The best way to build team harmony

A team that works together effectively can make a big difference when it comes to the level of a company’s success. Top teams work together in a particular and distinct way and usually have a set of team ‘values’ to guide them. Value statements reflect the actual beliefs of an organization and must be backed up with actions so there is clear evidence that they are supported.  They guide behaviour and in effect define culture. For a team to work in harmony, this code is vital. There are 5 characteristics of particular importance for successful teams.

Mutual respect

This defines how people in the company interact with each other and the respect they show for everyone at all levels. In France, the tradition of shaking hands with your working colleagues each morning is a great example that reinforces communication and demonstrates mutual respect. The military have long had a tradition of getting together briefly at 11 a.m. every morning for coffee. These rituals emphasise the core beliefs of mutual respect.

Companies without harmony – where people can’t say what they think

In his book, ‘How NASA builds teams,’ Charlie Pellerin tells the story of the Hubble telescope. At the time, he was NASA’s director of astrophysics. Although the launch was successful, it soon became apparent that there was a serious flaw in the mirror. Sometime later, the failure review board told Congress that the flawed mirror was down to a leadership problem. It transpired that the contractors had not forwarded the results of numerous tests which might have identified the failings. When asked why not, they reported that they were tired of the beatings. NASA had become so hostile to its contractors that they stopped reporting any technical problems.

Honesty and trust

Lencioni in his work on dysfunctional teams emphasised the importance of trust in a team and showed how teams without trust get sucked into a downward spiral of mistrust and poor performance. One of the greatest forces in creating distrust is where the organization in competition with itself, with similar functions divided across departments.

The good news, though, is that if you spot such a problem early, re-organizing fragmented functions often transforms team working very quickly. Managers need to build the positive circle of trust. Trust breeds co-operation which in turn breeds commitment, accountability and attention to results. This increases trust and so the spiral of trust becomes a self-fulfilling prophesy.

Pride in a sense of belonging

This is shown in how a company works together and the emphasis it places on team-working, for example, the importance of keeping commitments and supporting other team members. Many organizations foster the sense of belonging through their values and often a dress code. For example, some companies have a special company uniform whereas others are more relaxed with a ‘Casual Friday.’ These codes represent the culture of a company and so, what works for one company does not work for another.

Commitment and loyalty

Any successful company needs to foster a pride in hard work to remain successful, and at the heart of this is the commitment to the customer. Leading customer quality is the job of everyone, not just those in direct contact with the customer. Objectives need to be set that make sure everyone shares in the commitment to customer quality and business success.

Attitude to risk taking

An organization needs to know where it stands in terms of innovation and risk. Is it conservative, or does it like to be at the forefront of innovation? It is all very well for a company to say they encourage risk-taking and innovation. The test comes when something goes wrong – does the management team stay supportive?

All in all, as a manager you need to think about how you are currently running your team and offer some new ideas. We hope that this article was helpful. Good luck with your team building and leading.