“If you want to lift yourself up, lift up someone else.” – Booker T. Washington
Whether in sports or business, it is the team spirit that significantly plays a vital role in the performance and success. You may be a master of your trade, but that alone does not guarantee accolades if you’re unable to work as an integral part of your team.
While it’s true that some jobs are better done when performed solo, most roles require working professionals to cooperate and coordinate with colleagues to achieve desired results. That is why it’s important to have great camaraderie among the team to thrive as a cohesive unit.
Is your team motivated, enthusiastic, and emotionally attached to each other and the organization? Does your team work well together? If yes, then you’re heading in the right direction. If not, it’s time to do serious rethinking and build team spirit to ensure that sincere efforts result in excellent outcomes for everyone.
What is Team Spirit
While there are many definitions, team spirit can simply be defined as the feeling of mutual trust and respect, loyalty, and pride among team members that inspires them to do well for their organization.
However, great teams don’t happen as a matter of chance! Certain people may struggle to fit well in a team due to confidence issues, personality, or some other reasons. Team managers need to realize that it’s the people who make the team; they need to feel both wanted and appreciated for them to realize they can and do make a difference.
Not everyone was indeed born to be a team player, but it’s not beyond an individual’s ability to develop into a capable and compassionate team player. Whether you’re a boss, a manager, or a regular worker – team spirit counts, and here’s why:
1) Builds Mutual Trust
When team members openly communicate with each other in an honest, meaningful way, show intent to know each other personally, and take responsibility for their actions rather than playing the blame game, it goes to show that there’s unshakable mutual trust and respect within the team.
Trust is a strong foundation on which successful teams are built. Increased trust amongst colleagues leads to increased motivation, better professional relationships, and higher morale.
The feeling of belongingness within the team can do wonders for the business in the form of higher employee retention rates and a boost in productivity
2) Improves Team Performance
Even if a single member of the team does not feel comfortable in it, the morale of the entire team as well as the quality (and quantity) of work can get adversely affected.
On the other hand, when people know each other well and know what is expected of them; it shows in the form of improved collective performance.
Team-building activities can help teams to learn to work jointly, with complete faith in each other’s abilities.
3) Helps To Clear Misunderstandings
Most misunderstandings at the workplace can be owed to a lack of communication. When several people work together, you can never count out the possibility of conflicts. It’s not a big concern, but it’s the way conflicts are handled that matters.
A good team spirit promotes open communication, which can help people to resolve mutual issues through positive dialogue. Mutual trust and understanding developed due to team spirit can prove useful during moments of tension and stressful situations.
As UK entrepreneur, Richard Branson, has put it in words, “What matters is working with people you respect, knowing that during bad times these people would hold together.”
4) Helps To Bring Out Hidden Talents
A good team spirit builds a lot of confidence in every member of the team. As a result, they feel comfortable and are more eager to showcase their special talent, which they were afraid to reveal earlier. A lot of people wouldn’t like to do more than what’s expected of them, which is sadly how true talents may get lost.
Workers need encouragement and a positive work environment to shine out from the rest. When they feel good with each other, they are likely to show their potential, which may even surprise their managers and bosses. This is good both for the company and for the employee itself.
5) Promotes Workplace Synergy
Emotional attachment, shared goals, cooperation, and encouragement foster workplace synergy. With this, team members are collectively responsible for results delivered, can feel a greater sense of achievement, and inspire individuals with the strong urge to perform at the highest level.
When team members realize their roles and responsibilities, as well as the importance of the output delivered by them, they will be driven to contribute to the overall success of the company.
6) Boosts Creativity
When team members begin to feel at ease and know it’s ok to cross some lines, they can let their imagination run free, and that’s how some of the most creative ideas are born. Managers and bosses should encourage their teams to collaborate and come up with creative ideas.
Assigning different tasks, creating group projects, conducting brainstorming meetings are some ways to encourage creativity within the team, but it works best when employees like each other. Healthy work environment, friendly relations, and motivated coworkers; these all factors combine to determine success at work.
7) Pleases Customers Who Like Working With Good Teams
Excellent customer service cannot be rendered without a highly capable, closely-knit team. Team spirit helps to bond people together who work together to provide a smooth, highly satisfying customer experience.
Research shows that customers prefer to return to a brand that provides top-notch customer service, and tend to switch loyalties if they find below-par, unfriendly service from teams.
Managers can use top-rated project collaboration and management tools like ProofHub, Asana, Basecamp, Wrike, etc, to keep clients and teams on the same page for seamless communication.
8) Encourages Employees to Take Responsibility
When employees feel like an integral part of the team, they are driven to act and work like a strong link in the chain. Due to open communication and bonding within the team, they genuinely feel passionate about delivering the best work to the business they work for.
For managers, investing time and effort into building a strong team is likely to pay off in several ways, such as employee satisfaction, retention, efficiency, and productivity.
Tips For Improving Team Spirit
Go through these pointers about how managers, bosses, and even the employees themselves can build team spirit in the workplace:
- Instilling a culture of open communication
- Try to keep everyone in the loop
- Say NO to office gossiping
- Take a personal interest in one another
- Value everyone’s opinions and suggestions
- Organize social events regularly
- Spread good vibes
- Avoid being negative and discourage negativity in others
- Support colleagues whenever they need help
- Appreciate good work
- Promote constructive criticism
- Behave politely, act as a team player
To Sum Up
It all comes down to how effectively managers can build team spirit within their teams. It is also the responsibility of team members to make sincere efforts in becoming a team player to collaborate with others. You’re not just out for yourself.
You have a responsibility towards other members of the team as well as the organization you work for. Get attached to your coworkers and organization to enjoy the benefits of a happier and productive workplace.
For The Noble Cause
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We are offering a free subscription for schools for the rest of the year 2020, so that admins, teachers, and students can use all tools in one place to easily get on board for simplified collaboration.
Click here for more information on this selfless initiative.