Respect, Trust, Open Communication and a Common Purpose is at the core of Team Bonding
All of us recognize that in Knowledge Age, Interactions and Team Spirit plays a key role in the success of the organization.
Innovation, Agility, Entrepreneurial Spirit, and creation of a Knowledge Marketplace is the only sustainable competitive advantage.
While individual excellence is important, but it is very tough to sustain this advantage without a Team culture.
I conducted a brief session with my senior colleagues to identify what it takes to create a Winning Team. We had a very interesting discussion and here is a list of some of the challenges and frustration and the solutions proposed by them to create a winning culture.
| S.No. | Challenges and Frustrations | Solutions |
| (1) | Do not work for a common objective / focus / dream. | There must be a common dream and purpose; this is what binds the team. |
| (2) | Lack of empathy and realization of challenges faced by other members of the team. | Understand each other’s challenges. |
| (3) | Lack of respect for each other. | We need to respect each other while we may have had differences in the past but we should forget the past and start with a clean slate. |
| (4) | Ego of the team members. | It is not about winning and loosing in a discussion but working towards a win-win. Start listening with an open mind. |
| (5) | Everyone believes that he or she is more passionate than the other colleagues. | Trust your team members for the role they have been assigned. |
| (6) | Delay in response / Lack of respect for adherence to timelines. | Respect for each other’s time is extremely important as time is even more precious than money. |
| (7) | Finding faults in each others work / system. | There are better ways to communicate the differences than just criticizing. Resolve issues in person rather than just sending emails as emails are devoid of emotions. |
| (8) | Do not follow a process / do not adhere to them. | Follow the process as far as possible. |
| (9) | Becomes defensive and start justifying actions. | Accept mistakes instead of defending. |
In conclusion :
- Respect for team members,
- Trusting colleagues ,
- Open and timely Communication amongst the members and
- Common Purpose
is at the core of “Creating a Winning Team” .
Rohit Chanana
May 2005
