Teams are coherent groups of people with complementary skills who work together towards a specified goal. Teams are often the most efficient way of working, and their benefits include:
- The members achieving more by working together than they would by working separately or in large, unstructured groups;
- Improved motivation and effort;
- Flexibility to deal more effectively with change;
- More imaginative solutions to new problems; fewer mistakes, as faults are spotted by other members;
- Fair division of work, resources and rewards.
Nelson Mandela asked, ‘How can one individual solve the problems of the world? Problems can only be solved if one is part of a team.’ Notice that there is a difference between a team and a group of people who are simply working together. A team is a cohesive set of people who are motivated to achieve common goals. Simply collecting different people does not give a team, as they don’t trust each other, bring along internal politics, don’t share common goals and so on. Twenty people in a room don’t make a team. Team doesn’t just happen. They have to be developed, facilitated and motivated.
My Consultancy–Asif J. Mir – Management Consultant–transforms organizations where people have the freedom to be creative, a place that brings out the best in everybody–an open, fair place where people have a sense that what they do matters. For details please visit www.asifjmir.com, and my Lectures.