Masonry Magazine July 2002 Page. 39
Goals
Teams become successful when members understand and support the organization's goals. More important, team members commit themselves to ambitious goals and learn how to work together to achieve those goals.
This means that team members may participate in activities typically reserved for managers, such as brainstorming sessions and strategic planning sessions. It means that team members can - and should - be asked to "operationalize" goals. Turn them into highly specific, quantifiable profit, or work targets. Goals gradually become second nature to team members, and a source of motivation each and every day.
Happiness
The fact is, teams work best when satisfaction fills the workplace. On a day-to-day basis, this means that supervisors and team leaders foster opportunities for members to relax together, on and off the job. It means that leaders become acutely conscious of the aspirations and concerns of team members, and address them through regular coaching. It may often mean that team members take greater control of the workday, even introducing flexible scheduling options.
The result is usually an upbeat workplace where team members take an active interest in each other's needs.
Techniques
Teams don't develop in a vacuum. Strategic help from team leaders and supervisors is usually essential. To build teamwork, many leaders present teams with problems, not solutions, and gradually increase the team's problem-solving responsibility as their capabilities grow.
Many leaders involve team members in the hiring process, inviting members to question applicants toward the end of interviews or encouraging them to conduct tours of the workplace for prospective employees and team members. Other leaders schedule "team reporting" sessions when key business information is shared and discussed. Other leaders liberally distribute "permission" and "authorization" forms, which members can use to "approve" courses of action on their own, whether a leader is present or not. Leaders typically encourage team members to develop their own meeting agendas and conduct periodic evaluations of their work.
All of these techniques help teams build cohesion and a spirit of responsibility and motivate them to set their sights toward ever-more ambitious agendas in the future.
Education
Teams and team leaders need education. It's the responsibility of the supervisor and team leader to arrange for training and guidance in a wide variety of areas, from quality assurance to brainstorming techniques, to meeting management skills, to interpersonal skills.
Education might consist of weekly seminars with guest speakers or talented team members, access to library materials, and occasional training seminars. It might mean a formal cross-training program, giving team members the opportunity to learn the fundamentals of each other's job. And finally, a good educational program might mean that each member of the team becomes "expert" in a particular area, and can be called upon regularly to share expertise with his or her peers.
Rewards
Just as everyone seeks some form of tangible benefit from their work, team members seek payoffs for their participation in committees or work groups. At times, the rewards for team participation are highly tangible: an annual bonus for team productivity, a stipend for participating on the team, or the opportunity for flexible schedules.
Other payoffs can be less tangible, however: public recognition for the team's work, the increased job security that arises when individuals perform essential tasks, the opportunity to engage in self-directed assignments. Once a system of simple team-based rewards is in place, the team's responsiveness and flexibility often increases.
Teamwork is common in businesses of every type and size, from huge multi-national corporations to corner stores. Whatever form it takes from sophisticated quality circles to pitch-in-and-help special project groups - building a true spirit of teamwork requires a firm commitment on the part of leaders and a lot of patience as teams gradually come into their own. But the long-term results are worth it: highly motivated employees, a "self-starting" philosophy that permeates the entire enterprise, and new opportunities for profit.
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6853 #B Ν.Ε. 42nd Ave. Portland, OR 97218
Phone (503) 281-6190 Fax (503) 281-6227
KR
PRODUCTS www.kenrichproducts.com