Why is it that some teams are ultra-effective while others are just average? Sometimes, it’s not just the people involved that make the difference, but how the whole enterprise works together.
People who study teams often identify these outcomes as synergies. These occur when the results from a group effort are larger than the sum of their parts. Something about the team structure itself is driving results.
But how do you push your team to this high-productivity state? What do you need to do to ensure that they can do anything?
That’s the topic of this post. It looks at some of the ways you can squeeze synergies out of your team and make them more productive than they’ve ever been.
Set Up Proper Communication Tools
The first priority is to set up proper communication tools so you can set the groundwork for your team. Breaking down silos and getting everyone talking to each other is an essential prerequisite for success.
You can do this best by using software that allows workers to send each other quick messages online and get replies quickly. You can also try setting up meeting spaces or renting offices with break-out areas for conversations and brainstorming.
Clarify And Write Down Roles
It also helps if you clarify and write down everyone’s roles so that everyone knows where they stand. You don’t always want to be the person in the office trying to figure out who’s who.
Once you have a list of roles, you can quickly figure out if you have any gaps. Sometimes, you will find holes in your operation that slow you down and prevent the team from operating as effectively as they might.
You can also see whether there are redundancies in the system. Sometimes, teamwork can overlap, which is something you’ll want to avoid if high productivity is a priority for you.
Look For Ways To Better Organize Your Team
The next stage is to find ways to organize your team better. Getting everyone working on the right things at the right time is essential for bringing the whole thing together.
Naturally, how you do this will depend considerably on your business type. Sling’s shift scheduling templates for teams could be suitable in some contexts. The idea here is to publicly show how everyone is progressing so each team member knows what every other member is working on at any given time.
Other teams might benefit more from greater supervision. It really depends on the setup you have and what your people do.
Get Everyone Working Toward The Same Goals
Another critical strategy is to get everyone working toward the same goals. When everyone is on the same page, there’s no reason for individuals to avoid working together.
Part of this process involves ensuring that everyone’s incentives align. Employees should have a reason to work toward the benefit of the team on an individual level, not just in an abstract sense.
One option is to promote a sense of responsibility among team members. When individuals determine group-level outcomes, that can be a powerful way to incentivize more work and get people to take the most productive action possible.
Foster A Culture Of Trust
At the same time, you also want to look for ways to foster a culture of trust in your team. When individuals know they can rely on others, it starts to build even more synergies.
This trust begins with team building. When employees know that they can rely on their colleagues, it makes a massive difference to their productivity and ability to take risks. It also makes them more generous to the group as a whole because they know that everyone else will treat them reciprocally.
There’s also the psychological safety factor where people can say things and make contributions without fearing judgment. Treating the team as an open forum boosts creativity and allows for more smart decision-making.
Encourage More Diverse Thinking
Related to this, you can also bump up synergies in a team by encouraging more diverse thinking. Bringing in people with different backgrounds allows everyone to view problems from new angles.
Diversity in thinking doesn’t just mean hiring people from different backgrounds. It genuinely requires accepting individuals who think in alternative ways and have different ideas that might go against the political mainstream. Tolerating these individuals is part of the process of building a robust team that can see issues from different angles and react accordingly.
So there you have it: some of the ways you can build your team and help it thrive with synergies.