Ten ways to turn your staff into teammates

There’s a difference between a group that works together and a team – how can you unite your employees for the good of the organization?

BY Caitlin Nobes 18 Mar. 2013

Teambuilding conjures images of trust falls and wall climbs, but often once those tasks are done your employees are no more united than they were in the morning.

"Performance within groups typically does not just happen. For a group to really perform well it needs practice,” CMI Teamwork CEO Bruce Hodes said. “The group needs to understand the best way to organize itself for performance.”

It’s something sports teams and the military understand – Boot Camp for the military and pre-season workouts for sports teams are the norm. In business, there is far less interest or appreciation of group development and the need for practice. Team practice, for the most part, is not factored into the business or corporate world.

“We form groups in business and march them into the corporate battle zone expecting them to perform and when they fail we are surprised,” Hodes said.

So what can you do differently?

Know the goals
“The major difference between a ‘group’ and a ‘team’ is that the team shares common goals. Everyone knows the goals and how they contribute to them in a team,” business coach Marti Benjamin said.
Focus on group performance
“The essence of good work team performance is not good communication or good relationships but a focus on performance and an agreed upon appreciation of what this means,” Hodes said. “When a group takes on being mutually accountable for their customers' experiences, the group can generate profit and customer loyalty.”
Build trust
“Trust comes from each person being honest about his or her strengths and weaknesses, accepting responsibility for both actions and the impact of those actions,” Benjamin said. “Trust is built when team members understand that they are expected to do what they’re assigned and/or have agreed to, delivering on time, on budget and with the best outcome possible.”
Inspirational leadership
“Great leadership is about showing your people that there is more in them than they know: so they'll be unwilling to settle for less,” coach and author Barry Maher said. Maher inherited a team that was very dysfunctional, but by getting to know their strengths and showing he had high expectations, he inspired his employees to meet those expectations.
Model behaviour
The team leader needs to be modelling and encouraging the right behaviours including trust, loyalty, high expectations and appropriate interpersonal communication. Organizational development consultant Dr Arron Grow said leaders needed to set the boundaries, and shouldn’t let team members get away with “non-team” behaviour.

See page two for the final five steps - including reward, recognize and have fun.#pb#
“No blame system”
A “no-blame rule” shifts the focus from blaming to collaboration, Benjamin said. It’s a point supported by Maher, who said having the confidence to fail and learn from failure was key to the success of an individual and a team.
Recognize and reward
“Give genuine praise generously and specific to how a staff member’s work is helping the team,” Grow said. “Giving praise that speaks specifically to this end is another way to bring people together – moving them from a feeling of individuality, to a feeling of unity.”
Encourage peer recognition
Allow and encourage staff to give each other feedback and to speak up when something is doing well. You want your team to be self-sustaining, even if you’re not there to deliver recognition.
Communicate communicate communicate
Teams that fail to communicate end up wasting time and energy repeating tasks, or have to rush important aspects. Communication is key for efficiency and accuracy, but that doesn’t mean endless meetings. Establish a system that suits your team. Whether you utlize an online project management tool, or have group progress updated by email, it’s important that all group members know what stage they are in.
Don’t forget fun!
We did say it wasn’t all about trust falls, but sometimes those extracurricular plans can make a difference. It doesn’t need to be a weekend retreat or boot camp style event. A group outing to play pool or a highly competitive game of paintball will remind everyone that the team attitude is not just a 9-5 hat they wear, and will help them get to know their colleagues on a personal level.