One of my favorite quote on how teamwork leads to success are the words of Henry Ford. He said :
Coming together is beginning, keeping together is progress, and working together is success.
These words of Henry Ford confirmed the importance and power of teamwork in any society. Two or more people comes together with a goal or problem. Therefore, the team has to focus and work towards achieving that goal.
As Brain Tracy said, “Teamwork is so important that it is virtually impossible for you to reach the heights of your capabilities or make the money that you want without becoming very good at it.”
The key approach to any positive achievement is the commitment to work as a team. Teamwork is important in offices, schools, homes and every other thing we do in life. Government, society and business requires constant teamwork to efficiently and effectively achieve their goals.
We cannot achieve any business or personal goal without the support of others such as customers, viewers, fan or followers. There is little we can do as a single person. Teamwork is perhaps the most important quality anyone can develop for long term business or personal success.
It is the coordinated effort of every department or unit that delivers the product to the customer. Therefore, it is important that these departments build a good relationship and teamwork spirit. However it is important people do not mix the teamwork spirit with organizational policy and controls.
If you want to be a good team player, here are few teamwork tips you should consider :
- The number one principle of effective communication is listening to other. Always listening to ideas, views, and suggestions of other team members. This encourage participation of every member in the team for a collective effort to achieve the goals.
- You should also be able to share knowledge, information and understanding with other members. What is the use of the team if other members are not willing to share their knowledge or expertise?
- Learn to respect people and their ideas. Forget about your qualification, status or grade. We all need respect and particularly at the right place and time.
- Be a problem-solver – Learn to be relevant and support the other members towards achieving the team goal. Teamwork requires member’s contribution, so do not think the team leader is the only failure when the team could not achieve its objectives.
A study by three professors from leading universities in the USA on why some teams are smarter than the others revealed member’s contribution as a key factor. In a smarter team, members contributes more equally to the team’s discussions, rather than letting one or two people dominate the group.
Let me conclude with the words of American baseball outfielder and pitcher.
Babe Ruth said “the way a team plays as a whole determines its success. You may have the greatest bunch of individual stars in the world, but if they don’t play together, the club won’t be worth a dime.
These are just few essentials that are required to be a good team member. If you happens to be a team leader, your job is to create conditions that encourage teamwork.