Running head: TEAMWORK 1

Teamwork

Name of Student

Name of Institution

Date
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Teamwork

Introduction

Leadership and teamwork are identical. Leadership is very significant and evident in

every institution. Teamwork comprises people working together to attain a common set

objective. Team building is a custom by which a group performance measures progress. It is the

course taken to encourage cooperation and manifest communication. Leadership and teamwork

are two substantial aspects of team communication in all institutions. For instance, a group

member may be appointed the responsibilities to lead the team. Effective communication skills

set the basis for effective leadership and teamwork.

Leaders ought to pose confidence in order to motivate team members to improve their

productivity through creating healthy relationships amongst the group associates. Effective

leaders have the aptitude to influence teamwork besides building strong teams to achieve a

specific goal. Leadership and teamwork centers appropriate skills which need to implemented

sensibly and cautiously. Collaboration is vital to effective teamwork and forecasted success. It

takes leadership and teamwork collaborated exertions to maximize group performance and

triumph. Leading and following are fundamental aspects of effective team.

Why Every Leader Needs a Smart Tribe

There is an alarming trend today of great companies getting stuck. The main reason is

poor leadership and teamwork. Leadership foster team building. When teamwork falls in a

company the company growth starts to deteriorate. It takes time to build an organizational

culture that actively promotes the best teamwork and collaboration strategies. Leaders often

build teams without adequate policies and procedures. Leaders building a team with a
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collaborative culture that deteriorates over time. Leaders also hire best talents, but they put less

effort to train them and motivate their development. This can lead to the fall of the company.

Poor communication and rewarding system in the organization are also other factors that can

lead to poor performance of teams (Scarnati, 2001). The latter, companies get stuck. Leaders of

companies often assume the significance of team building. Incorporating team building practices

that keep team members collaboration is important. Without, factoring these key elements,

teamwork performance deteriorates, team collaboration and engagement diminishes leading the

company to get stuck.

The connection between the organization brain (leadership) and culture is significant to

determine the future. Leaders creates the organization culture. Leadership and culture are

synonyms. When a company or team starts, there must be a leader who has preferred strategies

and methodologies of how to do things. These preferences are imposed on the group members. A

leaders’ values and preferences set the direction a team does things ((Frazer and Oswald,

2009). If they work, eventually it becomes the culture of the organization or the team. Within an

established organization, the way they do they things limits what newly officiated leaders can do.

This is because they had set a culture on how to do their things. Therefore, leaders should

humbly inquire about the culture of the organization. For an organization to effectively achieve

its goals, leaders should orchestrate, build and nature good relationships with teams, and makes

sure there is a collaboration in the way things are done. The performance of a team is driven by

the culture of the organization. Organizational teams live in the culture, displays a culture, and is

driven by the culture.

The Five Smart Tribe Accelerators

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Team collaboration in all the activities in the organization is essential to achieve set

goals. Organizations should utilize the five smart accelerators to improve teamwork.

Focus. Keeping a team focused and motivated is essential for organization success. With

the rise of competition in various industries leaders should understand the idea of retaining their

employees. According to Carter and Kravits (2012), a team member can be poached by another

organization thus costing the performance of a team. When a team is focused there are minimal

distractions. Leaders can keep their team focused and motivate using various strategies. For

example, underscoring job value, increasing communication, underscoring a member’s value to

the team, setting goals, and isolating the team from destructions. Creating a good working

environment where individuals are compensated appropriately, valued demonstrably, and

accomplishing things (for themselves, team and company) establishes good relationships

amongst team members and eventually increases their performance.

Clarity. A team working to achieve a common objective has clarity. Every group member

has a fundamental understanding of what is required to be done to achieve the team goals.

Leadership should always understand how much clarity their team has. Confused teams are

associated to poor performance and results. They are often distracted giving work low priority.

They are attributed to a nature of duplicating work. They don’t often realize things are going

wrong till they go wrong. In such instances, deadlines slip or the quality of work is affected. The

clarity of a team starts with the objective of the team. The leaders have to communicate the

purpose of the team. Besides the team need to understand a clear plan on how they are to achieve

their objectives. Finally, team members should understand their individual responsibilities in a

team. Their collaboration will measure the ultimate results.

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Accountability. It is he obligation of every individual to account for their activities,

accept their associated responsibilities and show outcomes transparently. Team members need to

be clear about their objectives, their plan, and ultimately the outcomes. Team members should

also hold their team members accountable too. Although holding colleagues accountable can

create interpersonal conflicts, it is key to achieve the collective success. Its often good for group

members to put pressure on poor performers to improve their quality. Team are also accountable

to identify first hand problems by enquiring from each other. While practicing accountability it is

paramount to respect each other and avoid unnecessary bureaucracy around corrective actions.

Influence. Most scholars suggest that influence is power. Imposing influence to a team

increases collaboration which is critical for improving their productivity. Gaining influence

enhances the growth respect and appreciation amongst a team (Johnson, 2017). However,

gaining influence such as leading skills, learning skills, etc. takes time and comes after great

effort. Members can be motivated to build trust with each other, cultivate responsibility by

employing the attribute of consistency, besides being assertive. In order to learn, the team

members should be flexible, grow individual personality, focus of action, and listen to each

other. Through influence, a team can productively execute its functions effectively.

Meta Programs. Education is a continuous process. Team members ought to be trained

regularly to improve their performance. In order to develop a strong and cohesive team, leaders

should involve meta programs that improves and develops individual and team skills. Each team

member should clearly understand their roles in detail. By doing so an individual will evaluate

his or her strengths and possibly understand their associated weakness. The purpose of training

and development is to improve on weak areas of performance. Training builds upon a team

experience and shapes their competencies for future tasks (Gardner, 2015).
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An Action Plan

Organizations demands fluidity that needs leaders to embrace diversity and uncertainty.

Change needs a proper process to be achievable. Its apparent to adjust new ways of thought for

teams to grow. Change is a prerequisite for a team success in the dynamic world. Leaders should

have a clear roadmap on how to impact change in their teams. This is done by creating a plan,

understanding the ultimate objective, communicating clearly, identifying key players, delegating

tasks, setting realistic objectives, managing expectations, and finally holding individuals and

team accountable. If this road map is assertively and clearly followed, change will happen.

There are various ways to make a team smarter. Leaders should ensure effective

communication that drive results. They should also provide an environment that helps teams to

shift from tension to empowerment. Motivate the team through incentives and rewards. Team

leaders should use outcome frames to resolve conflicts and to get aligned. Focus is key to

desirable results. Teams should be motivated to increase their focus to the ultimate goal. Besides,

time should be managed well to ensure that tasks are efficiently and effectively completed.

The success of business today relies on the effectiveness of a team. Teams embodies

culture of the organization. Aligning culture and teamwork effectively shifts the team outcome to

a success. Leadership should be accessible and ensure teams are not closed off from each other.

In such a setting, teams cross-train and share information openly, perhaps, on process

improvement.

Leaders play the role of assigning responsibilities to individual team members. Roles and

responsibilities should ensure that they assign a role to the right fit. Continuous assessments

should be done to track the performance of an individual. Organizations should also ensure meta
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programs have been employed to increase the skills of each employee. Improving skills ensures

that an individual executes a role effectively besides increasing the productivity of a group.

Conclusion

In conclusion leadership and teamwork are identical. Collaboration gets great things

done. An effective leader facilitates the process of teamwork. Teamwork allows people to share

their potentials and skills to accomplish a common goal. Leaders should use the five smart

accelerators to empower team member. Team leaders hold the members accountable, empowers

them, establishes their culture, and ensures that members are correctly trained to achieve the set

goals. Collaboration is key to ensure effective teamwork. Leaders should ensure teams

collaborate well towards achieving their success.

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References

Carter, C., & Kravits, S. L. (2012). Teamwork and leadership. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice

Hall.

Frazer, R., & Oswald, P. (2009). Teamwork! New York: Simon Spotlight.

Gardner, H. (2015). Teamwork and Collaboration in Professional Service Firms. Oxford

Handbooks Online. doi: 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199682393.013.21

Johnson, J. D. (2017). Teamwork and Leadership A Communication Perspective. New York:

Peter Lang Publishing Inc. New York.

QSEN Competencies: Teamwork and Collaboration. (2020). doi: 10.4135/9781529721003

Scarnati, J. T. (2001). On becoming a team player. Team Performance Management: An

International Journal, 7(1/2), 5-10.