“Teamwork is the ability to work together toward a common vision. The ability to direct individual accomplishments toward organizational objectives. It is the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results.” – Andrew Carnegie

Teamwork is defined as „the process of working collaboratively with a group of people in order to achieve a goal.”  The emergence of the team idea can be traced back to the late 1920s and early 1930s with the now-classic Hawthorne Studies. These involved a series of research activities designed to examine in-depth what happened to a group of workers under various conditions.

It is worth noting that today’s teams are much different than they were in the past. For instance, today’s teams are more diverse and dynamic, containing unique skill sets that bring new challenges and opportunities.

Benefits of working in a team-oriented environment:

Happy employees will always be instrumental in bringing success as compared to sad and dejected employees. When a team behaves like a family, then work no more seems to be a burden. People will be pleased to come to the office which inadvertently will boost performance and success.

Every individual has his own set of skills and strengths. When the whole team works as one unit, people can always avail of opportunities to learn from others. This process leads to resource building as employees then become better equipped to deal with challenges. The polishing of skills of employees can prove a boon for the company as well as for the individual growth of employees.

When individual employees work together as part of a team, there’s a sense of self-monitoring that isn’t present when they work by themselves. This self–correcting behavior means that the manager doesn’t have to get involved as often as they might with individuals.

Building the team

Building teamwork doesn’t have to be an uphill battle. In fact, it can feel like (and actually be) play sometimes. Games are some of the best ways to bring your team together and build unity.

Viewed more like an informal outlet, team building is, in fact, much more than that. This event is not only an opportunity for fun among colleagues, but a way to get to know the team better, but also to weld it better.

Team building is not a reward for the employees, they are meant to better unite the team, to determine it to know themselves better and to learn to collaborate in reaching a well-established objective. Team building can also be defined by simply translating the words – team building.

“Team performance is directly proportional to team stability. Focus on building and maintaining a stable team. Stability reduces friction and increases credibility and confidence.”