What? When it comes to forming teams, there are many ways of doing it. When creating a workplace team, you must go through group development, which has five different steps. That’s according to Group Dynamics for Teams by Levi: Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing, and Adjourning. Forming is: “Orientation: members getting to know one another.” Storming is: “Conflict: disagreement about roles and procedures.” Norming is: “Structure: establishment of rules and social relationships.” Performing: “Work: focus on completing the task.” And adjourning is: “Dissolution: completion of task and end of the group.” (Levi). Following these simple steps will help you create a functioning, focused team. Another major component is communication. Entrepreneur states: “The best way to demonstrate value between team members is through communication. It’s difficult to feel like you are part of a team when everybody has information that hasn’t been shared with you yet or when team members don’t fill each other in on what they’re working on. Keep a level of transparency whenever possible with all team members, even if the information doesn’t directly pertain to every person on your team.” (Johnson). Keeping a team in communication is vital in teamwork.

So What? These procedures can help team members get to know each other, accomplish tasks fast and efficiently, produce good ideas with feedback, and leave everyone with a sense of accomplishment.  At the end of the project, team members have more confidence in each other and can complete more tasks together. CMO states: “When delivered correctly, team development can create an innovative atmosphere that encourages cooperation, teamwork and trust among its members. But as most leaders know, team development doesn’t just happen; there’s a lot involved in turning a group of people into a functioning and productive team. At its core, team building is a considered process of transitioning separate individuals into a cohesive group. A group that is at once working interdependently and cooperatively to accomplish a specific set of purposes and goals.” (Deakin University). Taking small steps can seem oversimplified at first but can easily be modified and adjusted to the group’s specific needs.

Now what? Now that we know that forming a team or group in the workplace can be challenging, use the simple steps already outlined to create a team or group and have it last through thick and thin. The important reasons are laid out by Potential: “Teamwork motivates unity in the workplace…These close-knit relationships motivate employees in parallel and align them to work harder, cooperate and be supportive of one another. Teamwork offers differing perspectives and feedback…A proper team environment allows individuals to brainstorm collectively, which in turn increases their success to problem solve and arrive at solutions more efficiently and effectively. Teamwork provides improved efficiency and productivity. Teamwork provides great learning opportunities. Teamwork promotes workplace synergy.” Overall, teamwork is a great way to work and is fairly easy to get started if you have the right people to start with. The most important outcome is a task that is complete, viable and is a result that co-workers feel proud of.

Refrences:

Deakin University. (2017, October 3). Why is team development important to a leader? Retrieved from https://www.cmo.com.au/brand-post/content/662563/why-is-team-development-important-to-a-leader/Johnson, C.

Levi, D. (2017). Group Dynamics for Teams (5th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

(2016, May 23). 6 Steps to Build a Strong Team. Retrieved from https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/274001Wehbe, S.

(2018, April 17). 5 Important Reasons Why Teamwork Matters. Retrieved from https://www.potential.com/articles/5-important-reasons-why-teamwork-matters/

What? In Group Dynamics for Teams, Levi explains how a team is different than a group. “A team is a special type of group in which people work interdependently to accomplish a goal.”(Levi). Levi talks about how teams have been used for work for a very long time but explains how in recent decades, the use of organizational teamwork has changed with the different nature of our jobs and job structures. Groups are large, but definitive in what they are whether it be a religion or organization like Scouts; whereas, teams are much smaller and are working towards a common goal like completing a project or winning a game. Active Collab talks about the differences in teams by stating “A group is a collective of mutually independent individuals with separate goals who are brought together by common interests and experience… A team is an interdependent group of individuals who share responsibility and are focused on a common goal.”(Moga). It obvious how different groups are from teams.

So What? Why implement teams in the workplace rather than large groups? According to Potential, teamwork creates an atmosphere that flourishes in friendship and loyalty, as well as implementing different ideas, talents, skills, habits, strengths as well as weaknesses. Having a specified team of people within an organization can help lots when productivity as well as creativity. In Group Dynamics for Teams, Levi defines a successful team as: “A successful team completes its task, maintains good social relations, and promotes its members’ personal and professional development.”(Levi). Having this mentality of keeping members of your team growing is vital in the ever changing work environments around us now a days, this helps keep productivity up as well as creating a comradery with in the team to get tasks done.

Now What? Now that we have clear-cut evidence that teams work far better in work settings, more organizations should be implementing teams into the workplace. There are already many organizations and workplaces that implement teamwork. According to Forbes, many organizations have already implemented teams, and those who have not “92% of the companies Deloitte surveyed cited “redesigning the way we work” as one of their key challenges, making this the #1 trend of the year. If you look at the research, you find that companies already operate this way. Only 24% of large companies (>5,000 employees) claim to be functionally organized and only 38% overall.  We naturally run our businesses in sales teams, manufacturing plants, retail stores, product groups, service teams, and geographically independent operations.”(Bersin). Productivity is necessary in organizations this day and age, having teams will boost this. Overall implementing teams is already happening, but creating more of a jump start for all organizations to implement this is needed to boost productivity in the workplace as well as making employees happier at work, since their ideas are more likely to be implemented in smaller teams rather than a large group with so many ideas that its hard to take them all in.

Refrences:

Bersin, J. (2016, March 3). New Research Shows Why Focus On Teams, Not Just Leaders, Is Key To Business Performance. Retrieved February 5, 2020, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshbersin/2016/03/03/why-a-focus-on-teams-not-just-leaders-is-the-secret-to-business-performance/#2077748524d5

Levi, D. (2017). Group dynamics for teams. Los Angeles: SAGE.

Moga, B. (2017, June 14). Group vs Team [Differences, Comparison, Transformation] · Activecollab Blog. Retrieved February 5, 2020, from https://activecollab.com/blog/collaboration/group-vs-team

Wehbe, S. (2018, April 17). 5 Important Reasons Why Teamwork Matters. Retrieved from https://www.potential.com/articles/5-important-reasons-why-teamwork-matters/

Be yourself; Everyone else is already taken.

— Oscar Wilde.

This is the first post on my new blog. I’m just getting this new blog going, so stay tuned for more. Subscribe below to get notified when I post new updates.

This is an example post, originally published as part of Blogging University. Enroll in one of our ten programs, and start your blog right.

You’re going to publish a post today. Don’t worry about how your blog looks. Don’t worry if you haven’t given it a name yet, or you’re feeling overwhelmed. Just click the “New Post” button, and tell us why you’re here.

Why do this?

• Because it gives new readers context. What are you about? Why should they read your blog?
• Because it will help you focus you own ideas about your blog and what you’d like to do with it.

The post can be short or long, a personal intro to your life or a bloggy mission statement, a manifesto for the future or a simple outline of your the types of things you hope to publish.

To help you get started, here are a few questions:

• Why are you blogging publicly, rather than keeping a personal journal?
• What topics do you think you’ll write about?
• Who would you love to connect with via your blog?
• If you blog successfully throughout the next year, what would you hope to have accomplished?

You’re not locked into any of this; one of the wonderful things about blogs is how they constantly evolve as we learn, grow, and interact with one another — but it’s good to know where and why you started, and articulating your goals may just give you a few other post ideas.

Can’t think how to get started? Just write the first thing that pops into your head. Anne Lamott, author of a book on writing we love, says that you need to give yourself permission to write a “crappy first draft”. Anne makes a great point — just start writing, and worry about editing it later.

When you’re ready to publish, give your post three to five tags that describe your blog’s focus — writing, photography, fiction, parenting, food, cars, movies, sports, whatever. These tags will help others who care about your topics find you in the Reader. Make sure one of the tags is “zerotohero,” so other new bloggers can find you, too.