Building the Team

As our team has come together from different courses and we have not had the opportunity before to bond, a huge part of our initial meetings was the build our teamwork and establish the tone of how our team will work. We found the following 9 simple teamwork steps which we kept in mind throuhgout the whole of this process in order to be a success team that worked well together:

1. Make sure that the team goals are totally clear and completely understood and accepted by each team member.
2. Make sure there is complete clarity in who is responsible for what. Do your best to avoid overlaps of authority. For example, if there is a risk that two team members will be competing for control in certain area, try to divide that area into two distinct parts and give each more complete control in one of those parts, according to those individual's strengths and personal inclinations.
3. For issues that rely on the team consensus and commitment, involve more the whole team in the decision making process. For example, use group sessions with collective discussions of possible decision options or solution ideas. What you want to achieve here is that each team member feels his or her ownership in the final decision, solution, or idea. The more he or she feels this way, the more likely he or she is to agree with and commit to the decided line of action.
4. Make sure there are no blocked lines of communications and you and your people stay fully informed.
5. Build trust with your team members by spending one-on- one time in an atmosphere of openness and honesty. Be loyal to your employees, if you expect the same.
6. Allow your office team members build trust and openness between each other in team building activities and events. Give them some opportunities of extra social time with each other in an atmosphere that encourages open communication. For example, in a group lunch on Friday.
7. Be careful with interpersonal issues. Recognize them early and deal with them till full resolution.
8. Never miss opportunities to empower your employees. Say thank you or show appreciation of an individual team player's work.
9. Do not limit yourself to negative feedback. Be fare. Whenever there is an opportunity, give positive feedback as well.

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