Infusing Team-Mindedness to Compound Cohesion
One way to manage multiple staff effectively is by creating team-minded partnerships.
According to Donelson R. Forsyth, the characteristics of teamwork in large organizations parallel team building in sports. For example, football teams have a common goal—scoring touchdowns. Their members play different positions—blockers, tacklers, passers, running backs—to accomplish their goal. A team whose players work effectively in their positions and function seamlessly in their roles naturally compounds power to score more points than the opposing team. The analogy breaks down somewhat in that a football coach makes most decisions unilaterally, while effective team-minded leaders consider the valuable input of team members to navigate parts of the decision-making process. Which type of leader describes you?
Doubles-play in tennis is another depiction of the necessity of teamwork. Each partner must know the strengths, weaknesses, and movements of the teammate. In the same way, teamwork on a staff requires each member to understand the strengths, weaknesses, and work styles of coworkers. As a joint team effort unfolds, staff members anticipate each other’s moves (or needs) just as do partners in tennis doubles. Often between points, tennis partners discuss strategy and give words of encouragement to each other. Within a staff, open communication and encouragement keep the team performing gladly and effectively.
Although these examples represent teams of various sizes, the large organization often faces an even greater challenge in forming a cohesive team. Those of larger size are different in many ways from the small or even medium-sized ones. Clients of larger organizations may have higher expectations of the staff. Executive management may have greater expectations of their staff. Conflicting expectations, notions of manager-employee separation, and dissatisfaction between the groups can make interpersonal relationships within the institution difficult to develop. Perhaps you’ve also seen this occur between departments. Staff members can encounter additional stress in seeking to maintain quality relationships with each other and with clients. As with all relationships, work relationships come with a level of tension. Therefore, achieving exponential cohesion takes regular attention, intentionality, understanding, and vision.
Because of the natural human stress of being members of a team, one might ask, “How do team members achieve a team spirit, increasing relationship building skills to maintain quality relationships with staff members and a clientele? The larger the organization, the more communication difficulties it may experience. The larger the staff, the greater likelihood of role expectations overlapping and finger pointing. Conflict management is inevitable. Team-mindedness is always in jeopardy among teams, especially if not intentionally infused into the organization by leadership.
Importantly, the quality of relationships among the executive leadership team is a primary factor in developing effective teams throughout the whole organization. Researchers Hersey and Blanchard indicate that the most significant factors in the productivity of an organization pertain to the interpersonal relationships therein. These relationships are foundational to the success of teams through effective leadership. This is a linchpin for all leaders.
Team-mindedness is a leadership tool to establish strong, effective teams between leaders and their staff. Teammates will gain a sense of working together on common goals, instead of laboring in isolation without an overarching purpose or a feeling of managerial support. Leaders consider organizational partnerships on task-related and personal levels. These relationships require time together to understand each other’s needs, styles, personalities, and skills in handling conflicts. A second component of teamwork relates to the duties of the team. As with a football team, staff members need planning, coordination, organization, and evaluation to reach their departmental goals. These administrative functions are necessary for communication within any successful organization. Perceptive leaders build understanding of the importance of such tasks in their team members, integrating their work into the larger mission. As always, effective leaders infuse team-mindedness in all endeavors.