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The Secrets of Teamwork
Teamwork is a skill that is no longer a desire of employers, but required. Because, when
the art of teamwork is practiced within a company, members are open to being creative, willing
to share ideas for improvements and new approaches, expand their perspectives and create
connections beyond the workplace. Teams that experience success have built themselves upon
certain principles, such as: enabling attributes, productive interpersonal interactions, prosocial
motivation and psychological safety.
Today, teams are more diverse, digital and dynamic than ever before. Authors Martine
Haas and Mark Mortensen, claim that success still depends upon a set of core fundamentals.
Fulfilling its title, “The Secrets of Great Teamwork,” suggest that there are four “enabling
attributes” that allow teams to experience success: direction, strong structure, supportive context
and a shared mindset.
Teams aren’t inspired until they have a clear direction of what they are working towards.
That is why every great team must share a common and understandable goal that provides them
with satisfaction and a sense of meaning. Having a compelling direction will give teams the
ability to have open and honest communication. High-performing teams have strong structure
that includes members with a balance of skills. Diversity in views, ideas, and perspectives allow
teams to be more creative when they share the same structure. When teams share direction and
structure they then need to have a supportive context. Supportive context is when companies
provide a reward system that reinforces good performance. It may also have an information
system that maintains data needed for work, and a system for training. While no team gets all
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they want, leaders can get ahead when they establish the essentials from the beginning. The final
attribute needed is for a team to share a mindset. Diversity, distance, and digital communication
requires an attitude of “us versus them.” By applying all four attributes, teams are able to foster a
common identity and understanding which then produces success.
The book “Opening Doors to Teamwork Collaboration: 4 Keys That Change
Everything,” written by Judy Katz and Frederick, adds to the idea that success depends upon a
set of core fundamentals. Katz and Miller propose four keys; lean into discomfort, listen as an
ally, share your intent and intensity and share your street corner.
Lean into discomfort invites all to build a place of trust where opinions are shared, issues
address and trust built. Leaning into discomfort sounds almost like a risk, it is. When one steps
out of their comfort zone they are able to be honest and work together. Listen as an ally, the
second key, allows a team the ability to understand, learn, and make connection one with
another. Listening as an ally is when every team member hears what their colleagues are saying,
and then build upon the shared ideas. This is what opens the door to collaboration, which results
in faster achievement. Share your intent is how the door to understanding is opened. As teams
communicate clearly their intent with correct intensity, all become benefactors and can relate
better one to another. The final principle is to share your street corner or value the people around
you and their decisions, values, and differences. As organizations work towards understanding
one another, they learn how to best become motivated, contribute, add value, and achieve goals.
“Making a Difference in the Teamwork: Linking Team Prosocial Motivation to Team
Processes and Effectiveness,” written by Jia Hu and Robert C. Liden, combine their expertise in
focusing on the importance of prosocial motivation. A team can accomplish nothing without the
motivation for success, but a great team can’t fulfil its potential without the desire to make a
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contribution to an individual, society or team. Their study observed prosocial motivation
activities within team effectiveness, cooperation, sustainability, positive group behavior and
member turnover. From 85 surveys, they were able to connect prosocial motivation with
cooperation. Low turnover rates were related to positive team behaviors. Task interdependence
was higher when teams actively had prosocial motivation, because it gave them meaning,
understanding and motivation.
Charles Duhigg wrote about Project Aristotle in the article, “What Google learned on its
Quest to Build the Perfect Team.” Project Aristotle was created, like all articles before, to figure
out what makes a team truly successful. While successful groups vary tremendously, the team
made the conclusion on two factors that all successful teams shared: equal participation of its
members, and equal levels of social sensitivity. It is explained that to have a successful team you
must create a safe or “psychological safety” environment to help teams make necessary changes
and have equal level of participation. When teams work together, they grow together, but teams
can only do so when they feel comfortable and all are participating.
In the article “Why Business Leaders are demanding Teamwork,” Gloria Larson, the
author, asked the simple question, “What is the recipe for the perfect team.” She mentioned the
same things shared in the previous articles. Team work allows us to be creative, share new
approaches, expand our perspectives, and connect with people. We learn to understand one
another, and understanding brings safety. A place where open and honest communication lives.
Teamwork brings excitement and change to the work force which energizes employees and
provides motivation.
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Each article provides the basic fundamentals outlined clearly to develop a successful
team. All teams have the potential to have success. But they must be motivated, strive to
understand and learn from one another, build a safe place where open communication and
collaboration takes place, have participation from all team members, and finally all must have
the desire to improve and help themselves and others. If teams were to apply these principles in
the workplace, environments would be better, success would increase and teams would produce
productivity and unity always.
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REFERENCES
Hu, J., & Liden, R. C. (2015). Making a Difference in the Teamwork: Linking Team Prosocial
Motivation to Team Processes and Effectiveness. Retrieved from:
http://web.b.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.ldsbc.edu/.
Katz, J. H., & Miller, F. A. (2013) Opening Doors to Teamwork and Collaboration: The Four
Keys that Change Everything. San Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler. Retrieved from:
http://web.b.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.ldsbc.edu/ehost/ebookviewer/ebook?sid=87187b8d-9c2e-
4838-8538-0a75d193cae8%40sessionmgr106&ppid=pp_Cover
Haas, M. & Mortensen, M. (2016, Jun) The Secrets of Gr eat Teamwork. Harvard Business
Review. 70-76. Retrieved from: https://hbr.org/2016/06/the-secrets-of-great-teamwork
Duhigg, C. (2016, February 25). What Google Learned from Its Quest to Build the Perfect
Team. The New York Times Magazine. Retrieved from:
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/28/magazine
Larson, G. (2016, May 19). Why business leaders are demanding teamwork. Huffington Post.
Retrieved from: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/gloria-larson/why-business-leaders-are-
_b_10027558.html
