TomLaForce.com

Being the leader is challenging to say the least, especially when you are new to the job. It’s common to hear new leaders complain that their employees aren’t acting like a team. In these situations it is also common to see the leader doing little, if anything, to create more teamwork.

When trying to help people work better together, there are three principles to keep in mind as you go about your work.  If you remember these principles, your chances of success go way up.

• Joint Ownership. Every member of the team has to believe he or she is as responsible for the success of the team as anyone else in the group.  In order for this to happen, people have to see that they have a stake in the outcome.  As the leader you will probably need to give up a fair amount of control to compensate for their preconceived idea that the leader has more ownership than anyone else.
• Focus. A winning team needs something that holds it together.  The members need a common focus.  This focus usually comes in the form of goals and objectives that everyone cares about and believes can be achieved.  Even if people primarily work independently, you might consider at least one goal that requires them to work together.
• Camaraderie. Finally, since teamwork is about working together, members need to feel good about each other (at least most of the time).  This happens as people get to know one another and trust builds among team members.  Your job is to encourage the development of trust and deal with any problems that are getting in the way of people liking/respecting each other.

Photo by John Spooner