T-N-T Teamwork – The Power Within

Many organizations have a hidden, untapped resource at their fingertips: teamwork. A team is defined as, “…a group of people with complementary skills who are committed to a common purpose, approach, and set of performance goals.” (Kurtz (2011), p. 329) When team dynamics are truly understood, there is little out of reach. Such a tool is needed desperately in these anxious economic times.“Individual commitment to a group effort – that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work.”– Vince LombardiTrue teamwork results in quicker response times for customers and higher customer satisfaction ratings. Teamwork builds in a sense of commitment, engagement, accountability, and dependence among team members and staff. This results in a heightened focus on and urgency for completing objectives and goals. Employing teamwork aids in building trust and collaboration between work groups, which often cross organizational boundaries. And finally, utilizing the team approach results in increased synergy, which means team members can achieve more together than they could have attained individually. “Management scholar Jay Conger calls the team-based organization the management system of the future, the business world's response to the need for speed in an ever more competitive environment.” (Schermerhorn, et. al. (2002), p. 100)Often the power of teamwork is inadequately tapped into and often never used. Many organizations say they have a culture of teamwork, and refer to various work groups as ‘teams;’ however, this is simply ‘scratching the surface’ when employing teamwork in the workplace. When a leader fully understands the inner workings of a team, that leader can usher in remarkable progress and success.