Teamwork

•  Teamwork is a process of working collaboratively with a group of people to achieve a goal.

•  Teamwork means that people will try to cooperate, using their individual skills and providing constructive feedback, despite any personal conflict between individuals.

BENEFITS OF TEAMWORK:

I. Increased productivity - individuals contributing to help a team produce results will feel valued, supported, and committed to each other. This can lead to happier, productive, and more motivated staff.

II. Deadlines met - individuals working on their own can only achieve so much in a certain amount of time. Bringing individuals together to work in teams can increase productivity, make heavy workloads more manageable and help meet tight deadlines sooner.

III. Problem solving - teams bring together different people with different ways of thinking, varying levels of experience and different ideas of how to do things. A few people coming together to consider a problem can often be more effective at finding solutions than one person working alone.

IV. New ideas and opportunities - teamwork can spark creativity among your staff, which can lead to the development of innovative new ideas, products or services as well as identifying new business opportunities.

V. Support network - in the face of business challenges people in a team can support one another by helping each other out especially if an individual in the group is facing difficulties.

 VI. Strong relationships - teamwork helps build strong bonds between colleagues. Team members learn about each other, developing better understanding of individual strengths, weaknesses, and personal traits. Through stronger relationships trust is built and communication becomes more natural, open, and free.

 VII. Flexibility - working in teams can help transfer skills and knowledge between individuals. This can lead to more flexibility as individuals will be able to cover for other team members.

 VIII. Conflict resolution skills - there is often the potential for personality clashes between individual team members but collaborating towards shared goals often enables employees to work out how best to resolve disagreements for the benefit of the team.

 IX. Boost morale - teamwork can help increase staff morale as individuals will have a sense of belonging to the team and appreciation from others for the qualities they bring to the group.

STAGES OF TEAM DEVELOPMENT:

1. Forming: During the “forming” stage of team development, the team members acquaint themselves with the basic aspects of their task. Forming stage discussion topics often include the project goal, team member roles, basic ground rules, and designation of authority. The forming stage is truly a honeymoon phase in teamwork—productivity is low, but the team members are too newly acquainted to encounter conflict.

2. Storming: Of course, every honeymoon phase ends eventually. As the real work kicks in, the project may present both technical and interpersonal challenges. Individual work habits, leadership decisions, or lapses in communication can cause tension within a team. Annoyance, frustration, and anxiety commonly arise in response. This stage of team development is known as storming. Storming is the most difficult and unproductive of the five stages of development, but it is nevertheless vital to the team development process. When team members are upset with themselves, the task, or each other, they learn what causes the most dysfunction. With this information, the team can begin aspiring to a better team dynamic. 

3. Norming: The norming stage of team development is the calm after the storm. In this stage of team development, team members fall into a rhythm as a cohesive taskforce. The skills of each member are validated and utilized to execute the necessary tasks. While conflict may still arise in this stage, it no longer spirals into dysfunction. The team can handle conflict and proceed with the project successfully.

4. Performing: Some teams reach a stage of development in which they thrive at their individual and collective tasks. The skills of each member are fully optimized, supervision is almost never needed, and members feel a strong sense of trust in one another. This stage of team development is called performing. Reaching the performing stage is a major success and often precipitates some form of team learning. Team learning is a behavioural process of seeking, gathering, discussing, and implementing methods of team success. Whether through training, group initiative, or innovative leadership, team learning is an action step that ensures healthy team development. 

5. Adjourning: The fifth stage of group development is adjourning. Adjourning varies broadly from team to team. Some teams adjourn with silence, some with celebration, and others with sadness. Regardless of the length or success of a project, each team deserves a hearty affirmation of its concerted efforts. The adjourning phase is a fantastic opportunity for leaders to encourage long-term connections, reflect on the growth of the team, and celebrate the project closing.

Reference Link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1bJsblLyxweJETQ9ZhDkLy5oWWcw1hCfv/view?usp=sharing