Leadership through Teamwork – It Starts At the Top By Marijan Pavisic with Zagreb Global Group
For years, company executives have promoted ‘teamwork’ as a business imperative, essential to achieving success in accomplishing organizational goals and objectives. For some business leaders, the concept of teamwork translates to an off-site outing where team building exercises are conducted to build confidence and trust among team members. Most fail to understand that team building exercises are a small part of a strategy of creating an effective team, where everybody is a team player and where there are no stars.
Zagreb Global Group conducts Employee and Management Workshops, one of many HR Consulting Services we provide. As it relates to the concept of teamwork, Zagreb Global Group offers a strategic approach to teamwork when consulting with our clients. Requiring employees to simply participate in teambuilding activities to build trust and raise team spirit is not the ideal approach. A good time may be had by all; however, such activities do nothing to create a team that will work more effectively together after the team building exercises are over.
Zagreb Global Group cautions clients to avoid narrowly focusing on teambuilding exercises to create a teamwork environment. Marijan Pavisic, Zagreb Global Group senior consultant and workshop facilitator advocates a broader approach. Marijan Pavisic says the key to building an effective team environment is to understand that teamwork starts at the top. Zagreb Global Group promotes ‘Leadership through Teamwork’ as a concept and model for building effective teams.
This writing is not about leadership in the general sense. It is about employing leadership principles to develop an organization where each team member understands their role and their personal responsibilities to the success of the team. This is the first in a two part series. This blog concentrates on the importance of teamwork and the responsibilities of leadership to set the overall direction and goals for the team. My next blog will focus on what it takes to build an effective team.
As Marijan Pavisic of Zagreb Global Group states, “creating an environment of effective teamwork must be driven from the top by the leadership of the organization”. Let’s proceed with the premise that leaders who are skilled in accomplishing goals and objectives through others is a quality that enhances their value as the leader of the team. Zagreb Global Group’s Marijan Pavisic says “putting first things first, a good leader begins by communicating a vision for the team. It is important that all team members understand and buy in to the team vision. Significant attributes of the vision are that team members be given clearly defined roles and responsibilities. The leader should implement strategies that encourage collaborative decision making involving all team members. Implement a reward system that will recognize the team for their work.
Specific attributes are as follows:
- Engage the team in developing a shared vision and common goals. Engaging the team establishes expectations that all members of the team work collaboratively to achieve team goals.
- Define the roles and responsibilities of team members so that they understand the importance of their individual contributions to the success of the team. Doing so establishes individual and group accountability.
- Obtain commitment from team members to deliver on their individual responsibilities and to work collaboratively as a committed member of the team. Team leaders must lead with consistency and integrity in a collaborative manner. Leaders should promote equal participation and meaningful contributions by all team members. Leaders should encourage collaboration. To do otherwise is likely to result in individual work, not teamwork.
- Build Trust. This is a key attribute. Leaders should do everything possible to create an environment of trust. The leader should model the behavior that team members are expected to maintain. It is important for the leader to project trust for the team as well as to encourage mutual respect and trust of each other. The next blog will expand on ways to build trust through teambuilding programs.
- Involve the full team in meetings and discussions on work activities. Maintain open communications to keep all team members together and focus on the goals of the team. Avoid creating opportunities for individual team members to venture off on their own.
- Acknowledge and reward team members. The success of the team results from the individual contributions of each member to the overall accomplishment of team goals and objectives. Acknowledge the team as a whole for its success as a unit, but also recognize and reward team members for their contributions to the team’s success.
It has been established that teamwork in the workplace benefits team members and is a winning proposition for business entities. Teamwork improves work efficiency resulting in timely completion of work responsibilities. Employee relations tend to improve because teamwork enhances cohesion among team members; a direct result of building trust. Teamwork increases the accountability of every member of the team. It creates an environment of learning among members of the team, especially for new members as they team up with seasoned team members.
An increasing number of companies have adopted the teamwork approach and are using business teams to respond quickly to ongoing change in a dynamic, competitive and intense global competitive marketplace. Zagreb Global Group serves its client in this and many aspects of their businesses. We are ready to assist you in building your teams.
Henry Ford had it right when he said, “Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success.”
About
Zagreb Global Group, LLC, (ZGG), a human resources consulting and staffing company located in Hackensack, N.J. Zagreb Global Group markets a full range of HR consulting and staffing services to companies ranging in size and scope from start-ups to fortune 500. We serve the needs of customers in multiple industries in a dynamically changing environment.
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Zagreb Global Group’s mission is to provide HR consulting and staffing services to companies ranging in size and scope from start-ups to fortune 500, across multiple industries. We are committed to providing high quality services through HR solutions designed to help our clients achieve their strategic objectives and business goals in a dynamic business and economic environment.
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