We all know already that teamwork is the key to success in most realms of life and business. Only through teamwork can we combine different, complementary points of view to identify and seize hidden synergy opportunities, overcome difficult obstacles and achieve challenging objectives.

While a degree of friendly competition among staff members can be healthy, business profits most when everyone is working together smoothly as a team. When working in a team, you are working towards a common goal or set of objectives. The whole process of your work becomes more efficient. Similarly, having multiple team members on board allows you to get the work done faster with shared responsibilities.

What Should Everyone Know About Teamwork?

• Understanding an individual’s strengths means that you can place them in roles that will enable them to use their strengths on a regular basis. When people are able to do this they shine and are far more productive.
• Identify the individual’s weaknesses. But, do focus the majority of attention on the individual’s strengths and improving their capability in their strength area – not on ‘fixing’ their weaknesses … that is a waste of organizational time and resources and has the individual focusing his or her effort in the wrong place.
• You can anticipate high levels of teamwork in the workplace when goals are clearly defined and performance is recorded and shared on a regular basis.
• Differing personalities, tension for resources, conflict are all part and parcel of organizational life. If you want a high-performance team it is imperative, that you provide each and every person in the team, with the skills to hold challenging and difficult conversations, to negotiate differences, to provide performance improvement feedback.

As mentioned above, teamwork is important in the workplace as it brings people together from different backgrounds and levels of experience. There may not be an I in a team, but there is most certainly we in well-balanced. Successful teamwork balances employees’ skills with the needs of the organization, resulting in a winning environment for the entire company.