November 15, 2012

“A workplace lives and dies on the synergy and cooperation of its employees. A cooperative, functioning team leads to increased productivity, more efficient problem solving and a fairer distribution of responsibilities.” The article talks about the qualities of frankness and honesty as well as empowering and encouraging your team.

“The desire to avoid conflict is understandable, but it’s one of the most debilitating factors in organizational life. Lack of candor contributes to longer cycles times, slow decision making, and unnecessarily iterative discussions.” Insightful advice can be found in the article based on 50 large companies over the past three years that speaks about candor and criticism in positive light.

“While teamwork does offer a variety of advantages, there are also some potential disadvantages you should be aware of when implementing a team concept in your workplace.” The article points out aspects to look out for such as conflict and unequal participation.

“Remember, cross-training isn’t about having employees teach others about all of their finer responsibilities but rather is about concentrating on the most critical components of their work. At the same time, you’re building stronger teams, because people who understand the unique pressures and challenges faced by colleagues are more likely to be supportive and work together more effectively than those not cross-trained.” The article presents the basics to begin a cross-training process.

“Various studies have shown that it is more difficult to get virtual teams to bond, harder for informal leaders to emerge, tougher to create genuine dialogue, and easier for misunderstandings to escalate.” Through this article you will find ways to help to make virtual teams successful.

“In an age where all of us are communicating more and more through electronic devices instead of actual conversation, teamwork suffers”. The late Steve Jobs and research study from MIT share the same finding of the group dynamics high performing teams share. The article will discuss those key points.