Effective Teamwork is one of my favorite topics because we have this myth in our culture that you need to go it alone, you need to be self-sufficient, you need to handle things by yourself. But that is such a myth.

Working in a Team is more Fun and more Effective

It’s so much more fun when there’s a team, especially if that team is working well together. If the team is not working well together, then it can take away from the fun, so that’s why this is such an important topic.

As one of my mentors used to say, “It takes teamwork to make the dream work.”

There’s an old proverb that says, “If you want to go fast, travel alone, but if you want to go far, travel together.”

Teams are so valuable because as a group we can get so much more done than as separate individuals. There’s a synergy in an effective team that means that the whole is greater than the sum of all the parts.

And many hands make light work.

 

The number one leverage point for an effective team and effective teamwork are mentally and emotionally mature individuals.

Mentally and emotionally mature individuals can take care of themselves better. They can make clear requests. They’re not as emotionally reactive, and they don’t get defensive when somebody has a different opinion or different perspective than they do. All of these things can be a big drag on a team.

Another essential ingredient of effective teamwork is having a balance between giving and receiving. Having a balance between speaking and listening. If you have mentally and emotionally mature individuals, then that will almost tend to happen naturally.

So, you want individuals who play well with others and who can more or less handle themselves in a team. If you’ve done that, you don’t have to rely as much on methodologies or processes. And you’ve handled about 90% of what needs to be handled in teams when you have individuals like that as part of your team.

If you’re an individual who recognizes in yourself that you have a hard time working in groups, or you get emotionally reactive, then you need to do some work on yourself so that you can be a really outstanding team member. You want to be the person who’s missed when they’re not there. If you need to individually get yourself to that point, do the work, it is so worth it and it is much more fun.

The only thing harder than doing it is not doing it.

Personality Types in Teams

I have known teams who have benefited a lot from applying personality typologies. An example of these is the Enneagram. Another example is Myers-Briggs. There are many others. So again, I’m not advocating any personality typology over another. However, there are methodologies out there that help people identify their various strengths in order to be better team members.

When you apply any one of these typologies accurately and correctly, you can take the diverse gifts of the people involved and synergize them into an effective team so that all of these become strengths and they’re not pulling in opposite directions. They can truly strengthen the team rather than be the cause of tension or misunderstanding.

The most Overlooked Ingredient for Effective Teams

Now, one very, very overlooked piece, and I’ve had executive coaching clients on the other side of the world paying pretty good money who missed this one piece that is so key for effective teams, and that is, don’t overlook the importance for a high quality of connection at the personal level.

Now that doesn’t mean you’re best friends with the people on your team or on your staff. What it means is that if you know where I’m coming from, and I know where you’re coming from, and I trust that my needs matter to you and you trust that your needs matter to me, then as soon as there is a misunderstanding, or as soon as there’s a rumor in the organization, or there’s some kind of conflict, we’re much more likely to nip it in the bud, handle it sooner and solve it in a way that creates mutual understanding and more connection and healing in the group.

So, it’s really important to emphasize the quality of connection between people as a leverage point for preventing misunderstandings and conflicts. It’ll also go a long way towards generating the goodwill that will help us resolve conflicts when conflicts arise. It is helpful for any team to have at least one person with good conflict resolution skills, however I don’t see that as essential because there are resources that a team can bring in to help the team resolve conflicts.

Clear Requests are Essential for Effective Teamwork

The most effective teams that I’ve found have individuals in them who are really good at making clear requests and are skilled at helping other people clarify their requests. Somebody states a desire, or somebody states a proposal. These are not necessarily actionable.

Once you state a proposal, make a request. Let me know what you would like me to do in this moment in relation to your proposal, whether that’s some sort of support or feedback or input. The clearer the request and the more actionable the request, the more I can respond in in this moment in a way that will contribute to both of our needs.

Conclusion

Here are some quick tips on effective teamwork:

1) mature individuals;

2) balancing of being heard and being present and listening to other people;

3) finding ways to identify the diverse strengths in our team in order to synergize them;

4) emphasizing the quality of the interpersonal connections;

5) being able to resolve conflicts internally, or have access to people who can help us resolve our conflicts, and;

6) being able to make clear requests in the group so that others can respond to us in a way that is mutually beneficial.