Why is teamwork important?
Well it's one thing to create a team, but quite another to create teamwork.
Just as it’s one thing to join a team, but quite another to perform as a team member. To put it simply, teams don’t work without teamwork. On this page you’ll find 8 good reasons why teamwork is important.
What is teamwork? There are several ways to define teamwork but for some colour why not think of it as the French do. The French language has an excellent expression to describe it: esprit de corps.
This means a sense of unity, of enthusiasm for common interests and responsibilities, as developed among a group of persons closely associated in a task, cause, enterprise, etc.
Teamwork can be likened to two compounds, almost essential to modern life. It’s the glue which keeps a team together, a bond which promotes strength, unity, reliability and support.
Teamwork is also the oil that makes the team work. It can enable smoother movement towards targets, can prolong forward momentum, and can help teams to overcome obstacles.
Teamwork has the potential to underpin so much of what is valuable in work. In fact, the benefits to be gained from teamwork synergies are essential for the effective management of resources.
Why is Teamwork Important? 8 Good Reasons!
What a difference teamwork makes. Teams and teamwork have become a central part of our work life. Why is teamwork important? Because:
Teamwork:
1 – Creates synergy – where the sum is greater than the parts.
2 – Supports a more empowered way of working, removing constraints which may prevent someone doing their job properly.
3 – Promotes flatter and leaner structures, with less hierarchy.
4 – Encourages multi-disciplinary work where teams cut across organizational divides.
5 – Fosters flexibility and responsiveness, especially the ability to respond to change.
6 – Pleases customers who like working with good teams (sometimes the customer may be part of the team).
7 – Promotes the sense of achievement, equity and camaraderie, essential for a motivated workplace.
8 – When managed properly, teamwork is a better way to work!
Why is teamwork important? It doesn’t mean everybody doing the same thing or everybody being able to do each other’s jobs. It’s more a means to a synergistic way of working, where the sum is greater than the parts.
Properly managed, teamwork maximizes strengths, bringing out the best in each team member, a key theme on this site. These specific, possibly unique individual strengths are then complimented by the strengths of others, or of the team as a unit.
The value of teamwork is regularly seen in sports. How often do we see teams made up of expensive star players outperformed by teams with players who may be individually less talented. Assuming transfer price tags really are an indicator of talent!
The answer lies in two things. The synergistic value of teamwork (our glue and oil), and in the crucial role of the manager.
Student resources
Are you studying or looking for student resources on these 8 topics? Need more information to help you explain or expand on the importance of teamwork? For links to related blogs, academic articles, other websites and some of our own pages, just follow this link.
Why is Teamwork Important? Ask a Company of Friends…
From our perspective, teamwork can support crucial social networks which encourage happiness and performance. In: What Makes a Happy Company we discussed the value of a good manager. In particular we noted the experiences of Hal Rosenbluth who built a small, family-owned travel business into one of the largest retail travel chains in the United States.
He described his initial experience of working in the family business, observing that it seemed to be “full of unhappy people producing unhappy service and deteriorating profitability.” Rosenbluth’s own business philosophy evolved from two things. Firstly, his experience of bad management. He joined the family business after leaving college at the age of 22, and “wandered around the company working for one lousy manager after another.
Each added to a growing list of negative role models with whom I had come in contact over the years. Fortunately, I learned a lot from these negative role models”. Secondly, the recognition that it was his friends who came to his aid, and stayed with him, during the trying times.
Friends never let friends down. This realization led to my plan to build a company of friends. First, I had to create and sustain an environment that would breed friendships. Second, I would only hire nice people.
UK entrepreneur, Richard Branson, echoes some of Rosenbluth’s points:
What matters is working with a few close friends, people you respect, knowing that if times did turn bad these people would hold together.
Build a Better Team
Teams don’t just happen, they need to be built! Discover the team building ideas that can help you build a better team. Our comprehensive yet easy-to-use guide will show you how to: start well; build the team; create a team that performs; and lead a team that can sustain high performance.
In this e-guide we’ve put together a range of team building ideas, especially structured to help you build a better team. A comprehensive yet easy-to-use guide, it will show you how to:
- Start well – get the basics right and you’ll have a head-start on building a cohesive team.
- Build the team. Take a group of individuals, with a range of strengths, and make them into a team. Developing a group of individuals into a team is certainly one of the more demanding team stages, but it’s not enough.
- Create a team that performs. Performance requires individuals to excel in what they do for the team.
- Lead a team that can sustain its performance and exceed expectations.
