Why Teamwork Is A Vital Skill To Have

The Hawthorne Effect is described as, “individual behaviors may be altered because people know they are being studied.” Because of this, Elton Mayo, one of the researchers for the Hawthorne experiment, came to the conclusion that “worker productivity increased with the psychological stimulus of being shown individual attention, feeling involved, and being made to feel important.” What does this have to do with teamwork? Let’s find out!

This could be called the foundation of team building

Companies today work with their employees to ensure they enjoy their work environment. If they enjoy where they work and what they are doing, they will perform better. Not just the relationships as a team, but also the relationship between the employees and the supervisors boost teamwork and productivity. When the employees feel comfortable talking to their bosses, they are more likely to ask questions and get to know them on a personal basis. When bosses listen to the comments/complaints of their employees, they may be able to see something from their perspective and possibly do something about it. And if they are unable to do something about it, they are at least giving the employees a chance to speak their mind and feel “heard.”

Working as a team creates a new basis for the group level of productivity

If everyone on a team continuously does poorly, eventually the supervisors will begin expecting low-quality work. But if everyone on a team performs significantly, then the supervisors will begin expecting high-quality work. Getting everyone to perform to their full potential only takes one individual to outperform the others. They may be jealous or envious at first, but eventually they will try to outperform the top performer, creating a high-quality/productive team. And on the other side, if one individual does poorly, he/she may just be kicked off the team and used as an example of what you don’t want to be.

 Many minds are better than one mind

People are from all different walks of life; therefore, everyone has diverse perspectives of the world we live in. They also have different viewpoints on every situation we go through. Doing something individually only allows you to see it from one perspective. Working as a team allows you to see it from many perspectives. It may even give you ideas that are so “outside of the box” that everyone, individually, never would have come up with them. Working as a team sparks conversation and debate which leads to a stronger solution.

Getting to know each team member allows top-notch job specialization

As the team works together, they will begin identifying each other’s strengths and weaknesses. This is an amazing aspect to team building as it allows each team member to learn from one another’s strengths, while improving each other’s weaknesses. Once tasks are needed to be completed, the team member in charge will be able to send it in the direction of someone who they know will enjoy it the most and be able to perform it best. Everyone has their own individual talents and when working as a team, they are able to show off some of those talents.

Working as a part of a team can create a stronger sense of self-worth

It is called group synergy. Coming from the Greek word “sunergia” which means cooperation. Group synergy is when you are able to create something that is greater than each of the individual parts that went into it. Once completed, you realize that it could not have been completed without you. You also realize that it could not have been completed without your teammates. No matter how many issues, struggles, and disagreements you had with your team, you were able to overcome them to achieve something great.