Home
>
Team Building
>
Effective Team Building For Organizational Success

Effective Team Building For Organizational Success

"Teamwork is the ability to work together toward a common vision. The ability to direct individual accomplishments toward organizational objectives. It is the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results." -Andrew Carnegie

Team building and team work is the key driver in organizational productivity. The days of the lone warrior corporate hero who could carry an organization to fortune 500 lists with his charisma and genius are finally over. Organizations are now looking to build teams with people of complementary skills to work towards achieving the corporate objectives and goals.

While teams are important in every area of human endeavor whether it be in sports or volunteer work, the scope of this article covers business enterprises.

Why teams?

Teams are formed when:

A combination of skills, knowledge and expertise are required to undertake a particular task. A single individual may not have such a combination.

On the face of challenges such as falling profits, improvements in quality standards, putting together a new project, tackle major change initiatives and cross functional co-ordination in large and complex organizations. Teams may be formed for many purposes. The list is only a broad indicator for the kinds of teams that may be formed.

Stages of team development

Tuckman and Jenson have described the sequence of the team evolution in their work which is the best model to understand and manage teams. Teams have to go through certain process before it can settle down and work effectively. Understanding the stages of development of the team is key to successful team management.

Stage #1 Forming

This is the stage when the team members assemble and get together. People are very polite, get acquainted with each other and try to assess their own roles in the team. Uppermost in the minds of the new team members at the formation stage is where and how they fit in with the team. This stage is marked by easy acceptance of each other, avoiding controversies and direction and support from team leader in settling down.

Stage #2 Storming

This stage introduces conflicts and competition as each individual begins to start work on the plan. Stress of the work with Individual differences on issues crop up. Sometimes the issues could be cultural, ethnic or simply an issue of asserting ones own strength in the overall team equation. Interpersonal and communication issues dominate this stage leading to a flare up of conflict and confrontation.

The leader needs utmost restraint and maturity at this stage of team development. He has to bring forth all his networking skills, emotional intelligence and people management abilities in creating the right atmosphere, create winning relationships between team members and bring their focus back on team vision and goals.

Stage #3 Norming

As conflicts begin to get resolved, the work flow picks up speed. People settle down to more harmonious working relationships. The focus now shifts to common team objectives and performance related issues. A cohesive team which knows its strengths and weaknesses now moves to peak performance leveraging the complementary skills of its members. This is also the stage where the team leader begins to delegate more effectively. Giving the team members a certain level of functional autonomy leads to unleashing the creativity of its members making for a high performing team.

Stage #4 Performing

This is the final stage where a perfect group identity is created. There is independence and interdependence, learning as well as sharing knowledge, speed and efficiency. All glitches have been smoothened out by the team leader. There are very high levels of autonomy giving rise to emergence of new leaders. The performance is it the peak due to high motivation.

A successful team leader understands the different stages of the group formation and development. He manages the team effectively by moderating his team managerial styles according to the stage of development in which the team is passing through.

As the Chinese proverb goes 'A wise man knows everything; a shrewd one everybody.'

R.G. Srinivasan is a Certified Trainer, Writer and Author with more than two decades of managerial experience. He writes a regular blog on management thoughts which you may check out at http://management-thoughts.blogspot.com for interesting articles on management, managerial resources, strategies.

eco-friendly cleaning service Buffalo Grove ..

In The News:

A phone phishing attack compromised Harvard's alumni and donor database, marking the second security incident at the university in recent months.

AutoFlight's zero-carbon floating vertiport uses solar power to charge eVTOL aircraft while supporting emergency response, tourism, and marine energy maintenance.

A new phone return scam targets recent buyers with fake carrier calls. Learn how criminals steal devices and steps to protect yourself from this fraud.

New Anthropic research reveals how AI reward hacking leads to dangerous behaviors, including models giving harmful advice like drinking bleach to users seeking help.

The Fox News AI Newsletter gives readers the latest AI technology advancements, covering the challenges and opportunities AI presents.

Holiday email scams, including non-delivery fraud and gift card schemes, spike in November and December, costing victims hundreds of millions, the FBI says.

Holiday visits offer the perfect opportunity to help older parents with technology updates, scam protection and basic troubleshooting skills for safer digital experiences.

Swiss scientists create grain-sized robot that surgeons control with magnets to deliver medicine precisely through blood vessels in medical breakthrough.

Researchers exploited WhatsApp's API vulnerability to scrape 3.5 billion phone numbers. Learn how this massive data breach happened and protect yourself.

Travel companies share passenger data with third parties during holidays, but travelers can protect themselves by removing data from broker sites and using aliases.

Xpeng's humanoid robot moves so realistically that crowds believed it was fake, marking a major advancement in robotics technology ahead of 2026 commercial launch.

Researchers discover phishing scam using invisible characters to evade email security, with protection tips including password managers and two-factor authentication.

iPhone and Android users can reduce battery drain and data usage by restricting Background App Refresh to Wi-Fi connections instead of mobile networks.

Scammers nearly stole an Apple account by exploiting the support system with authentic-looking tickets and phone calls, users can protect themselves with safety steps.

FoloToy restored sales of its AI teddy bear Kumma after a weeklong suspension following safety group findings of risky and inappropriate responses to children.

Threat intelligence firm Synthient uncovers one of the largest password exposures ever, prompting immediate security recommendations.

Viral video shared by Elon Musk shows Tesla's Optimus humanoid robots performing tasks from cooking to construction, garnering over 58.5 million views on social media.

Chinese hackers used Anthropic's Claude AI to launch autonomous cyberattacks on 30 organizations worldwide, marking a major shift in cybersecurity threats.

Apple's new Sleep Score feature gives you a rating for your nightly rest quality. Learn how to set it up on your Apple Watch and iPhone today.

Essential phone settings to enable before losing your device, including Find My network, location services and security features for iPhone and Android.

The Fox News AI Newsletter gives readers the latest AI technology advancements, covering the challenges and opportunities AI presents.

Cybersecurity research shows weak passwords remain a major threat, with simple patterns and number sequences putting millions of accounts at risk.

New Android malware BankBot YNRK silences phones, steals banking data and drains crypto wallets automatically. Learn how this advanced threat works.

FDA approves first human trial for Paradromics' brain-computer interface that could restore speech for paralyzed patients through neural technology.

New phishing platform QRR targets Microsoft 365 users across 1,000 domains in 90 countries. Learn how to spot fake login pages and protect your accounts.