The Impact of Teamwork on Workplace Culture
Effective teamwork is most evident on the sports field, you can actually see the poetry of well planned and executed teamwork when watching a Rugby game from the stands. When the team aren’t in sync, you can also see the gaps and where they are not connecting. So how does that translate to the effects on workplace culture?
The biggest impact teamwork has on businesses is happiness, companies with happy employees outperform the competition by 20% and are 12% more productive*. Stats every Exec Team would love to see on their reports. So how does teamwork make teams happy?
Teamwork
…enables creative and innovative ideas
When a team works together, with an open culture of collaboration you foster the best environment to breed creativity and innovation. Bouncing ideas amongst a team produces different points of view providing a broad spectrum of solutions. Team members can build on each others ideas and magic happens!
Teamwork
… creates a sense of loyalty, and boosts morale
When a team works together successfully it promotes positivity, and a feeling of inclusion which should, in turn, develop positive feelings about work, loyalty to the team and loyalty to the company. Positively affecting the overall company culture. A study from Indeed into what top talent is looking for found job seekers are 25% more likely to move for a better environment/culture. **
Teamwork
… creates a sense of ownership and responsibility
When each member has engaged with, provided valuable input and supported others in achieving a task or goal, there is a sense of joint accomplishment. Being part of a team that successfully delivered allows the individuals to share the feeling of success which drives feelings of ownership and collective responsibility.
Teamwork
…promotes efficient work and outcomes
Teamwork allows people to play to their strengths and not highlight their weaknesses. Let’s be honest, we can’t be great at everything, so when working in a team the work can be divided up so that everyone is doing what makes them shine, creating a more efficient and probably quicker outcome.
Teamwork
…progresses individual development
While teamwork allows opportunities to work to your strengths it is also great for personal development, not everyone thinks in the same way, allowing each person to experience differences providing fantastic learning opportunities.
Teamwork
… fosters diversity
Ensuring your teams and organisation employs a diverse group of people ensures you have diverse points of view, experiences and ideas for your problem solving. For true diversity, the business should encourage the employment people from different backgrounds, ethnicity, ages, genders, sexual orientation, ability levels and experience. It’s also important to mix up the project teams from within the business, across departments and seniority levels, as they can all provide fresh points of view on project solutions.
Teamwork
… supports healthy risk taking
When working in a team, members encourage each other and provide a greater sense of risk taking. Working solo, employees are less likely to put their name on a project where the potential failure can be totally on their shoulders. So as long as you have measures in place and your project team is supported with risk mitigation training, you are likely to get more ‘out of the box’ ideas.
Teamwork is a positive on every level – organisational, individual and results! It makes sense to foster a team culture throughout your business.
* snacknation.com “State of the Office Manager Report”
** Transformational Talent: Portrait of the High-Potential Workforce, Mark Reilly, Indeed
