What Team work meant for them...

Why are some teams Successful and why do some fail? What are the attributes that is necessary to build a successful team?

Teamwork as defined by James T.?Scarnati “a cooperative process that allows ordinary people to achieve extraordinary results”. Harris PR & Harris KG also explain that a team has a common goal or purpose where team members can develop effective, mutual relationships to achieve team goals.

Teams in the future of work will be increasingly ‘4-D: diverse, dispersed, digital, dynamic’, but the fundamental skills that comprise effective teamwork are likely to remain the same. The elements crucial to building a productive team include:

1. Communication: Effective communication within a team will?build a common purpose among team members that will allow them to reach their goals. ... Strong group communication will create understanding and that understanding will create powerful relationships within a team.
2. Delegation: Teams that work well together understand the strengths and weaknesses of each team member. One of the benefits of strong teamwork is that team leaders and members are adept at identifying all aspects of a project and allocating tasks to the most appropriate team members. Delegating empowers your team, builds trust, and assists with professional development.
3. Efficiency: A strong and cohesive team develops systems that allow them to collaborate efficiently to complete tasks in a timely manner. Through working together, colleagues will be aware of their own capabilities and the capabilities of the group in general, and can organise the workload accordingly. Teamwork strategies help you become?more productive and efficient. They allow employees to share the workload, ensuring that tasks are completed and deadlines are met, and reducing the individual pressure.
4. Ideas: When a team works well together, colleagues feel more comfortable offering suggestions and ideas. A respectful and trusting team environment will not only enable colleagues to think more creatively, but will lead to more productive and collaborative brainstorming sessions.
5. Support: All workplaces provide challenges, but having a strong team environment in place can act as a support mechanism for staff members. They can help each other improve their own performance as well as working together toward improving their professional development. It?helps to build interpersonal relationships and morale, as well as reduce stress. It helps build skills. When working together as part of a team, a variety of skill sets converge to complement each other. Individuals get a chance to combine their skills, learn from each other, and be more effective overall.

Here I, present you with some inspirational stories showing the importance of Teamwork

1. Project Aristotle:

In 2012, GOOGLE embarked on an initiative code-named "Project Aristotle" to?study hundreds of Google's teams?and figure out why some stumbled while others soared. It took several years and included interviews with hundreds of employees. After analyzing data's about the people on more than 100 active teams at the company, Google did come to the conclusion that the best team is always a team with members who show sensitivity, support to others, and most importantly who listens to one another.

Abeer Dubey a part of the Project Aristotle describes his experience in the matter as:

"We looked at 180 teams from all over the company. We had lots of data, but there was nothing showing that a mix of specific personality types or skills or backgrounds made any difference. The ‘who’ part of the equation didn’t seem to matter."

Google ended up highlighting what leaders in the business world have known for a while: The best teams are mindful that all members should contribute to the conversation equally, and respect one another’s emotions. It has less to do with who is in a team, and more with how the members interact with one another.

2. Four Seasons:

Steve Wynn, the founder of Wynn Resort & Casino, shared a story of his family’s?vacation in Paris. They were staying at Four Seasons and had ordered breakfast in bed. His daughter only ate a half of a croissant, leaving the other half for later. Wynn and his family left to explore Paris, and upon returning to the hotel room, the pastry was gone. His daughter was disappointed, assuming the housekeeping had got rid of it.

On the telephone, there was a message from the front desk. They said that housekeeping had removed the half croissant from the room, assuming that upon arrival, they would prefer a fresh pastry. So the front desk contacted the kitchen to set aside a croissant, and room service was informed that upon request, they would need to deliver the pastry.

The level of teamwork and communication between different departments in the hotel was simply magical. All participants understood the end result – customer satisfaction. And everyone accepted their role in making the experience fantastic.

It shows that in order to achieve satisfaction on different levels within the organisation, employees should be empowered to be creative, intuitive, thorough, and generous.

3. Pixar Story:

In 2000, it was planned to relocate Pixar office to a new location. Initially it was planned for 3 separate buildings for scientists, animators and Pixar managements. The idea was later scrapped by Steve Jobs, instead its now in one with a vast open atrium for all of them together in centre. The idea was not just to create space, but to make them sit together, he wants those different cultures do meet each other understand each other.

Edwin Catmull, the co-founder of Pixar said:

“The philosophy behind this design is that it’s good to put the most important function at the heart of the building. Well, what’s our most important function? It’s the interaction of our employees. That’s why Steve put a big empty space there. He wanted to create an open area for people to always be talking to each other.”?

Jobs insisted that the best creations occurred when people from disparate fields were connected, especially in an age of intellectual fragmentation.

4. The Rolling Stones:

Mick Jagger, Charlie Watts, Keith Richards, and Ronnie Wood – The Rolling Stones, have played together for more than 50 years. However, they still recognize the importance of practicing together.They understand that for excellence to become a habit, you need to define a shared approach to working together. You need to practice it over and over until it becomes second nature.

Before every tour, the band typically commits?two months to rehearsing. They appreciate the opportunity to reconnect with their collective rhythm. The practice enables the band to perform with almost telepathic communication.

Each of the band’s members is a talent in his own right, but it is the chemistry the band has on each of them that works best. Being part of the Rolling Stones remains the best way for each member to achieve their individual goals.

The best teams are those who combine individual drive with understanding the importance and power of the team.

5. Red Cross:

During the devastating Haiti earthquake of January 2010, the British Red Cross immediately?went into action. They gathered thousands of workers, from volunteers to frontline disaster specialists, who would be mobilized into a community of purpose. The common factor among those people: they did great work, and they did it together.?But, how did they achieve this success, it was the Purpose.

Even the best teams may fail if they don't have the right intend, the right motivation.

For a team’s purpose to be potent, it needs to be compelling to its members. A leader should inspire the team, connect the team’s work to an exciting, meaningful outcome, with a result that everyone finds worthy to fight for.

6. The Avengers:

Most of us are aware of the Marvel heroes, Iron Man, Captain America, The Hulk, Thor and others collectively called " The Avengers". They are a team of Super heros with incredible super powers making each of them exclusive. Despite the superiority of each, they work as a team.

They trust each other, keeping their egos aside. Captain America and Iron Man have a pretty different view of the world, and compromise doesn’t come easy. But they do respect and trust one another despite their disagreements, and they can see the value that other brings to the team.

When you’re part of a team, a truly cohesive unit that functions with a single purpose, you can accomplish wonders.

7. The Lifesaving Parachute:

Charles Plumb was an US fighter pilot. During his 75th combat mission, his plane was shot down. Plumb was ejected and parachuted in enemy hands. After serving in enemy prison for 6 years he was released and returned to US.

One day, a man came up to him and said, “You’re Plumb! You flew jet fighters in Vietnam from the aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk. You were shot down!”

Plumb was confused and asked how the man knew about that. “I packed your parachute,” the man replied. The man then shook his hand and said, “I guess it worked!” Plumb assured him it had and said, “If your chute hadn’t worked, I wouldn’t be here today.”

Plumb thought a lot about that man who held the fate of someone he did not even know, in his hands. He kept pondering how many times he might have seen the guy, and not even said anything because he was a fighter pilot and the stranger was just a sailor.”

Being in a successful team is an accomplishment of each team member, doesn't matter how small his or her role was. It is very easy to overlook the work of many, but it's very important to acknowledge and appreciate their efforts.