team, they understand each other’s diverse work styles. Greater awareness and understanding enable teammates to communicate more effectively.

Mutual understanding creates happier, more fulfilling, and more productive work environments. Happy and satisfied team members are less likely to leave their positions. As a result, you keep vital skills in-house and avoid knowledge gaps that can hamper project progress.

Speaking of the business benefits of teamwork, how about the net benefit for department heads? Suppose you’re tasked with creating a growth strategy for the C-suite to review and approve. It’s a lot of pressure to place squarely on one person’s shoulders. Incorporating teammates in the decision-making criteria eases some of that pressure.

Mind mapping is one way to go about this. When you brainstorm ideas together, you take into different perspectives and experiences. This prevents unforeseen problems down the road and ensures stakeholder buy-in for your strategy. With your strategy clearly documented, it’s easy to present it to the C-level for approval, reducing the time from planning to implementation.

Why Is Teamwork Important?

Every organization has many moving parts and multiple stakeholders. As a result, great teamwork is essential to help those organizations:

• Move faster
• Operate efficiently
• Improve communication
• Increase performance

Teams feel most satisfied in open environments that encourage transparent communication. Great teamwork and effective communication result in more ambitious projects that lead to timely and high-quality work.

On the flip side, more than 50% of workers admit to feeling disengaged as a result of stress, which lessens their overall productivity in the workplace. Help your team reduce their stress by creating an environment in which they feel comfortable sharing their anxieties. Your perspective on their current struggles may be the exact solution they need to push through.

How To Improve Teamwork in the Workplace.

Collaborative teamwork supports the growth of global organizations. Teams that operate on a global level often work together, but they’re physically separated across different parts of the world. Therefore, it helps to use a platform that supports asynchronous online collaboration and communication.

Project and task management platforms like MeisterTask allow teams to work from anywhere, at any time. In MeisterTask, you can structure your projects in one central location for all team members to work on asynchronously. Task deadlines and assignees boost clarity and accountability across your team — both of which are essential for effective teamwork. Contextual information, including project plans, strategic documents and project progress, can be documented in Notes and linked out to from your tasks. This way, your team always has the bigger picture in view, which informs and improves their work.

In MeisterTask, conversations are logged on the task, so it’s easy to refer back to what’s been discussed or decided. This reduces misunderstandings and improves collaboration. Real-time comments and notifications on tasks and notes also keeps you and your team up to date with important information. As such, your team can take action quickly and independently to keep projects flowing smoothly.

How To Promote Teamwork in Your Job.

How do you help your team feel more included and recognized? Embrace the importance of teamwork and build a corporate culture that celebrates each other’s milestones. A culture that celebrates every teammate helps everyone feel like they belong. A shared sense of belonging allows everyone to benefit.

Team-oriented cultures encourage employees to voice their concerns when they feel stressed. Teamwork also helps employees feel that their voices are heard when they need a little positive reinforcement. Once again, transparency and communication are the bedrock that breeds solutions for stressful situations.

FAQs

What Are Examples of Good Teamwork Skills?

Every great team develops skills that improve collaborations and increase productivity. Some of the best examples of good teamwork skills include:

• Communication (listening and influencing)
• Problem-solving 
• Conflict resolution
• Decision-making
• Efficiency
• Planning
• Organizational skills
• Personal reliability

How Do You Demonstrate Teamwork in the Workplace?

Showing teamwork means demonstrating an active willingness to listen to teammates, contribute helpful ideas, and show reliable consistency. Whether working in-person in an office or remotely from various locations, working as a team is most effective when each member supports the team’s shared goals.

What Are the 5 C’s of Effective Teamwork?

The 5 C’s of effective teamwork are communication, camaraderie, commitment, confidence, and coachability. Blending these five attributes in one cohesive high-performing workforce ensures the entire team will achieve shared success.