Do you know that? The work is piling up, you're working around the clock and you're the only one who cares about it. Unfortunately, you have to conclude that cooperation within your department or team is not going well. In almost every job interview you are asked: 'Are you a team player?' The quality of the collaboration process within a team depends on the team members themselves and the team manager. That is what this blog is about. As a team manager, what should you take into account when trying to stimulate optimal collaboration?

The group's goals come first

The interests of the group come first, that is crucial. The entire team must be jointly responsible for the goal and have a clear idea of ​​what that goal is. If someone renounces, this must be immediately visible and at the expense of the result. Only then can you create a group feeling where every team member contributes to the end result. As a team manager, reward the group result, not just the individual result.

Individual also counts

Although the group result is of course decisive, it would be utopian to think that team members do not think about their individual situation. In short, there must also be room for personal goals within a team. As long as these focus on the common result. Rewarding individual actions through compliments is also an excellent way to motivate people in a team context.

Know yourself and your team

Self-knowledge is a great quality that not everyone has. When you work in a team, self-knowledge is of great importance for all members of the group. A team must consist of people with complementary qualities, so that everyone has his or her place and input. As a manager, it is therefore certainly advisable to do this before your team is put together personality test to do for yourself and your employees.

Wish each other success

As mentioned, the group process is paramount. However, people simply need personal individual recognition. So there must be room for that. In a team it is important that you wish each other success. Give and take, so to speak. Does a colleague score points with management because of a very well-executed task, but you secretly contributed to it? Do not immediately stand on your hind legs. Your colleague will certainly remember who helped. From the manager's perspective, it is important to make it clear within your team and to your management that it is a team effort and therefore to compliment/reward everyone.

Tooling helps the process move forward

Collaborating is quite difficult, especially if it is regularly done remotely. To avoid misunderstandings, irritations and suboptimal solutions, it is smart to work with a central tool for your team. Nowadays, for example, Slack is very popular in the business world. Slack is a messaging app for teams. A kind of WhatsApp, but for companies.

Share joys and sorrows, but above all love

In all the hustle and bustle, we often don't think enough about the result and the person. We just keep going and don't take the time to relax teambuilding to do. Also think about sharing joys and sorrows. Have you reached a milestone within the team? Then why not go for a drink together or have a nice barbecue? If something bad has happened to someone on the team, be there for that person.

Open and honest with each other

An open culture is crucial to building a successful team. If there is no open (even an anxious) culture, people will bottle up irritations and fears. The team result is then undermined. Fixed feedback moments are also important. For example, you can use the so-called 'four eyes principle', whereby every delivery within the team is viewed by one of the other team members before it is released. This way, team members are less afraid of making mistakes. Checking other people's work is also a nice change and inspiring.

At Kenneth Smit we are very actively involved in the challenges of organizations and teams. During our business improvement We therefore always emphasize the balance between employees, strategy, culture and process. Only then can a team become successful.