Team work is a cultural tradition. Sounds new? OR sounds wrong?. Let me explain why is it right? both are almost similar however, culture is a civilization which had happened and evident. Tradition is also a civilization which had happened thousands of years ago but it is not evident, we just follow it as a process. Similarly, a great civilization of team work should cultivate as a tradition/team work for a better environment.

Team work should get cultivated from two directions, the leader and each individual in the team. The job is trade for a typical employee, provide work and get salary. A group of individuals work for one agenda. However, the team is a pool of different or similar skill set of people. Since majority of the people are working in the mode of trade, all most all think in the similar way. Eventually, conflicts get raised.

The leader is responsible for his/her team’s cultural tradition, it indicates his/her maturity, capacity to manage problems, and the way he/she treats his/her team members. Dear leaders, remember two things 1. Each team member has the similar qualifications like you 2. Since you have been chosen as a leader to make the difference, build the team as one entity to work for a goal or fight for a war. Primary quality of a leader should be managing the team. So, 90% of the laws are with leaders to implant. 🙂

1. Professional Ego

Ego is ego, what ever form it could wear. However, professional ego means the ego is limited to the work, not personal. Apparently, we see many people have that professionalism to balance the professional and personal egos. There are two root causes of professional ego 1. Having similar skill set 2. Similar goal to achieve. If possible, I would suggest to assign two different tasks, and being a leader do not judge them based on time rather than quality of deliverables. So, they can convince themselves. Even a big war can be solved with a discussion of right minds. Can’t we solve team conflicts with an ideal discussion.

2. Job Security

As I said a typical employee does trading. He/she can not even imagine a life without monthly salary. Eventually, it is the highest priority. So, employees put all possible evil efforts to secure their job. Apparently, that is the top reason spoiling the culture. I would suggest leaders and companies never ever create insecurity of job. If the employee has low performance there are numerus ways to motivate them, train and groom them. Do not recruit people without a concrete plan.

3. Skill set

When people may have same skill set in the team which is related to actual work, basically, as I said earlier it is one of the main reasons which generates professional egos. However, being a leader separate them and assign different secondary tasks to motivate and get the secondary work done. End of the day the team member’s intention is to draw the leader’s attention. So, the leader can pay attention to secondary task either to fix their egos.

4. Partiality

The leader should be professional enough to manage the team. He/she should not have any personal agenda to favor. Since a leader usually has the approving authority, he can provide good deeds to the people he owns. The good deeds should go per eligibility not on partiality. This is one more important parameter to have better environment.

5. Team building

Going out for lunch or a day out as a team fixes multiple ego and professional problems. Their talks will not be limited to professional or the team. There will be ample scope to open up and discuss about personal topics, it will help to transform the colleague as a friend. At least 50% of the issues will be resolved between individuals. So team building activity is the most important activity to build relationships. Eventually, it helps to work as a team for an organization.

Team members remain as machines to complete their individual tasks, unless they are built as a workforce to achieve success.

Narasimha Mohan.

Another good read

How to build good culture in your startup