How Do You Improve Your Teamwork Skills?
Teamwork is a crucial skill in every industry. Since it’s completely transferable, working on it now will improve your career for a lifetime. Find out more about How Do You Improve Your Teamwork Skills?
5 Tips to Improve Your Teamwork Skills
Teamwork is one of the most sought-after skills in the workplace, from entry-level positions to upper-level management roles. What makes teamwork so important?
- No matter your industry or role, you will at times have to work with other people. It helps if you can get along well with them.
- Teamwork is completely transferable – if you work well with people in one job, you’ll carry that ability to any other situation.
Since teamwork is in such high demand, it pays to cultivate and improve your teamwork skills. It can help you function more happily and efficiently at your current job, as well as advance your career in the future. Below, we will discuss five ways in which you can improve your teamwork skills today. You can learn more about including teamwork skills on your resume here.
Tip No. 1: Set Clear Goals
Achievement is difficult or even impossible if all team members aren’t working toward the same goal. Whether you are the team lead or a team player, do you clearly understand the goals of your team? If not, initiate a conversation with those who do.
Then, make sure all team members are also aware of the goals. Consider posting them in a visible area. Celebrate each goal that the team achieves.
Consider setting short-term goals or benchmarks leading up to long-term goals. This can help keep the team motivated when their long-term goal seems distant or difficult to achieve.
Tip No. 2: Know the Roles
Being clear on your role and responsibilities is key to doing your job well. If you need more clarity, ask.
It is equally important to understand others’ roles. This will help avoid duplicating efforts. It can also help team leaders establish an optimal division of labor. When you know the abilities, workload, and role of each team member, you can more insightfully make assignments or delegate tasks.
Tip No. 3: Celebrate the Wins
Earlier, we talked about setting goals. There are many small steps between where you are today and any goal you make achieve. Celebrating even small achievements is a great way to keep team members (and yourself!) motivated and enthusiastic.
According to Indeed, managers can celebrate success in the following three ways:
- Reward reliability
- Praise the small things
- Express gratitude
Other ways to acknowledge team members include taking them out to lunch or dinner, catering lunch for the whole team, gift cards, an award ceremony with printed certificates, a paid time off day, or event tickets.
Related to this is not fighting over who gets the credit for an accomplishment. Do you feel like some other team member is getting the credit that should go to you? Don’t sweat it. A win for one team member is a win for the whole team. Celebrate it! Your humility and non-competitiveness will likely improve your relationships with your coworkers.
Tip No. 4: Be Positive; Don’t Complain
Team players are often known for keeping a positive attitude, even when circumstances get tough. If you are a team lead, the example you set in this regard can set the tone for your team’s future.
Sometimes, though, issues arise that make positivity difficult. How should you handle them? One educational resource explains, “Complaining is wasted energy. More often than not, a complaint is just a problem that has a solution. Rather than complaining about it, you can work together to solve the issue.”
Tip No. 5: Include Remote Workers
According to one report, “remote work has been overwhelmingly successful for both employers (83%) and employees (73%). Less than one in five executives say they want to return to how things used to be, and more than half of employees want to continue working remotely at least three days a week post-COVID-19.”
How can you team build when team members don’t occupy a shared space? One way is to prepare your team by focusing on team building in the office from day one. In this way, if employees later switch to remote or hybrid work, they will already feel a close connection to their team members.
What about remote hires? Make sure they are in the loop – they should have ready access to all the information and tools needed to complete their assignments, including communication tools. Some companies like to use online collaboration tools like Basecamp or Asana to connect team members at multiple locations. This also works well for offices spread out geographically.
Finally, make sure remote workers feel a part of the team on special occasions. If you give everyone in the office a gift basket, for example, ship one to each remote worker as well. And if you sponsor in-person teambuilding retreats, include remote workers, perhaps even covering their travel expenses. Some companies go so far as to sponsor a one to two-week in-office orientation period for new remote hires.
Improve Your Teamwork Skills
From entry-level employment to upper-level management responsibilities, teamwork is one of the most sought-after qualities in the business. Teamwork is an essential ability in every sector. Working on it today will benefit your profession for the rest of your life because it is entirely transportable.
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