How to prove to an employer that you can work in a team

Speaking about team building, professionals say that team projects often fail in the early stages. The reason for this is a lack of understanding of what a team is, how it is formed and how it functions. Situations when one person succeeds in a chosen activity can, roughly speaking, be counted on one hand. Not everyone can be talented and skillful in everything related to a project - that is why teams are created in which a variety of specialists work. If the organization of the team’s work is structured correctly, the team can move mountains where an individual cannot take even a step.

But despite the serious benefits that team building promises, there are also certain risks. For example, if failure befalls one person, the losses are minimal, because they concern only him, and he, most likely, was prepared in advance for the fact that he could fail. And when it comes to a team project, the results concern all participants. As a result, the project dies in agony for all to see.

Of course, this is just an example, because there are a huge number of teams that achieve their goals. Within such teams there is complete mutual understanding and support, respect and trust. The result is successful project implementation. But what's the matter? Are these teams lucky or have they found their “philosopher’s stone” that turns anything into gold?

In fact, everything is much simpler, and almost everyone can learn how to properly organize the work of a team. It's all about team building, built on common sense, awareness and a professional approach. Let's figure out what a real team is, what it takes to build one, and how to keep it alive and running.

Only a professional in team building can create a strong team

Everyone already understands that to create a great marketing plan or a stunning blockbuster you need to be a professional marketer or director. Despite this, many teams are formed by people who have no idea how to do it correctly; people with no experience or skills.

Team building is a skill, and in team building it is much more important than any technical, marketing or any other skills. Team building must be approached with intelligence, deference and respect. If you don't know how to select people for a team, how to set tasks and achieve goals, how to resolve conflicts at work, or what to do when productivity is low, your first step towards building a team will be to master these skills.

You need to master them in the same way as any others - using auxiliary tools, such as topical articles and books, video courses, audio seminars, and Internet sites. It is also worth studying the experience of other teams and even meeting with their leaders and ordinary participants.

To learn how to create teams, you need to show a fair amount of patience and endurance. The information is there, but before using it you need to comprehend and consolidate it. Imagine a surgeon constantly looking at a textbook or asking an assistant for tips during an operation - do you think he is a professional? It’s exactly the same here: without mastering the basic skills and without developing the necessary qualities, it’s dangerous to take on the task of forming a team.

You can try the trial and error method and learn everything in practice. But using this method to develop team skills is fraught with loss of reputation and putting yourself in an unfavorable light. People often ruin the lives of themselves and others by being careless about team building. Some people act at random, thinking that they will learn everything by doing. But this is analogous to going to sea in a storm to learn to swim. If you're lucky, you'll stay alive, but if not, you'll drown yourself and drag the rest with you.

Therefore, we advise you to initially thoroughly work on yourself and understand what team building is. The training you take will be the first step. Then you can read several books from the list given in the introduction and familiarize yourself with other materials. This way you will form a basis for further training. But remember that you will need to learn even when you form your first team. Professional development is the responsibility of any manager, leader and person striving for development.

And to find out whether you are ready for practical actions, you can use the so-called “rule of thumb”. If you yourself think that you would be happy to join a team with a leader like you, then you are ready. But if you have doubts about working in such a team, this suggests that it is too early to create your own team. Pay attention to the nuances that cause the greatest concern and work through them. You should not think that this is an exaggeration, because the experience of professionals shows that only a comprehensively developed person who is confident in his knowledge can manage a team.

Advantages of the ability to work in a team

A serious task that has several stages of solution is not easy to cope with alone. At best, this will take a long time and will be completely unproductive. There are tasks that simply require combining different opinions. A number of advantages of group work:

• you have the opportunity to participate in an interesting work project. This will give you valuable experience.
• Brainstorm. An interesting form of teamwork. Participants are given a task that they must solve together. Everyone expresses their opinion and offers their options. This develops creative thinking well.
• You will learn to hear others and accept their point of view objectively.
• The manager will gain unique experience that will help him move up the career ladder.

So, a team and a collective have a colossal difference.

I'll give you an example. Office. The working day has just begun. Each employee sits (and there are only 17 of them) at his workplace and is busy with his own business. Everyone works in the same company, with the same goal.

Another example. Middle of a day. The head of the department gathers a group of 10 people and invites them to jointly solve one task.

Where do you think the team is and where is the team? Think carefully and leave your opinion in the comments.

First, the team is formed, and only then the project is developed

A fairly common occurrence is when people choose projects that interest them, develop plans, collect piles of papers, and only then begin to create a project team. At first glance, this approach seems correct, but in reality everything is different.

Until there is a team, choosing a feasible project is very, very difficult. The general idea, of course, is needed, because... indicates direction, but details should only be determined after the team has been formed. In order not to be unfounded, we will consider two options for the development of events.

Let's imagine that we took the first path, where a project is first created and then a team is formed. The work is progressing, the idea is inspiring, various nuances of the project are being considered, and the need for specific specialists is being clarified. It seems that everyone is ready and we are starting to form a team. For example, we decide to create a computer game, and, having some knowledge, we take on the functions of a designer and developer, and select two more specialists - an artist and a programmer. Music and sound will be licensed. The project itself is quite simple - a regular 3D action. We firmly believe in the success of the new game, and the specifications clearly show the achievability of the result. According to our estimates, the new product will be ready in six months.

Quite a reasonable plan, isn't it? But this is an illusion. At first, the plan seems feasible, and many developers choose a similar strategy year after year. It happens, of course, that success is achieved, but this is the exception rather than the norm. But what do we actually see?

Month after month we have to look for a smart 3D programmer who will agree to work on our terms, but we never find him. All we have is a 2D programmer starting to master 3D. Our artist cannot draw a high-quality texture, even if we threaten him with a 16mm machine gun. He is, of course, good in his 2D, but the stunning new product will suffer greatly.

As a result, we have to somehow try to make candy from what we have. Our pros, no matter how hard they try, cannot make 3D. Something looms on the screen, but the engine is glitchy, and the game is worse than the antediluvian “Prince of Persia” (no offense to connoisseurs). Seeing all this, our team has stopped even trying to meet the deadlines and follow the design agreed upon at the very beginning. Everyone has their own ideas that they want to realize. In addition, no one takes project documentation seriously.

We decide to take the bull by the horns: we lay out who should do what and how, and give a lot of detailed instructions and tasks. But each team member continues to see the game in his own way, which is why there is no unity in the team. Its absence slows down the project and misses deadlines. Our programmer and artist create the appearance of work, but in fact no longer believe in the success of the project. And then we find out that one of them has even joined a third-party project, and ours has become completely unimportant for him. The ending is a complete failure of the project and disappointment in one’s abilities.

So what was the mistake of our team building? The fact is that we relied on designing a quality product for gamers, considering it a sufficient condition for achieving success. But in team projects this, as they say, doesn’t work. To implement a team project, you need to select the right people for the team. The wrong command leads to the need for constant monitoring. In the right team, such a need does not arise, because individual responsibility becomes the norm for everyone.

Another disadvantage of the first approach is that the potential of team members is not optimally used. It would be much more effective if the game was developed based on the abilities of our people. Specialists give their best when they do what they can do. The team is somewhat of a limiting factor, so the project must adapt to it.

Now we have become smarter and have taken the second path, where a team is first formed, and then a project is created. We have a general concept of the plan, but we are not discussing the details yet. Our primary goal is to build a team, which is why we invest our time in choosing the best people to implement the idea. The choice of participants is not limited by any limits, because We haven't specified the details yet. Our main focus is getting to know people and then selecting those who we think will work well with others. When the team is complete, we do the same brainstorming, thinking through the features and architecture of the game, relying on the capabilities of the team.

Regardless of the characteristics of the project and the area to which it belongs, its success is determined by the dedication of people to the team and the common cause. And team members will be much more committed if they have the opportunity to contribute to the concept, as well as the chance to make the most of their skills. All team members understand that their work will be visible, tangible and valuable. The final result in this case is the growth of the project, general enthusiasm, dedication of people to the cause, and a high probability of success. It is quite possible that such a team will work on other projects in the future.

How to prove to an employer that you can work in a team

“Ability to work in a team” - such words can be found in, perhaps, every second resume.
However, what does it mean to be a team player and is it always necessary? Who especially needs to develop team interaction skills, and who is better off working, as they say, on an individual level? To learn how to be a team member and use this to your advantage when searching for a job, read the recommendations of Superjob.ru.

Collective or team?

During the Soviet years, the word “team” was associated more with sports than with business. It was customary to say “team” about the employees of the enterprise. Today it has become fashionable to call any group a team (hence the fashion for team building), but experts clarify that these are not identical concepts.

If a team is all the employees working in a company or its division (for example, a factory team), then a team is specialists united by a common goal and assigned roles to achieve it. At the same time, the common goal is recognized by each team member as personal. Informal connections and friendships are possible both in a team and in a team.

For example, the sales department in most cases cannot be considered a team in the established sense of the word, because each manager has his own sales plan, and therefore his own goal. But a small PR agency organizing an election campaign in support of a candidate for deputy in local elections should be a team: employees have a common task (the candidate’s victory in the elections), roles are assigned, and if necessary, specialists can help each other.

A team can be very large (hundreds and thousands of people), while a team is a rather intimate association. A real team rarely involves more than 10-15 members - it is difficult to unite too many people with a common goal that would be perceived by everyone as personal.

For whom is it important?

Do you need to be able to work in a team? Most likely, yes, if your work usually becomes part of a common task and you are personally interested in solving it. For example, successful promotion of a company’s product depends on the efforts of the entire marketing department, while your role (for example, developing souvenir products) is very important for the team, and brand awareness is also your personal goal.

And for whom are team player skills not key? As a rule, for those specialists in whose work relative autonomy of work and independent decision-making, as well as individual results, are especially important. These are teachers, sales representatives and sales managers, research scientists (unless, of course, we are talking about a research project in which several people are involved), doctors (however, surgeons and nurses performing an operation together can well be considered a team), journalists (with the exception of television journalists working as part of a film crew), etc.

Stability plus mutual assistance

What qualities do you need to develop in yourself to become a true team player? First of all, in teamwork, the ability to work sustainably and effectively over a long period of time is important. A team, as a rule, does not need one-time labor feats of its members, but their constant effective activity - in sports terms, not a series of sprints, but a long marathon. Any sustainable system needs stability, so learn to plan your time according to overall plans, show up for meetings on time and meet deadlines. Remember - by submitting your part of the work late, you are seriously letting down the people who are counting on you.

The second quality that a team player urgently needs is the ability to sometimes abandon the personal in favor of the general. This means rejection of all kinds of intrigues and rejection of cheap careerism. Pulling the blanket over yourself, emphasizing your own role in the common cause at every opportunity, is not the best quality for a team member. Of course, a share of self-PR is necessary for a successful career, but in team projects a sense of proportion is especially important.

In addition, a specialist who works in a team must always be ready to help colleagues. The principle of “you give me - I give you” or “quid pro quo” does not work here. If you work in a team, then provide information, share contacts, give advice and support to other members free of charge - remember that your ultimate goals are the same. However, this does not mean that you should systematically and resignedly work for yourself and for that guy. If this happens, roles on the team may be redefined. However, with the correct organization of business processes in the company, such a question should not arise.

Finally, for a team player, the ability to talk to people is very important - to listen, understand, give in, persuade and come to a compromise. How to achieve this? You can undergo special training, or you can learn on your own, carefully preparing for upcoming meetings and negotiations, thinking through arguments.

Ability to work in a team as a competitive advantage

Almost every second resume screams about the ability to work in a team, but experienced recruiters are in no hurry to take unfounded statements at face value. To make this quality your competitive advantage, you need to highlight it as a key one in the interview.

To do this, give specific examples of successful teamwork in your career, for example: “I worked in a PR team to promote a product of a famous brand, and was responsible for organizing public events. Together we achieved a 50% increase in sales in six months.” Or: “Our department was recognized as the best in the company based on the results of the year. I'm glad I contributed to this." However, one must be careful and emphasize not only the overall result, but also one’s own role in the matter.

It's a good idea to highlight your team skills on your resume as well. This is especially important for applicants applying for leadership positions. “Experience in creating an effective marketing team from scratch”; “Managing a project for the implementation of new software - creating an effective and efficient team, setting tasks, distributing responsibilities, ongoing control” - in the relevant sections of the CV, emphasize your ability to organize a team.

Teamwork develops, experts say. By listening to the opinions of your colleagues, you expand your professional horizons and develop emotional intelligence. The Superjob.ru portal wishes you active team development!

The right choice of people determines the success of the team

If we turn to any book on top management, we will immediately see that selecting people for the team is the most important and critical process. If the wrong approach was used when forming a team, even the best manager in the world will not be able to save it from collapse and guarantee effective work in the team. If the team breaks up, a smart specialist removes “extra” people from it and replaces them with new ones - more suitable ones.

Under no circumstances should you take on your team anyone who is interested in this. It often takes months to select the best people. For this purpose, personnel departments are created that scrutinize each candidate. The main limiting factor here is your ability to find, attract and select the most suitable people for your team. If it is not possible to form a team, the project should be postponed. By the way, you can find out all the details about project management here, but we will not focus on this and will tell you in more detail about what to consider when choosing people for team work.

Seven Essential Principles of Team Effectiveness

However, whether the assembled group of recruiters will become a real team and whether it will work effectively is another question. It is important to find truly talented employees who will not only be motivated and able to burst with useful ideas, but also share the professional vision of the business owner. And then - not to lose their potential and help everyone move towards a common goal.

Team effectiveness is its ability to achieve four goals:

• implementation of innovations (teams are effective if they can respond to new requirements of the external environment);
• increasing productivity (productivity is the achievement of corporate goals with minimal use of resources);
• ensuring high quality of goods and services (no defects and compliance of products and services with consumer expectations);
• satisfaction of employee needs (the ability of the team to achieve the loyalty of its members, inspire them and fulfill their basic requests).

First: setting a clear ultimate goal

High-performing teams know where they are going, why they are doing their work, and why they are doing it. Every high-performing team has a shared mission statement that inspires its members. This concept is much broader than just “goals”; it expresses the meaning of the existence of this collective, its social purpose. By expressing the deep values ​​of team members, the mission sets the impetus for the work, its direction, and also ensures consistency in actions. It is always unique, extraordinary, and it contains the uniqueness of the team. And, most definitely, it is not related to making a profit, it is beautiful and altruistic.

Every team member understands the mission and purpose of your business: if you decide that the world needs to be free of Parkinson's disease, that should be the goal of every employee. It is not enough just to post it on the company website or publish it in a booklet - it must be voiced at all meetings and conferences - so much so that it firmly wins the minds of all team members.

The main distinguishing features of this team:

• the presence of a common goal , which is known to all participants and is equally significant for each of them;
• motivation and awareness . All team members sincerely want the goal to be realized. It is important to them, so they work for results. The achievements of the team are the highest value of its members, so no one spares personal resources;
• a certain number . The team cannot be too large, just as it cannot consist of one person. The optimal number of participants is 5-10 people. There may be more of them, but this will require additional organizational resources;
• lack of hierarchy . There is an organizational structure within the team, but it is not hierarchical. All participants are equal in status and voting rights;
• collegiality . Decisions in the team are made jointly through discussion;
• synchronization of activities . The actions of the participants are coordinated, do not duplicate or contradict each other;
• regular discussion of results . Team members discuss and analyze the completed stages of work and receive feedback from each other.

Second: organizing continuous knowledge exchange

High-functioning people often like to work alone, on their own. On the one hand, it’s nice when employees don’t have to constantly ask questions in order to do their jobs, but this negatively affects cooperation and the atmosphere in the team.

Therefore, frequently arising questions are not a problem, but a blessing. Try to solve all problems together, this way you create continuity of knowledge and develop a unified approach to solving issues, uniting the team. In addition, this allows you to develop clear process algorithms that can be displayed in separate templates. They will greatly simplify the future work of the entire team.

Basic elements that determine the quality of teamwork:

• communications. Their frequency, structure and openness depend on specific tasks and a specific team. If any important procedures need to be reviewed and decisions need to be made, routine work will need to be carried out as quickly as possible. If you need to brainstorm, then holding a planning meeting or online meeting is quite enough;
• coordination. Each group member must understand what contribution he and each of his colleagues make to the overall result, what the relationship is between each contribution;
• contribution ratio. The greatest effect from the team’s work is achieved when each employee tries to use his own knowledge and experience with the greatest efficiency;
• support. Each group member should initially be inclined not to compete, but to cooperate. Achieving a common goal depends on how well each group member does his or her part. Participants must show respect to each other, help and stimulate colleagues in every possible way;
• efforts to achieve a team result. Team members must prioritize team goals over their own;
• team cohesion. It is important how well the group members get along with each other, how strong the team spirit is.

Third: creating an environment for communication and removing barriers

The key to an organization's effectiveness lies in communication—both between employees and between them and the company's management. Small meetings with the business owner and/or managers will be quite effective in this regard. Don't forget to notice and celebrate the team's successes - this really motivates people.

It is important to hold joint meetings with the team a couple of times a month in order to understand in a simple conversation what worries your specialists, how they live, that is, to get feedback. It is also important to take time to meet or talk with each team member alone. This way you will find out the opinion of each participant, which he is not ready to express at the general meeting. This may reveal hidden problems.

Internal factors influencing team formation:

• the readiness of top management to delegate authority and responsibility to team members, without which the team will not receive the required degree of freedom;
• experience working with teams (for managers) and within a team (for team members working to solve a problem);
• production specifics;
• motivation, compensation and other incentive systems adopted in the organization.

Fourth: find a balance in delegating tasks

Despite the fact that in a real team of professionals everyone has their own unique skills and abilities, only understanding how to combine them into a single working mechanism can lead to success. At the same time, it is normal when tasks in a team are redistributed according to individual workload and experience. For example, if one employee performs a certain function in 1 hour, and another in 20 minutes, then it is worth transferring this work to the second one, if his schedule allows it. And assign the first one another task, which he will solve most effectively.

Stages of teamwork development:

• adaptation. Group members get to know each other and analyze the tasks assigned to the team. There is a primary distribution according to interests, knowledge and experience - people are divided into groups of 2-3 people. At this stage, the team’s performance is low, there is wariness and distrust of each other;
• grouping. Small groups are formed. In the process, the discrepancy between personal interests and team goals is analyzed. Expressions of dissatisfaction are possible;
• cooperation. Team members get used to the idea that they will have to work together until the task is solved;
• rationing of work. When the team has more or less formed and worked well together, it is possible to develop standards and principles of teamwork. Each member of the work group must trust his colleagues;
• functioning. The stage at which decisions are made. The team can identify and resolve conflicts. This stage indicates the effective work of the team.

Fifth: trust

The increasing role of the human factor in the production process requires creating an atmosphere of trust, ensuring the interchangeability of people and the team’s focus on constant improvement and success. A team without trust is just a group of people working together. This approach often leads to decreased operational efficiency. Therefore, when someone is working on a big task, it is not a good idea to keep all the microprocesses under control. Pay attention to global issues and allow employees to express themselves and their talents, believe in their success and be the resource that comes to the rescue in a difficult situation.

The effectiveness of teamwork is influenced by the following conditions:

• The team's goal is formulated clearly, clearly, and in detail. The boundaries of the group’s competence are determined, powers and resources necessary to perform current tasks are transferred;
• the results that should be obtained during the work fully meet the needs of consumers. Feedback must be provided to customers. Group members are oriented towards the possibility of change;
• the technology for achieving the goal is being improved, the knowledge and skills of team members are developing;
• Each team member must undergo certain training, understand the essence of effective teamwork, its specifics, and understand the positive and negative aspects. Employees must understand how relevant and in demand the upcoming work is. If even the customer doesn’t need it, the result is obvious;
• There is no “information hunger” in the team. All necessary communications must be available to all its members;
• an optimal psychological climate is created in the group, informal relationships between individual team members are encouraged. People must trust each other, otherwise the team's performance decreases sharply.

Sixth: focus on results

So many people work just to keep busy, but focusing on achieving great results is what separates average teams from effective ones. Set goals for your company and team from the beginning and measure your performance against those results.

Conduct a retrospective: review how the process went and learn how your employees can improve the results. It's worth getting feedback from your customers about your products and services to build on in the future.

To ensure cohesion, conflict-free and effective teamwork, it is necessary to be guided by the following principles:

• the people doing the work are "experts" when it comes to solving problems in the areas in which they work;
• the combined experience and talents of people working in teams is greater than that of anyone working alone;
• most people are more interested in a project if they can have some influence over the decisions that affect them;
• Each person has creative potential that can be systematically used by involving him in participation in the work of a problem group.

Seventh: learn collective recreation

As the experience of many large companies shows, a fun and creative atmosphere is a big part of their corporate culture. However, creating it, helping employees to be happy and treat their work not as a heavy duty, but as a holiday, is one of the biggest problems in management.

There are many forms and methods here: holding comedy evenings, going out into nature, organizing spontaneous joint dinners, and, of course, everyday humor - all this helps to emotionally relieve the team and unite its different members into one whole.

Tools for uniting employees into a team:

• the emergence of traditions and rituals (morning meeting, five-minute gymnastics, honoring birthday people, birthday cake at the end of the month, etc.);
• holding motivational meetings and meetings with the right to vote for everyone. It is important that events take place in an informal atmosphere so that employees can speak out and receive feedback;
• corporate culture - publishing corporate newspapers, magazines, newsletters, maintaining closed groups on social networks. They can talk about general successes and about individual people;
• corporate events. It is not necessary to hold them in the format of a usual holiday; these can be excursions, quests or sports competitions.

Ensuring effective team performance is an art, but mastering it is real. The main thing is don’t give up, try and don’t stop working. No wonder the brilliant businessman Henry Ford once said: “Getting together is the beginning; sticking together is progress; working together is success.”

The key to team success is only team players

In building a successful and effective team, you need to be guided by the most important principle of selecting people: the team should have team players, not loners. And here's a great example: at the 1980 Winter Olympics, the American national hockey team defeated the USSR team with a score of 4: 3 and took gold, making a splash in the world of sports. The surprising thing is that even before the Olympics, the USSR team defeated the USA team with a score of 10:3. After the Games, the American coach was asked how he achieved victory. Answering, he said that he conducted several psychological tests on his team, identified self-centered players and selected only those who maintain team spirit.

The point is that team players, by accepting, understanding and respecting individual differences, strive to achieve a common result, not their own. They certainly enjoy praise and recognition, but their ambition is about the team goal, not their ego. Team players will recheck their work a hundred times and make a thousand changes to it - just so that the project is a success and the team wins. Think of the human body: there are so many cells, organs and systems, but they all work towards a common goal - to keep the body healthy and alive.

Another advantage of team players is that they, on their own initiative and willingly, take responsibility for achieving the desired result, and their work does not require strict control and management. No problem will be left unattended, because... team players will find any shortcomings and fix them. And their motivation is the fact that they are INVOLVED in the project - it is THEIR project.

Even the brightest individuality gives way to strength of character. Team play is personal dignity and full responsibility for everything that concerns the team. Team play is about honesty and the complete absence of mistrust and suspicion. Team play is about team players who value respect and avoid conflict at work. We also advise you to familiarize yourself with our material on the topic of project team management, personal and team effectiveness, from where you can glean a lot of useful practical information.

Teams in an organization. Their difference from work groups and the main tasks in the organization

The concept of "team" began to be used in the 1980s. In many companies, any people who worked together suddenly became known as a team. Behind this was often hidden the desire to bypass the topic of subordination and management with the help of a sonorous name. “We are all one team!” - this was the slogan, and the impression was created that everyone was more or less equal, stood on the same level, had the same right to vote, which in practice occurs only in extremely rare cases.

The concept of "team"

Currently, a “team” generally refers to several people acting together to carry out some work or activity. Another, more complex definition of the term “team” is a group of workers who distribute among themselves work operations and responsibility for obtaining specific results. Team members are interdependent in their work, i.e., they need the work of other members to achieve shared goals.

Thus, simply put, classic teams can always be found where several individuals need to combine their competencies in order to cope with a particular task. The differentiation of roles in these cases is clearly visible from the outside.

Examples of commands include:

· operating team:

surgeon, operating nurse, anesthesiologist;

· football team:

forwards, defenders, midfielders, goalkeeper, coach, doctor;

· project team:

employees of the laboratory, sales department, design department, production planning, quality control.

From these definitions and examples, the following important characteristics of commands emerge:

1. Interdependence.

Each team member makes an individual contribution to the overall work. Other team members depend on everyone's work. In a team, everyone shares work information with each other. Team members are also perceived as equal participants in the activity process and have the opportunity to influence each other.

2. Shared responsibility. Responsibility for team goals is understood and shared by everyone.

3. Result. Responsibility for team results is shared by all group members and focuses group activity.

Thus, a team is a group of people who have common goals, a high level of interdependence, complementary skills and abilities, and share responsibility for achieving final results.

A team can be created for a one-time task to obtain a result or solve a problem. The duration of the team's existence is determined by the completion of the task. For team members, working on a task is secondary to their main job. The team leader may be formally appointed or selected from among the team members.

In another case, the team may be a manufacturing unit or a long-term work group producing a specific product or service.

Below is a typology that identifies four categories of teams depending on their goals:

· deliberative (council, round table, groups involved in involving employees in the management process);

· production (production teams, mining teams, repair teams, flight crew teams, data processing teams);

· project (research group, planning group, engineering group, task force);

· action group (sports team, recreational group, expedition, negotiating team, surgical team, military unit).

Team formation

Teamwork is increasingly used in the modern world, but creating and developing teams in organizations requires additional effort. These efforts do not always justify the results. Therefore, using a team is advisable only when the work requires interrelated actions that cannot be performed effectively when working individually.

To determine the need for teamwork, you can use a two-level team formation model: the level of a cohesive work group and the level of a work team.

Close-knit working group . At the cohesive work group level, team members view themselves as members of the same work group, but their work is largely independent of each other's work. Therefore, they do not have the need to distribute work among themselves. People are members of a “group” because they make a certain contribution to the outcome of the work of a given unit. This group is characterized by:

• the presence of a goal shared by all;

• everyone feels accepted by the group and has the opportunity to influence others.

The hallmark of a cohesive work group is that it focuses on the efforts of its individual members.

Work team.

At the work team level, the focus is on increasing productivity.
Its members are interdependent , so they need to distribute work to achieve a common goal.
Just like a cohesive work group, an effective work team: • functions as an autonomous unit within the organization;

• group members share work information with each other;

• has goals and objectives that are shared and understood by everyone.

The work team focuses on increasing its effectiveness in achieving work objectives through self-organization and self-management.

British team building experts W. Critchley and D. Casey believe that the need to form teams is determined by the nature of the task being performed. They distinguish three types of tasks:

· simple tasks of a technical nature;

· ordinary tasks with a moderate degree of uncertainty;

· assignments with a high degree of uncertainty and relatively complex problems that are important to all stakeholders.

In their opinion, to perform tasks of the first type, people require only some social skills and these are performed well by employees who work independently from each other. To complete tasks of the second type, employees need general information and ideas, which they can obtain through moderate cooperation if they have negotiation and coordination skills. And only to complete tasks of the third type requires a high level of teamwork skills.

The influence of such an important factor as team composition on the success of a group was revealed by M. Belbin and his colleagues. A study was conducted of several hundred small groups in the process of activity. Scientists determined that the behavior of group members corresponds to one of the nine roles they proposed during the study (Table 6.1).

The key to team success is only one leader

A team is like a pack that has a leader. And just as there is only one leader in a pack, so there should be only one leader in a team, and each team member must clearly understand who exactly he is. The leader serves as an example for everyone else, and he simply must be respected by his team. When team members do not respect the leader, any project immediately goes downhill. People's respect cannot be bought, it cannot be forced, it cannot be forced - it can and must be earned.

How can a leader earn the respect of his people? The answer is extremely simple: you need to take advantage of all the benefits of unity and put the needs of the team at the forefront. A leader is an example for everyone and everyone in particular. Therefore, he must have such qualities as honesty, balance, decency and objectivity. If a leader promises something, he will break into pieces, but he will keep his word. The team leader is the living embodiment of team standards, regardless of the extent to which other team members meet those standards.

The main task of a leader is to help the team achieve success and implement the project. As you yourself understand perfectly well, this work is not for the faint of heart, because it requires enormous responsibility. The manager takes into account the opinions of each of his wards, but the final decision is made only by himself. Remember also that an effective team is one where the leader’s decisions are not challenged, even if these decisions diverge from the beliefs, opinions and plans of individuals.

What is teamwork

A team is a well-oiled machine. Where each person occupies his specific place. All members of the group, like cogs, set the mechanism in motion.

It includes no more than 15 people. Why not more? The answer is simple. Because it is quite difficult to unite a large number of people with one goal. The work of the participants is cohesive. They solve the problem according to a plan, but each performs certain responsibilities.

If previously this word was used only in the field of sports and competitions, now it is becoming more and more appropriate in the working environment. As soon as you get confused with the definition of the concepts of “collective” and “team”, dream up a little. Imagine in front of you a group of people who are participating in a competition. Their common goal is to be the first to reach the final. There is an action plan. Everyone performs their tasks: one runs, the other jumps, the third passes the standard with the ball. This comparison should be in your head in order to easily determine what is in front of you.

Cohesion is the most important factor in the life and work of a team

The organization of team work should always be built with an eye to cohesion. The results that the team achieves are a direct consequence of the quality of its activities as a single organism. It is very important to achieve a state of unity of all people, because... Only in it is a synergy effect achieved and all individual elements work together, realizing the most overwhelming tasks. If there is no cohesion in the team, the results will be mediocre, and the project itself may get stuck at the slightest problem.

If you are a leader, you should pay maximum attention to whether your team is united. If for some reason a person refuses to accept your rules of the game and join the team in full, you must immediately figure out what’s wrong, resolve the issue, or replace the player. The situation is similar with the team’s morale: if it drops, it needs to be raised immediately, otherwise the dynamics of the team’s movement will begin to be lost.

In addition, cohesion is one of the most important factors influencing the microclimate of the team. Simply put, the more friendly your people are, the lower the likelihood of conflict situations will arise, and conflict resolution will become a matter of five minutes. Keep this in mind without fail. But in any case, supplement your knowledge and skills with information from our course on conflictology and conflict management and the article “Conflicts and strategies for dealing with them.”

One of the best ways to build team cohesion is to all do something together that has nothing to do with work. You can, for example, organize corporate parties in nature, play football or paintball, go to discos or movies, and play role-playing games. And for cases when team members are in different places around the country or the world, group chats, online games, and even joint trips and travel are perfect. When friendly relationships are established between team members, working together becomes much more pleasant and interesting, and enthusiasm overflows.

A good team should have at least one analyst

Team members who have a big-picture mentality are great for brainstorming and creative problem solving, but when it comes to turning ideas into reality, it's a good idea to have at least one person on the team with an analytical mind - someone who can focus on the project details.

One recent experiment found that teams with analytics tended to do better on projects because they paid more attention to the details of the task process, such as setting milestones and identifying needed resources. However, the analytical edge must be balanced, as thought leaders and analytical thinkers may not agree on key issues, and this will negatively impact the effectiveness of the entire team.

To avoid such disagreements, the entire team needs to focus on the project implementation process and clearly set strategic priorities. If you manage to find someone with a mixed thinking style (ideational and analytical), this can also help improve relationships between team members with different thinking styles.

An effective and successful team needs constant feedback.

Competent team building dictates another postulate: for a team to be active and prosper, it needs to be constantly given feedback. But this means that team members must not only be informed in a timely manner about the status of the project and current news. You need to constantly communicate with them, consult, take an interest in them and their lives.

An easy way to keep in touch is to gather your team at least once a week to share new information, discuss common challenges, and talk about collective and individual achievements. This approach will, firstly, keep everyone informed of progress, and secondly, it will be an excellent way to boost morale, increase cohesion and defuse tensions.

Sometimes it happens that people cannot meet physically in one place. In such cases, it is recommended to use instant messengers, email, forums or private sections of the corporate website to communicate with team members. In the same way, by the way, you can resolve work issues, send documentation and important files, distribute tasks, etc.

However, do not forget that the best communication is live communication - without any gadgets, emails or phones. Take into account the nonverbal component of communication - the ability to see and convey nonverbal signals to others greatly increases the effectiveness of communication and makes life and work much more interesting.

Teamwork competence in an individual development plan: a cheat sheet for HR and more

Teambuilding intensive The year is over, the results have been summed up, reports on the implementation of the individual plan have been submitted. In the pre-New Year chaos there is no time to think about further development. However, after the New Year holidays, it will be time to make plans for the year. Once again, we will have to help employees and managers draw up individual development plans (IDPs) so that their personal and professional growth contributes to the development of the company as a whole.

Teamwork is a competency that defines the ability to work in a team, maintain a balance between team interests and personal interests, and effectively interact with team members. And if for line employees this competence is manifested in the ability to constructively build interaction and resolve conflicts, then for managers there are much more criteria for demonstrating teamwork and the importance of its development is much higher.

Like any competency, teamwork needs to be developed. In different companies, the teamwork competency has different evaluation criteria, depending on the developed competency model. If you have to work with developing the “teamwork” competency in IPR, then this article will be a good cheat sheet for you on developmental actions.

Teamwork competency

Teamwork competence presupposes a set of skills and abilities to work effectively in a team. For network companies, teamwork is one of the key competencies, since the development of the company as a whole depends on the work of the team.

By what criteria can you evaluate teamwork at work?

An employee or manager who has developed this competency:

● Supports “team spirit”

● In his actions he proceeds from common goals

● Aimed at constructive resolution of conflicts

How to develop teamwork?

Teamwork belongs to the category of complex competencies, the development of which must be approached comprehensively.

IPR allows you to plan a set of these actions for a year in order to practice the skills included in your competence until they become automatic.

As you know, IPR involves setting goals and selecting developmental actions to develop competence. Goals are formed according to the SMART principle. This allows you to evaluate whether it has been achieved or not.

But the choice of developmental actions often causes difficulties both for employees and for employees of the personnel reserve service (certification service).

IPR involves the following developmental actions:

1. Self-development.

2. Development in the workplace.

3. Trainings.

4. Special projects.

5. Learning from the experiences of others.

Development in the workplace: what to do?

Development in the workplace takes up 70%. Working on team development requires daily work.

Self-analysis of your own work

Analyze your work. Rate on a four-point scale how much your behavior corresponds to the following statements, where 4 is “always without exception,” 3 is “in most cases,” 2 is “when you have time for this,” 1 is “rarely”:

● you are not indifferent to your team’s problems and actively participate in their constructive resolution

● you organize your working time, maintaining a balance of team and individual goals

● you take into account the impact of your actions on other team members in your work

● you are constructive in your communication with colleagues, are cooperative, strive to find a mutually acceptable solution to contradictions, even in a situation of conflict

● you motivate employees to help each other

● you are aimed at achieving a common result, based on this, you plan the work of the department

Highlight the statements that you rated below 3. Think of situations where you could have taken appropriate action but did not. Think about why this happened and what you could change if a similar situation were to happen again now.

Group work: what to do

1. Working in a team with colleagues to solve a common problem, increase the degree of involvement of each participant in the discussion: contact them directly, ask for their opinion, invite them to speak in a circle, note the value of the proposed ideas. Summarize intermediate results and formulate a final decision.

2. When participating in a group discussion, make eye contact with all participants. At the beginning of teamwork, voice the objectives of the meeting,

rules of collaboration and remind them of this throughout the discussion, preventing the group from being distracted from the task at hand. Involve colleagues in discussing work problems, ask for their opinions and suggestions on the best way to solve them.

3. Encourage each employee to consider how his activities outside of his area of ​​work will contribute to improving the effectiveness of the entire team and him personally.

4. After listening to your colleague’s ideas about the problem, do not immediately jump to your own opinion, first summarize the interlocutor’s position, while trying not to express your views or criticize his point of view. Then present your own position in a calm, constructive manner, trying to find as many aspects as possible in which there is mutual understanding between you. Focus on what you agree with (this could be an understanding of the problem, some way to solve it, an attitude towards the problem, etc.) and only then begin to discuss the differences.

5. In the event of a conflict situation, conduct a conversation with your opponent according to the following scheme:

1) describe the person’s behavior that is a problem for you;

2) express your feelings and thoughts about his behavior;

3) clarify with all clarity what changes in his behavior would suit you;

4) discuss the consequences for both of you if the problem is resolved or not resolved.

For example: “Elena, you always give me Friday reports with spelling errors. This is very frustrating for me, the report of the entire department depends on your report, and I spend my personal time correcting your mistakes. I would like you to take a little more time and double check your report before submitting it. Next time our report may not be accepted by the head office, and our performance and bonuses depend on this.”

6. Plan your activities, seeking the opinion of related departments on how the planned actions will affect their activities. Taking this into account, adjust the plans of your unit.

7. Don’t wait for colleagues to ask for help – ask if they need help. If your team members encounter difficulties in solving joint problems, provide them with all possible help.

8. Regularly evaluate employee interaction style. Avoid unconstructive and inappropriate behavior of employees towards colleagues, partners, and clients. Give them immediate feedback when situations like this arise.

9. Write down and try to remember birthdays, anniversaries, holidays, etc. members of your unit. If necessary, add an electronic calendar reminder. Congratulate employees on dates that are significant to them.

Working with a team: what to do

1. Discuss with managers and colleagues who can serve as an example in the field of building effective teamwork, what they do to unite employees, motivate them to achieve common goals, mutual assistance and support, how they organize work in order to achieve maximum contribution to achieving team goals.

2. Make a list of employees with whom you most often have to coordinate your activities. Agree with them on a list of activities to coordinate work in each standard work situation. Determine the frequency with which such meetings need to be held. Comply with the agreements reached and seek the same from subordinates.

Special assignments, projects

1. Organize informal events for your team, for example, once a quarter.

2. Conduct research on the distribution of team roles, interactions within your team (for example, using questionnaires) or diagnostics from the “new reality” team.

3. Based on the diagnostic results, organize the necessary team building trainings for the team.

Seeking Feedback

Regularly seek feedback from your manager and colleagues on how effectively you are doing:

– maintain “team spirit”;

– regulate conflicts and disputes within your team;

– assist colleagues in solving team problems.

Self-study

Literature

1. Goleman D., Boyatzis R., McKee E. Emotional leadership. M.: Alpina Business Books, 2005

2. Jim and Michelle McCarthy. We program team spirit. St. Petersburg: Symbol - Plus, 2004

3. Lacy H. How to resolve conflict in the workplace. M.: GIPPO, 2004

4. Sherwin D., Sherwin M. How to create a real team. Algorithms that improve collaboration efficiency. – M.: Alpina Publisher, 2020. 5. Mikheev A. Strong team. 50 secrets of hiring, management and motivation. – M.: Omega-L, 2019

6. Sartan G. Circle of influence. How to create a team without training. Step by step guide. – M.: Publishing House of Synergy University, 2020.

7. Felau E. G. Conflicts at work. How to recognize them, resolve them, prevent them. M.: Omega-L, 2008

This is not an exhaustive guide to action. It may not be suitable for everyone, but you can get some ideas for your development plan here.

As for diagnostics and team building, we recommend the comprehensive approach of the “New Reality”. This team offers organization of team building in accordance with the characteristics of your company, employees and their relationships and goals.

Yours sincerely,

Tim Timych, consultant of the New Reality project

Each team member should be rewarded according to their merits

Paying team members is a multifaceted issue. The best option for effective team work is the option in which each participant receives a percentage of the commercial implementation of the project. A person must feel that his work is appreciated, and also clearly understand that any “processing” will count towards him and his wallet.

However, the material component does not exhaust the topic of reward, because for some people moral satisfaction means much more than financial satisfaction. Based on this, the names of the people involved in achieving the goal must be displayed somehow: if it is a computer game - indicated in the credits, if the plan is being fulfilled - announced at a general meeting, if a victory in a competition - written in the certificate, etc.

Praise is a very powerful tool for maintaining a positive attitude and enthusiasm. It is clear that everyone already knows that he participated in the project. But a competent leader will make sure to note this, publicly and with the help of sincere words, and not excuses like “Great job, Vasily!” or “Keep it up, Petka!” Compare this: “Eugene, you did an incredible job on the project. Without your skills, the whole team would have a hard time. The site works excellently, and the design is generally beyond praise. You did a great job, Evgeniy! We definitely won’t be lost with you!” Agree that, coupled with good bonuses, these words will lift, perhaps, everyone to seventh heaven.

Taking notes is an integral part of teamwork.

Teamwork involves a high level of responsibility, especially when it comes to the leader. If you are the leader of a team, take part in its life and manage its work, you must keep records. Pragmatic people say it this way: “The dullest pencil is better than the sharpest memory.” You can, of course, remember absolutely everything, but we advise you to be more practical.

Everything you agree on with your people should be written down in your planner. It is undoubtedly easier to agree verbally, but taking notes helps you quickly identify inconsistencies and omissions. In addition to this, records allow you to analyze the state of affairs not only on work issues, but also on the situation in the team as a whole.

When thinking, planning, trying to predict the development of events, write down your thoughts - this will help you be prepared for unforeseen circumstances. Who can leave the team? Who can be involved in the work? What is the best way to distribute rewards? Finding the records will help you answer these and other questions.

And one more point regarding records: everything related to official matters (amount of remuneration, obligations, intellectual property rights, deadlines, etc., etc.) must be documented, included in contracts, certified, stamped and signed. Many issues are difficult to resolve when there is no “paper” where it is written what, how and why - this must be taken into account so as not to end up in an unpleasant situation.

Subtleties of control

I once read some interesting theories about the optimal team size.
George Miller was engaged in memory research and, as a result of experiments, was able to conclude that a person’s short-term memory usually fits from 5 to 9 incoherent elements. That is, a person does not need to group them according to some principles and characteristics to make it easier to remember. Jeff Surland, the father of Scrum, who repeated the success of Toyota, believes that a team should have no more than 7 people, which led to the rule “7 people per project.” In his opinion, only such teams achieve the effect of hyperproductivity; they can be 8 times more effective! I was surprised, but these theories worked. I had one team of 12-13 people, I divided it into two and, lo and behold, productivity increased noticeably. As the number of programmers grew, I created a third team of 6 people.

Below I will give tips on managing a team; there is nothing new in them, but at one time they helped me a lot, and I myself was convinced of their benefits in practice.

• Combine teams so they have room to grow. One of my early mistakes was to divide my colleagues into two teams by level: in one I gathered strong programmers, and in the other less experienced ones. After the shuffle, productivity increased. And everyone began to develop more intensively: newcomers gained technical experience, and strong engineers tried themselves as mentors.
• Learn to distribute tasks correctly. A programmer is a valuable employee for a company. There must always be a challenge before him. Give problems a little more difficult than he can solve right away. This will help him grow. An experienced senior should not sit on easy tasks, even if he does them faster than a novice specialist. Don't hammer nails with a microscope! Of course, tasks of the required level of complexity are difficult to select, so maintain a balance and combine them with routine ones.
• Motivate your employees correctly. An individual approach is needed here: for one it is money, for another it is career growth, the third wants to become a super professional so that everyone comes to him for advice. That is, give them what they really need. This will work longer and more efficiently than some order issued from above by management. In addition, it is easier to maintain a balance between what the company and the employee need.
• Comfortable work schedule. I fought for a long time with my bosses for a flexible schedule, but in the end I proved its advantage in numbers. We agreed with the team on the hours of presence, and everyone could come at a time convenient for themselves, and leave on business when necessary.
• Don't try to control every step. People must be aware of their responsibility. A person who understands this is much more effective and independent.
• Don't skimp on training. Send colleagues to conferences, master classes and other events. Expensive? Arrange them yourself in an informal setting over a cup of tea and pizza. Let people share experiences, talk about new approaches, or solve some tricky problems together.
• To manage without managing. In my opinion, this is aerobatics. It’s easy to give direct instructions, but how long will a team leader who controls every step of the team last? In a good team, the manager is an employee of the department like the rest. Only he thinks not about specific tasks, but about the development of the company. From time to time he reports problems or new directions of work, and the rest jump on them and solve them. In my opinion, this is the most effective approach to management, only for this a good team must already be built and all the processes in it have been streamlined.

There should be no ineffective people on the team

Team building is a practical and to a certain extent tough activity. As unpleasant as it may sound, sometimes you have to remove weak players from your team. And this must be done, otherwise the entire project for which the team was created may be at risk.

If one team member fails to perform his tasks, he lets the rest down. To begin with, you should try to correct the situation by explaining to the person what is required of him, what is expected of him and why this is important. For greater effect, you can not limit yourself to oral conversation, but send him an official document. If no changes occur in the work of such a player, he will instantly lose the trust and support of others. And this negatively affects the cohesion, team spirit and productivity of the entire team. In addition, the absence of changes indicates that the person does not care about the team and common goals.

In any such situation, the best solution is to eliminate the underperforming player and replace him. Tears, oaths and promises to improve do not count - you only need to look the facts in the eye. Despite this, many managers, due to their soft character, inexperience or some other reasons, show excessive condescension towards lagging team members, letting them get away with everything. This kind of organization of team work is no good. Giving a chance to improve is one thing, but being overly protective of people who undermine the effectiveness of the entire team is something else entirely.

Of course, kicking a person out of a team can be cruel, but team building is not a kindergarten, and there is no place for the weak. So evaluate your people critically and objectively, give those lagging behind time to recover, but if nothing changes, move on without regrets, but without such people in the team.

The second lesson of our course aimed to give you a general idea of ​​what rules and principles are used to form a successful team, and what you should pay attention to when managing it. Guided by this information, you can get significantly closer to creating a team that will become a second family for you. And for this family to only grow stronger and gain strength over time, we need to learn to unite people with each other.

In the third lesson we will look at the main issues related to team building. You will learn about when and why it is necessary to create a cohesive team, what are the conditions for the formation of cohesion and what is interesting about this process. We will also give a number of effective recommendations on this topic and give examples of team-building activities.

The balance of extroverts and introverts in a team plays an important role.

When hundreds of students were experimentally divided into teams of five to complete group assignments over 10 weeks, it was discovered that introverts were not valued at first. Their classmates believed that they would not be able to greatly influence the result of the work, and did not expect the same return from them as from the more courageous team members. However, by the end of the semester, students realized how much introverts had to offer them and began to value them more, while their trust in extroverts waned.

While extroverts try to capture your attention and show off their abilities, you need to dig deeper and find the quiet but talented geniuses. However, don’t get too carried away with such searches - extroverts should not be ignored either, since often the most effective combination in a team is a balance of personalities.