Task related

Teams are split as per the tasks, different people have different capabilities of doing their jobs, some may do it faster while some may be slower. The complexities and the challenges of the tasks determine the jobs of each team, the actual teams are interdependent on each other for completing their whole project.

The structural team

The structural teams are those who maintain the stability of the team with the perfect input and resources required. Each of the teams are split so as to get the organized work done, the expertise in the team plays a key role in building the team’s future and getting the tasks done from them. The physical proximity of teams helps them interact and also in problem solving agenda meetings. The employees of the company are regulated with a specific set of rules and regulations to be followed. The diverse nature of teams brings in lots of new ideas and creativity in the work procedure.

External support

The actual teams are more prone to get external support whether the process related support or the technical support. The new employees or workers can be easily trained and bring about social and technical skills in the organization along with business understanding of new projects and processes being developed in the organization.

Virtual teams are getting popular where individuals seated at different places can interact and do their work efficiently with the help of communication technology where they can see each other virtually and solve or interact their work methods or processes. The main advantages of having a virtual team are:

• It can work at any time of day or night; there are no set rule that applies to the time they should be working.
• People from different places can bring in their insights relating to a particular subject matter.
• It gets flexible for people to work as per their set schedules; it has a faster responsive system than our actual teams.
• They approach high collaborative methods, which creates great teamwork and high trustworthy relations amongst each other.

Although as much advantages, we might discuss about the virtual teams, it carries equal amount of disadvantages too as there are lots of chances of miscommunication happening, members should be adaptive in taking up different assignments, there is loss of productivity if at all any virtual member resigns, there is no strict adherence to the guidelines set by the parent company. Both, the virtual teams and the actual teams are prone to difficulties while managing them so its up to us, how to cope with the challenges and bring about a change in the working system and supporting your employees to work from different corners of the world if the process, so demands!

If the concept of Virtual Teams sounds to be interesting then lets have a quick run through the types of virtual teams: Network team, product development team, parallel team, production teams, service teams.

Today, we are definitely going to do something exciting which you can use in your company as an ice breaker between the teams and in no time you will see all of your employees knowing each other well and understanding each other’s point of view and sharing the lessons they learnt in their management schools. Successful implementation of management lessons is a key to successful operation of teams in an organization. There are various activities you can do as a ice breaker between the teams in an organization, organization as a drama in groups for a company social gathering, dance or singing in a group, then arranging fun activities like indoor games, outings, sports activities, arranging a picnic, etc. this things hardly take any of your time and can create great results for company in future as teams are the most powerful productivity generating resources of a company.

Here is an activity which I have been following in my management classes for some time now, you can use it in your company premises, seminars, workshops or just social get together, it will help in building the confidence, enhance the personality of your team members and also let them talk freely in the company:

1. Ask the participants to form groups of 5 members each, whom they don’t know really well because most of the times they will select the people they are already familiar with. So let them select the partners they don’t know.
2. Ask each of the groups to select one person, who will make notes and also to read out the list when asked to for the said group.
3. You can ask them to discuss things that are common amongst them, this will create discussions amongst them and they will be more familiar to each other.
4. Then you can ask the volunteer of each group to come forward and share the things they found common in the group. It will be really funny for them to know, what type of things are common amongst them and this will break their silence and break the ice which was stopping them. The best way to reach a person’s heart is through the laugher so get going with funky jokes and laughter stories together.
5. When in a group, people are always going to look upon something and have fun, these are the best times to bond with the group and let them know of your skills too.
6. Group discussions are the best way you can create interaction going amongst themselves and it will surely bring some great idea for the team and can benefit the whole company too.

The activity takes hardly 10 to 15 minutes of your time, depends on the activity, which you select, and the number of groups you have. Other than this, you can arrange for general knowledge quiz, company process quiz, and other stuff, which will let them take keen interest in-group activity. So what are you waiting for? Break the ICE today!

As far as my thinking process goes, I can term team as one person, a single entity working together to achieve a common target. Working as a group is not just beneficial to you as a person but all the members in a team, the company, the manager and everybody who are connected with the process. A success of team is highly dependent on the efforts and the commitment by their members, we cannot just single out people working in one cabin as team, a team knows well what it goes in to achieving the targets of a company and what it takes to see success and what it takes to know each other better, what it takes to work together, know together and everything we can think of. A team is like your second family, you work in harmony and share your views and if need be ask the person to improve where he possibly can. Teams have formal relations, but they blend well when the team is older and formal ties takes a back step. The key to team building and team success comes when members are solely committed to doing their work and striving hard to achieve their objectives or business goals.

Given below are some of my few gestured points that will help you understand the level of commitment that comes from each of your employees, after knowing that level you can take some steps to improve upon and proceed ahead in achieving the goals of your company:

1. The choices of your team members
   Its very important for your team members to participate in all the activities that are happening in a team, whether it be a social participation or taking up an initiative project work. If they show least interest in taking part voluntarily then they wouldn’t take interest in team otherwise. A mandatory action by employees helps them to participate and they can set directions for themselves.
2. Perceiving work as mission
   Try to find out whether your employees are really taking work seriously, if no, then what is stopping them. All the members of a team should take their objectives as mission for a company, they should know where their mission falls and that they are a part of bigger organizational functions and their participation is really important.
3. Valued employees
   Your employees should have an idea that they are valued although in real sense too they are praised and valued, it is important for them to know, try to find out whether they take themselves and their services as valuable part of a company? A team member is motivated when he gets good appraisal not in monetary terms, just an announcement in the whole team or ovation by team members would do to raise his self esteem and he will strive even harder.
4. Company’s challenges
   The team members should feel excited about new projects coming in the company, if they lack interest in this, then their commitment are surely going to be on lower end.
5. Recognition
   An employee needs to be recognized for his work, keeping the records of your employee’s performance helps them to get motivated on timely basis. The efforts recognized will never go wasted; they will act as a strong resource for the company.

Team building is not easy as much as we think, there is lots of consideration and thinking process which goes in to building teams especially people of different thinking, attitude, smartness level, etc join in the company. Set their goals right and you will win the battle!

Lots of things go in to building your teams and get them working in an organization, there are planning sessions, varied seminars and retreats too which brings the employees together and also share their views with their seniors. Lets see some of the ways in which organizations work:

1. Teams work together to solve their actual work related issues that will improve their work processes, the managers work hard to bring in the members of the team together and help each other to perform their tasks better. The main reason for forming teams is to provide them the needed training as per the work processes and there is a uniform output from all the members.
2. Under one teams there are various processes, each is a specialized team working uniformly and giving more or less the same output, the team managers form different department meetings for giving their members the feedback, report about their progress and reviewing of their recent projects. This helps them to improve and become more progressive ahead in future.
3. The team doesn’t just come together to do work, sometimes they have work too on their agenda and certainly the fun part is required when they are working really hard to achieve the objectives of a company. They believe in working hard and partying harder, companies have a said portion of revenue dedicated to their employees for their welfare and take them on various trips or hiking or a grand annual party in hotels.
4. There are companies who held their team meeting per weekly basis, in this they discuss about new projects being launched, appreciate the members who have done well throughout the week and if time permits there is a laughing session too, in which the participant said some jokes or mimicry, this helps the employees to laugh together and also to know each other well.
5. On a yearly basis, companies held their grand annual celebrations in bigger hotels, where there is booze, dance, fashion shows, and lots of entertainment and not forgetting the most awaited award ceremony, here they announce the major promotions and also appreciate the employees who worked really hard. Some employees arrange dance, or singing, jokes, etc. it helps employees to bond.

The very purpose of forming teams in an organization is that all the employees are bonded, they can share each other’s views and help in case someone is stuck somewhere. Major time is spent in building the teams and is one of the most challenging tasks for a manager where each employee comes from different background, the thinking capabilities, their reasoning power, their attitude, etc. but by smooth intervention of managers everything falls right in place.

Every organization goes through this timid phase of building their teams, training them and then guiding them through work phases, its not just a challenge from an organization’s point of view but even the team players face a big challenge, to prove themselves right and their work procedures. Typically, the work procedures of an individual in a company is based on his work, the achievements, the qualifications and his skills, a person’s achievement is based on his rewards, the pay and the recognition he gets in his company. An organization’s work system is based on the process they are doing and how much output is expected, most of the times we see, the performance management and goal setting systems of a company are based on individual goals and the progress that person is making, now this is highly a controversial stuff, where organizations are really struggling to put in efforts to bring team members and in one direction they are paying attention to individual goals. No wonder that the organizations of today pass through difficult stage when it comes to their teams and the teamwork.

Lets discuss few of such stuff, which will help you to make your teams powerful and let the work flow happen in a very organized manner as a team and more as a company:

1. Foster your team in a proper manner, delegate each of their tasks in an organized way, the work done as a team is far more appreciated as compared to the work done as an individual as it is rightly said that, “none of us is as good as all of us”. While the concept of working in a team is old, their procedures keep changing based on the challenges faced by them.
2. The executive leaders of a team should communicate the idea and procedure of a team with its team players; it develops further collaboration amongst the team members of a team. Train your employees to be receptive in nature and adapt to changing needs of an organization.
3. The support of team leaders is all it takes to make the members of a team motivated; a common goal for all the employees gets achieved faster than their individual goals.
4. A model effort of a team member should be highly appreciated by its leaders, which will stand as the true worth of the hard work put in by the employees of the company.
5. The organizations should talk to their employees regarding the teamwork culture they want to adopt in their company, the written values are more powerful than the said as they can see them often in canteen or work areas and this keep them reminding them of their work, it also acts as a motivational force.
6. A team becomes powerful when it gets due recognition from the higher authorities of a company, although the reward is secondary, the companies are bound to give them the reward either in the form of a pay scale or a certificate of his dedication to the company.
7. More emphasis should be laid on team rather than the team players; individual efforts are any way going to get recognized. Remember that a team plays a bigger role in achieving the objectives of the company.

Powerful teams form strong pillars of your entire company, make it strong by forming a powerful strategies that work well with your company environment.

When a team-oriented environment surrounds you, you consider a company’s mission objectives as your own and contribute to its success. A team is all about working together, may it be different departments, and you work together with other individuals to achieve a common mission of the company. Different organizations have different missions, so their team members too differ, some may be at a higher managerial posts while some may be a starter in the company and so on.

The development of some new rule or building an altogether different department takes lots of brain storming sessions, the managers and executives are the ones who take major decisions with the suggestions given by their co-workers, some of the meetings I attended in the recent past I have seen the managers placing more importance on team performance, the hierarchy level they work in, their freedom of taking individual decisions and overall functions of entire system, if proper implementation is made in establishing a new system than you can surely win the support of your employees. A proper build up team in an organization would work in harmony and will show the upward trend in its productivity, there is a continuous improvement function and these teams are basically self directed they don’t need any help.

Organization work on the reports they get from a particular team, the productivity and the profit margin for a company go hand in hand so its important to motivate your team and give recognition to hard working employees in a team, this will boost their confidence. There are varied methods and strategies, companies keep changing on a timely basis, just to check if a particular system is working well, if you feel you are not getting enough productivity, check the below given points that may be the answer to what you have been worrying for!

A focused, successful team will have pure attention to each of the following characteristics:

1. The work culture
   A pure cultural environment in the office brings in great values in its employees to strive to work hard and work in proper form of a team.
2. Expectations
   When the team members are working in a particularly team, they should keenly know their objectives as a team, and what the management expects from them. They should set their priorities in this regard and move ahead to achieve results.
3. Team contexts
   The team players should understand for their participation in the team, they have to understand the team strategies and plans. The team players should be able to accomplish the team targets and their corporate goals.
4. Commitment
   The team participation comes when the members of the team are committed to their work, so let your employees stay connect to what is going on in the team and that will bring commitment in their work.

Building team in itself is a very creative task, think logically and practically and get your employees in the thinking process of your company and bring in participation from their end and you are surely going to score high as a TEAM.

Today, I am going to share with you varied aspects of a team and how it is formed and what all things needs to be taken care of as a team supporter. Organizing a work culture amongst the team is a bigger challenge today especially with professional managers playing their own role when it comes to taking decisions. As a team, the team players need to be supportive of each other and encourage others towards the steps of success ladder. The critical 5 stages of team development are:

1. The team is first formed with the people who have a common mission to accomplish, there needs to be interaction amongst them to come to the final conclusion. The people in the group work in harmony to come to a final conclusion.
2. Once the team is formed, there are going to be brain storming sessions in each team. Some players of the team may have disagreements with the other players of the team. There may be varied missions, visions and different styles of working towards a common goal. The relationships are strained but with proper management everything can be resolved.
3. The third stage is called norming, where the team players have understood that they ought to be working together and are taking over the path to success of achieving results.
4. The first 3 stages of strained behavior is natural for any team players at the start but as time passes on the team as a group starts performing, the new relationships are built keeping in mind the common goal of a team.
5. The last and the final stage is called the transformation, where the team players have understood each other well and achieving results in a right direction. They have achieved success to the highest level and feel its one of the best teams in the organization.
6. Easy transformation leads to the end of the mission or a purpose the team had been working together and other new goals and objectives are set for achieving results in an organization.

Its not necessary for organization, to follow the above stages for working, different organizations may have different ways of working through and achieving results. It largely depends on the individuals working in an organization whether they really want to work together and attain the final goals of a company.