The 11 psychological keys to teamwork

Psychological keys applied to work teams in the business world.

Knowing how to work in a team is an increasingly demanded skill in the labor market, where it is often necessary the multidisciplinary performance of professionals specialized in different areas. However, achieving this is not simply an individual process: it is possible to intervene in the group to enhance the work performance of the whole team "from the outside", or rather, by focusing on all the people as a unit.

So, here we will look at some of the psychological keys to teamwork most commonly used in the context of organizations..

What are the main psychological keys to teamwork?

These are the psychological keys to teamwork that must be incorporated both individually and collectively in order to perform efficiently.

1. Create information channels

The channeling of information is essential for the correct functioning of any work team, and its importance is greater the larger the number of participants in the project.The greater the number of participants in the common project, the greater its importance. It is not necessary to wait for the communication channels to emerge spontaneously, they must be designed beforehand, otherwise there will only be informal communication, which is based only on personal affinities and not on the general vision of the team.

Many collective projects fail due to poor organization of information, because of the assumption that important data reaches its destination spontaneously; that is why it is of great importance to establish clear and concise strategic information flow channels.

2. Motivation strategies

Motivation is another of the essential elements that contribute to achieve success in teamwork and this can be achieved in many ways both at a general level among all members of the organization as well as at an individual level. It is essential to always keep in mind that payment for working hours, although it is one of the main motivational pillars, is far from being the only one.

Thus, the example of others can be used as a motivational strategy to improve one's own performance: seeing the progress made by colleagues helps to give "a boost" to the group as a whole..

3. Common and individual goals

In order to achieve greater involvement in a work team, it is advisable that part of the final goals or objectives be common to all team members, and another part be of an individual nature.

In this way a double motivation is achieved on the part of each member, who has a collective goal shared with all his colleagues. has a collective goal shared with all of his or her colleagues, and at the same time has a personal motivation to achieve an objective that is solely his or her responsibility. to achieve a goal that is his alone.

4. Knowing how to delegate

In any hierarchical organization it is essential to know how to delegate efficiently to ensure the proper functioning of the organization and not to overload any of its members with work.

This ability to delegate is especially important for team leaders and middle management.The work stress is a problem that can be solved by the employees, since they are in charge of maintaining a correct organization and they are usually the ones who have to carry out more tasks simultaneously throughout the day.

5. Global vision

A global vision of the work in which all the relevant elements that form part of the team and also the interactions between them are taken into account is essential to identify possible work overloads. is essential to identify possible work overloads in any member or parts of the process. or parts of the process that are not working properly.

The common success depends on the particular performance of each of the members of the organization, that is why it is so important to perform an analysis with a global perspective in which each participant of the work is integrated.

6. Effective leadership

A good leader is a person who knows how to organize the tasks of his subordinates, who inspires, and who is capable of setting the direction of the organization in times of uncertainty.

That is why it is of great importance to be clear that a leader should not simply be in charge of "commanding" the organization. should not simply be in charge of "commanding", since his commitment and dedicationHis or her commitment and dedication will mark the course of the final success of the work.

7. Time management

Correct time management is another of the characteristics that define efficient teamwork.More working hours is not always synonymous with higher production.

But this is not just an individual process (although it is clear that each team member should try to optimize his or her use of working hours); it is also necessary to detect workflow problems to avoid bottlenecks and unnecessary waiting times in general (which may be caused by a poor distribution of tasks). Remember that simply assigning many jobs to many workers does not make sense as a whole.

To achieve success during the job in the shortest time possible it is essential to have time management and productivity experts on board.As Parkinson's Law states, "work expands until it fills the time available".

8. Clear incentives

Some incentives, such as promotion and advancement processes, are essential in any work team, and usually also act as motivational mechanisms for each member of the organization.

These promotion processes must be clear and transparent in order to motivate and not be used as a tool for unfair treatment.This also favors the orientation and the search for professional objectives of each worker.

9. Effectiveness in meetings

The meetings are one of the classic elements of the teamwork; nevertheless in many occasions they end up being little productive, inefficient and totally unnecessary, since they are sometimes used as "fetish" or "fetish". Sometimes they are used as a "fetish" as if their mere existence were a good thing..

The holding of work meetings should always be linked to a specific purpose or objective and it is not advisable to extend them too long without a specific purpose.

10. Take into account the emotional aspect

Any self-respecting organization takes into account the emotional side of the team members, something that is very useful to achieve a positive result at the end of the work.

Inspiring and recognizing the emotional needs of each employee has a positive impact on their emotional, physical and working state. At the end of the day, a team cannot be managed as we would manage a machine composed of gears: for the good and for the bad.For better or worse, emotions cannot be separated from the decision making process of the employees.

11. Diversification of work

In any team work, there are people with different areas of expertise and different training backgrounds, and this should be reflected in the work of the team.This should be reflected in the distribution of tasks. This is why tasks should be assigned according to the skills and abilities of each member.

In addition, it is very important that each person is very clear about where his or her area of intervention begins and ends, so that in the event of problems or a lack of efficiency, the people involved quickly know that they have to take the initiative to correct the situation without waiting for instructions given "from above".

Want to learn more about team management?

If you are thinking about training in team management, you may be interested in the International Team Coaching Programa training program organized by Escuela Europea de Coaching (EEC).

It is a 100% online course based on a systemic approach, approved as CCE (Continuing Coach Education) by the International Coach Federation (ICF) and 53 hours long, divided into 5 days. To learn more, please contact us or visit our website.