Successful companies rely on their employees to both work together and to exceed the minimum requirements of their jobs. In order for this to occur, teams need to be supervised by managers who possess superior leadership skills. Through dynamic leadership, managers inspire their teams to collaborate effectively and derive fulfillment from the process.
Instructions
Motivate Your Employees to Be Team Players
1. Communicate the importance of working within a team as a part of your corporate philosophy. Companies that value teamwork need to make it a part of their business plans and continually stress its significance.
2. Provide teamwork training. Not all employees have experience collaborating with others. Create mandatory or voluntary seminars on the principles of working in a team and use them.
3. Define clear goals for the team. It's important to create goals that are specific, realistic, actionable, quantifiable and timely so that employees know what needs to be done to succeed.
4. Encourage the team to delegate areas of individual responsibility for the business. Individual responsibility is an important part of teamwork, as many people feel a sense of personal accomplishment from success in an area in which they had ownership. Individual responsibility also leads people to feel responsible to their team for their own performances.
5. Require team members to evaluate each other. Peer evaluations provide incentives to collaborate and help managers identify weak links.
6. Hold regular team meetings to track progress and address issues that have emerged. Team meetings provide the opportunity for team members to express different opinions and to develop a plan to move forward together.
7. Create an environment that encourages participation. While you cannot and should not use everyone's ideas, it's important that everyone on the team feel that their input is welcomed and valued. It's important to validate ideas that are offered, regardless of whether or not they are implemented.
8. Reward teams collectively. While it is important to recognize individual achievement, rewarding a team as a unit fosters a sense of team unity and provides an incentive to continue collaboration.
9. Host team-building events outside of work. Providing the opportunity for employees to have fun together will help them get to know each other personally and work together more effectively. Some examples of team building activities include sports outings, weekend trips, routine dinners and company retreats.
