Team-oriented mindset in business: Skills needed, characteristics and leadership
Being team-oriented means working in a team while making the well-being of the team your focus. A simple definition of this could be a person who strives to do the best for the team. Teamwork skills such as coordinating well with your team members, co-operating with them, even tolerating them, all counts towards this. These skills are often looked at by employers when hiring. It's not only doing the task assigned to you. Rather, it is doing the task with others in your team, in a manner that benefits everyone.
Importance of team-oriented members:
When a team member works with a team-oriented mindset and displays good teamwork skills, this itself pushes the team ahead. Now, if every member works like this, it will mean that the team as a whole is benefitted. This happens due to the collective effort of every individual.
Not only the above, but every aspect of the firm's operation is affected by this. For example, a new hire who has the requisite skills to work well in a team will blend in easily, be easy to onboard and will immediately start working for the good of the team. He/ she will put in their best efforts from the very start rather than expecting too much effort to be put into them.
Teamwork skills to look for when hiring:
- Awareness/ Knowledge - Look for an individual who is updated on the latest happenings. An aloof individual might not pay attention to the team's work.
- Positive Attitude - Optimistic individual will help to find ways out of loopholes
- Communication skills - Below average or mis-communication could lead to a lot of errors and time waste in the team
- Conflict Management - Issues should not be tolerated and should be solved fast
- Good listeners - Understanding the work completely, specially in a remote team is a must,
- Reliability - Similar to the teamwork skill of taking initiative, you should be able to trust your team to do their work without being checked on
- Initiative - Remote workers would have to do a lot of work independently, look for this team skill
- Respectful individuals - Respectfulness is a must as a stubborn individual may never be able to understand another person's point
- Professionalism - Someone who treats work casually isn't a good fit
How does leadership affect the team? And how to harness a team-oriented mindset?
As a manager, one of your main responsibilities is to have your team work well together. Having individuals working together towards the goal of the team requires individuals who work well with each other. The following are a few suggestions on how a team oriented mindset can be inculcated into members of the team.
1. Knowing the value of the team and need for collaboration
Individuals should realize the purpose of the team. The ideals that the team works with, the goals of the founding members, all should be default to an individual working for the team. During the initial orientation of a member, try to explain to them the principles that the team work with. Make sure they understand that they are now a part of the ecosystem. Also let them know their place in upholding the values.
2. Giving responsibility and encouraging good communication practices
Give each person a task that actually matters. When individuals know that what they are doing affects the team, it will encourage them to work towards it. A team oriented mindset can be harnessed by showing them the results of the work they do. Transparency in a company matters here. If an employee is aloof to the happenings in the team, they will not want to work with the team. However, if employees see stats on how the work they do impacts the work of the team, they will collaborate better with the team, leading to higher employee retention.
3. Team-oriented activities to bring about loyalty
Conducting activities that will encourage a spirit of teamwork. As Frederick says, meeting the team and hanging out with them itself was a nice experience. For example, simple games that make employees support each other. Similarly, celebrations of birthdays and anniversaries in the team. To illustrate, consider a tennis doubles match. These bring together individuals from different countries together. And even though they are partnered up only for the duration of the tournament, the collaboration works amazingly. This is because of the awareness that every foul serve or every dropped shot could affect both. They work together. Keeping the other person's needs in mind is important.
4. Encourage healthy competition to inculcate a sense of oneness
Make your competitors known to the members. Show them the way that you are better and encourage them to find flaws. Just finding flaws is not enough and you will need to work on improvement, too. Engage the whole team in this. If needed, make multiple sub teams that come up with suggestions. Encourage debate and find the best practices to they out. This will then directly work towards the growth of the company.
5. Have regular assessments and get feedback
Conduct regular assessments and one-on-ones with your team members. Give them an idea of where they are falling short. Appreciate them for the good. Try to have these at regular intervals. Periodic fact checks should be made a thing in your company. Doing so will enhance personal growth as well as motivate individuals to work with the objective of the team in mind.
6. Trust your team and shower them with rewards
Remember how your parents used to lure you with chocolates and get a task done? A similar approach can be effective here. However, you are probably working with people who are not going to be lured by just chocolates. Various incentives through employee rewards platform can be a good way of getting the team members to work towards the goal. This shouldn't be the first resort, though. You need to ensure that the members of your team are actually working towards the goal. Depending on your style of leadership, some of these techniques may come more easily to you than the others. So, find a balance and work towards achieving this. You can also find more points on improving the dynamics of your group on this page.
7. Make use of the correct tools
Using the correct collaboration, communication, scheduling software, and reporting tools is going to make a big change to how your team works.