Life is beautiful

Dream Teams: My Experience

According to the classical definition, teamwork is the concept of people working together cooperatively. Projects more often than not require that people work together to achieve a common goal. The spirit of collaboration is therefore necessary to work well in a team environment.

I was reading a report on a national representative survey conducted by Level Playing Field Institute, USA. It revealed that most of the Americans think that 'being a team player' was THE MOST important factor in getting ahead in the workplace. There were several factors like 'merit and performance', 'leadership skills', 'intelligence', 'creativity ' and 'long hours' that were considered.

I have always been fascinated by the Game Theory. According to this theory each participating member is treated as a player and the assumption that each of the players in a given set will try and maximize his or her payoff. There is a branch of the game theory, namely the cooperative games, where the teams work together in coalition and compete against the other teams or coalitions. So, when a team is formed, it is imperative that the team shares a common goal and the entire team works together without any unilateral incentive for the players to deviate. My experience has been practically similar and also it’s the captain's or the project manager’s job to keep the team focused and on track.

Interestingly, most of the teams that I have worked with were remarkable. The experience with each of the team was different as well and the happiness of achieving the targets and the journey towards the goal was also varied. I have tried to list some of the common values and skills that I observed in the successful projects.

Respect: it is important to treat each other in the team with respect. I have observed that sometimes based on the background of the individual players / team members there is a tendency to form a sub team within a team. This tendency should be discouraged. This is the most important value that should be observed by the team. Never ever back bite or crib. It never helps.

Be assertive: It is very important to interact with people, who are sometimes quite authoritative, while standing up for you feel is right. Being assertive benefits the individual and the team most of the times but it does not mean that one always gets what he/she wants.

Share: it is important to share knowledge, tools and techniques with the team to create an environment of teamwork. Often, many companies create peer competition which forces the team members to share but I strongly recommend that the spirit of comradeship should be created such that teams do not need extrinsic motivation to do basic bonding.

Listen: it is important to listen to other people. Team members should be allowed to freely express their ideas, these initial ideas and trust me this will do wonders. My ex-teammates still call me up and discuss some brilliant ideas that they recently had. I guess every team member needs a mind but the team just gives them an ear. So, when you are a part of the team, listen to team members with your heart and soul. In my teams I would more often encourage individuals to exchange, defend, and then to ultimately rethink their ideas.

Help: It is crucial to help one's coworkers both professionally and personally. Do this only when asked for. Be very careful that you do not encroach on their personal space, seek permission where ever necessary and know your professional boundaries well when you extend help.

Communicate: For a team to work effectively it is essential team members acquire communication skills and use effective communication channels between one another e.g. using email, viral communication, group meetings and so on. This will enable team members of the group to work together and achieve the team's purpose and goals.

Relationship: Always aim that the team grows with the sense of developing long term professional relations. This helps the team members to quickly shrug off their short term unilateral incentives.

As teams grow larger, project managers or captains must use these values and skills to create or maintain a spirit of teamwork. These are some of the skills that are must have for a dream team.

© Mahendra Jape 2008

posted by Mahendra @ 6:38 PM