Tips for Team Effectiveness

Two important principles that can be found very effective in helping establish an effective team are (1) communicating openly, honestly and with respect helps all team members to feel free to ask questions and make comments that are sincere without fear of judgment from the other team members, thus establishing unity (Heathfield, 2014); (2) getting to know every team member will build a strong “family-like bond” and help you understand how to motivate each member of your team, as well as understand his/her “hot buttons” or when they are in a bad mood (Paterson, 2010).

            Open, kind communication between team members is one of the best ways to lead a team to effectiveness by building unity and avoiding misunderstandings. Unity is the foundation for any team to complete their goals. A certain saying states, “there is no ‘I’ in team”; this statement emphasizes the fact that a team must work together in unity in order to experience success and be effective. Open communication helps teams uncover and solve misunderstandings that can potentially dam progress indefinitely by destroying unity and causing contention. Thus communication advances teams closer to their goal and builds additional unity (Heathfield, 2014).

            Developing friendships by spending time to get to know each other helps members of a team to work more effectively by allowing them to know how to compliment each other and avoid each other’s “hot buttons” (Paterson, 2010). When members of a team become friends, they look out for the best interest of the other members. These types of teams have members who compliment and serve one another. At the same time, team members are able to avoid each other’s pet peeves; this means fewer obstacles and smoother sailing.

            Building open communication, and developing friendships with all team members, are two principles that greatly boost and accelerate team effectiveness. Developing unity and avoiding contention are two of the biggest benefits of establishing good communication within a team. Getting all members of a team to know each other and be friends allows them to be extra successful by helping them avoid stepping on each other’s toes and working effectively together. Team effectives must start by applying these two principles.

References

Heathfield, S. (2014). Tips for better teamwork [Supplemental material]? About.com. Retrieved from http://humanresources.about.com/od/teambuilding/f/team_work.htm

Paterson, M. (2010, September 02). 7 tips for developing an effective team [Supplemental material]. Biznik. Retrieved from http://biznik.com/articles/7-tips-for-developing-an-effective-team