The essential ingredients of successful teamwork

If you could distill the essence of teamwork into one word, it would be cohesiveness. Any team that can gel together in harmony has an enormous competitive advantage…

It’s not enough to have talented individuals on your team. The egos of “star” performers lead to dysfunctional politics. Morale suffers, time gets wasted, and engagement drops.

The foundation of any good team is trust. Trust enables open communication, which enables fluid problem-solving. But this openness also means being able to show vulnerability – like admitting flaws and mistakes – which has to start from the team leader.

Don’t avoid conflict. Debates should be welcomed on any team. The key is being constructive: focus on the subject at hand and the best outcome possible (instead of personal interests).

Unanimous decisions are rare. The key to consensus is giving everyone a chance to be heard so that they feel part of the decision-making process.

Once everyone has had their say, personal opinions must be set aside so that the team can commit to one decision and stand by it.

The challenge for any close-knit team is accountability. Not holding people responsible for their performance can lead to resentment. But it must be done tactfully and fairly.

If everyone is held to the same standards, and if everyone knows that criticisms aren’t personal, it’s much easier to achieve the team’s overall objective.

Every team member has to understand how every piece fits together in the bigger picture. It only hurts the team if someone is focused on individual (rather than collective) goals.

Bottom line: A strong and successful team is built on trust. That enables constructive conflict without egos getting in the way. Once there’s enough commitment to a collaborative process, and there is accountability, you get a powerful collective focus that pays big dividends.