3 Essential Skills To Build Better Teamwork

We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again: teamwork makes the dream work! When everyone works efficiently across all sectors of your company, profits go up, confusion goes down, and employee engagement kicks into hyperdrive. And now that employees spend more than 50% of their time collaborating on work, it’s more important than ever.

But not every person starts out with amazing teamwork skills. In fact, most modern teams (remote or not) must learn the right tools, techniques, and methods to stay on the same page with their peers. Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither are the average persons’ teamwork skills.

Strong teamwork starts with a strong leader — and we’re betting that you have what it takes! Here are some important things to keep in mind for developing teamwork skills across all sectors of your business.

Defining good teamwork skills

Teamwork is a cool buzzword and all, but what is it made of, and what skills does it take to build? From what we can gather, ‘skills’ are defined by a lot of things for a lot of different people.

• "A group becomes a team when each member is sure enough of himself and his contribution to praise the skills of others."— Norman Shidle
• "Individual commitment to a group effort — that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work." — Vince Lombardi
• "Coming together is a beginning, staying together is progress, and working together is success." — Henry Ford

Put it all together, and we think we have a good idea. If teamwork is the process of working together as a team, good teamwork skills are building blocks of interpersonal communications at your workplace. These are the (very renewable) fuel of your business’s money-making machine. If your team doesn’t have good teamwork skills, they’ll have a much harder time moving the needle forward.

And this, dear management reader, is where soft skills come in.

Understanding teamwork soft skills

Here’s the thing about teamwork skills — they’re not usually easy to spot. Teamwork between employees is usually composed of soft skills, which are non-technical interpersonal traits that change the way people interact with one another. At their core, they include:

• Time management
• Self-efficacy
• Personal ambition
• Long term focus

But beyond this, there are quite literally hundreds of soft skills needed to ensure successful teamwork. And before you scoff, science actually confirmed this just a few years ago. Studies indicate that teamwork skills are so vast that they struggle to be effectively communicated to learning students. Wowza.

So how do we know which teamwork skills to focus on, or even which ones are best? One word — science. So, what are 3 important skills for teamwork and collaboration?

Teamwork skills could include a number of different things — depending on who you ask, of course. For example, department leads probably have very different opinions about teamwork from employees in the trenches. But from the perspective of science, there are only three major skills that require your attention:

1. The skill of recognition

Learning to say ‘thank you’ can work wonders in the realm of communications. Teach yourself to gratefully recognize every piece of work that’s contributed by your team, from a timely email to a fast turnaround. Thankfulness has a way of fostering excellent relationships and great teamwork as a result.

2. The skill of connection

Employees who feel more connected with one another are more confident about asking questions, providing answers, and pushing toward innovation. Give your teams the opportunity to connect outside of the conference room, including on digital platforms. Remember — the growth of interpersonal communications is still employee development!

3. The skill of listening

Active listening is a big deal, folks. Encourage your teams (and yourself, you don’t get out of this!) to genuinely listen to what others have to say. You might be surprised by how much you’ve been missing out — and how much more you can do as a result.

Motivosity provides the essential skills for teamwork

So maybe you already have the teamwork skills you need to succeed. Maybe your employees are equipped to conquer the world using nothing but a meeting room and a family-sized bag of snacks. But maybe — just maybe — they could do it even better with the help of engagement software. In that case, you’ve come to the right place!

Motivosity is one of the world’s highest-rated employee recognition platforms, offering a little something for everyone since 2013. We’ve been trusted by thousands of brands employing thousands of team members, and have developed some of the most intuitive teamwork platforms on the market. And we’re not just saying this; feel free to check out our 2,000+ five-star reviews!

So let’s make your teamwork count — for employees, for managers, and for stakeholders alike. Call Motivosity today at (801) 758-7188 to schedule a free demo. Chat soon!

Sources:

• https://www.motivosity.com/recognize
• https://www.motivosity.com/connect
• https://www.motivosity.com/lead
• https://www.motivosity.com/listen
• https://www.motivosity.com/resources/employees
• https://www.motivosity.com/resources/management