3 Tips for Effective Teamwork

Foreign. Hi, it's Dr. Natalie Bititore. Welcome back to Breaking the Glass Ceiling. So we're continuing our series on partnerships and today we're going to talk about teamwork, because that is about partnerships within the office structure or if your business has grown to a certain level and you have a whole team. There are also small things that help so that we work well together because everyone works in a team at some point. So I wanted to think about what are the useful things that have helped me working in a team in different company structures so that we don't miss out the people who have careers. Not everything is about entrepreneurs. It's a lot of the same skill set. The first thing I think that is important is to have a clear role. I know I repeat this, but it's important because every team needs to have a leader. It's not about who is getting the credit, but it's about organization. If everyone thinks they're in charge and everyone is trying to make decisions, nothing gets done. So you need to have clear structures on a team. Who is responsible for what, who is the leader? And as a leader, it's up to you to corral the people, make sure everyone is getting what they need to get done. Make sure you're dividing the work and monitoring everything and driving the progress. So you have to take responsibility. When I was in business school, every semester we would be put in teams and we would take turns being the leader on different projects so we each get to experience that. It's not about your personality, it's a skill. Leadership is something you can learn with time. It's something that you have to practice and be intentional and make sure that you are being a good leader. So take time to work on your own leadership skills. So once you have a leader in place and a team in place, now you need a system. This is very important. Like I say all the time, the only way to make sure you're making progress is to measure and track things. So as a leader, you have to make sure that you have a system that the whole team is aware of. How often are you meeting? What are you checking, what are the deliverables, what are, who is responsible for what? And break it down into tasks. What are the deadlines, the milestones, what do we need done by next Thursday, what do we need done by Monday? Who is going to do what? And you're pushing that progress forward. It's useful to have like stuff written down. Like I was saying before, something like Google Sheets is always useful. There's so many apps like Asana or Trello, that can help you to organize your team so everyone can see what's going on. A lot of offices now use Slack because it's a good way to communicate, but also to see what everyone is doing. There are different ways you can do this. There's software to help you, there's team meetings, there's WhatsApp groups even. To make sure that you have a system that is clear to everyone, it is transparent. Everyone knows who is responsible for what and how the progress is flowing. Because when you work in a team, you all are relying on each other. One person cannot go far if the last person is so far behind. You all have to work in tandem to make sure you're completing your tasks on time, so that you all move together, forwards. And as the leader on the team, or as any member of the team, it's your responsibility to make sure you're doing your part and to make sure everyone is moving together within the system. That's why these are the kinds of things it's good to agree on at the beginning. Who is going to do what, how we're going to track it, how often we're going to meet and check that we're moving forward, what are our milestones, what are our deadlines, when do we need to get things done by. And you make sure that you're pushing that system through. The last thing I think that is very important in a team is, is emotional intelligence. This one I had to learn the very hard way because people have different personalities, people have different backgrounds. Just because you have perceived something some way or you've understood something one way does not mean everyone on the team has understood it the way you have. And we just assume this. So it's important that you communicate because you have to be clear about everything. You have to make sure everyone is on the same page all the time. Everyone comes from a different background or a different understanding. People have different temperaments. You don't know what has upset them that day, what personal problems they're dealing with. So you have to try and be supportive, encouraging, patient as you work on a team, and also try and be a good team member. Make sure that it's not you who's come with your bad temper and your home problems and you're causing problems in the team. So working on your own emotional intelligence makes a huge difference. And I feel like this is something that helps the team have better morale. So even if things are difficult, even if the task is not moving, you're not all fighting with each Other and breaking down. Even if you have a difficult leader and they're not doing their job, at least you're moving together as a team. You have to be able to communicate clearly. You have to be able to discuss things without getting heated, without shouting at each other or throwing things in the office. You have to make sure you move well together and you work well together. And every individual has to take that responsibility to make sure they are putting in their own effort to work well as a team. Are you speaking to your teammates? Are you updating them on things? Oh, it pisses me off when someone on the team hasn't done something and then they keep quiet and you wait till the very last minute when we're asking, where is this? Where is this? Oh, you know, what happened? This happened, and then that happened and I couldn't do it. Why didn't you tell me that when it happened? So that we could all work on a solution together. That's when I get annoyed because I feel like communication helps so much. If you speak up when something goes wrong. We can move together as a team. We will not be upset with you, but for sure I'll be upset with you if you just keep quiet and you just don't do it, because that's not being a good teammate. I would never do that to someone. I. At least we work on it together. And even when I'm upset, I'm upset so that you know what you did was wrong. But we still have to figure out the solution. I can't just be upset that now we both don't talk to each other. The whole team can't move. The project can't move. Nothing gets done. So we have to figure out what are our options? How do we recover? We've now lost time. How do we make the project keep going? What do we need to do? Is it going to take another person more effort? More money? Do we have to do something again? You figure it out together. That's why communication is so important. Being quiet is the worst thing you can do on a team. Our culture is always making us quiet. Please speak up. You will be a better teammate. Even if you think you're asking a stupid question, say the question rather than everyone is thinking about it. No one wants to ask that question because they think it's stupid. And we all leave the meeting not knowing what we're doing. You have to make sure you have shared understanding. So don't put your own ego first. Don't be scared. You look silly. Don't take pride and think oh, I'm the one who knows everything. Let us agree, let us be clear, let us commit, communicate and let us listen to each other. Take in everyone's opinions, feedback, challenges, solutions so that we work as a team and we stay on the same page. The only way to do that is to keep communicating, to keep being supportive and positive in your team. Those are the most high functioning teams where we have good communication, we all know what we're trying to achieve. A shared vision, a shared goal. And we're all moving together because we have a system, we're tracking it, we have a good leader, we all know what we're supposed to do. This is how you can make an effective team. I hope you found that useful. I would love to hear your stories, your comments, your questions about the challenges you face working on teams, about the successes, other tips that you found useful. If you work in an office or a team structure, let me know what you think. If you like the video, please subscribe and like. And thank you for watching. This is the end of our partnership series. I hope to see you at the next one.