Importance of Team Building in the Success of an Organization

Introduction

Team building is important in stimulating performance and relationships among team members to increase productivity. It is the process of motivating a group of people to work towards achieving a common goal. Therein, team leaders are often endowed with the responsibilities of uniting and motivating their subjects. Although teamwork requires commitment from members of the group, team leaders have numerous responsibilities in establishing a suitable environment and ensuring willingness to apply all the efforts for the common project. In order to establish the roles and attributes of team leaders, I interviewed and observed them in a company and learned some lessons concerning effective team building.

Team Building in Google

Google is one of the world’s finest destinations for people who seek to explore their full potentials on the way to happiness. The technological giant has a good corporate culture that helps it maintain the top status in the competitive industry. Its workforce is characterized by a healthy team building. Last month, I visited the company in California offices and observed how various team leaders motivated their teams for work. Sometimes, the interviews would complement my observations for a quality analysis.

The interaction majorly involved supervisors and managers, who had some juniors under them, who depended on their directions and motivation. The number of subjects ranged from five to fifty; however, the figure is not that important: the duties and accountability of team leaders are always extensive. Various teams pursued different goals and objectives, which defined the vision and mission of the company. In this regard, the team leaders devised some ways to motivate their subordinates in working towards the common corporate goal due to immense expectations from the management. Furthermore, they possess certain behavior patterns and unique perceptions to issues, which significantly boosted the morale of their staff.

Lesson

As I involved various team leaders, I recognized that team building was part of the workforce in this organization. The different groups of workers wore smiles, indicating that they enjoyed their work; and whenever any member had a problem, they would involve others to settle it. It appeared easy and enjoyable, so they would hardly complain of anything. All the team leaders encouraged their members to be creative and were quick to recognize any issue that required their attention. This work environment defined team building in a way that I never witnessed before: it was really enjoyable, making the company reap maximum input from workers due to their strong relationships.

According to the number of team leaders in this organization, team-building calls for a strong personality. Most of them said that a quality leader was able to inspire their subjects to attain their goals. One leader specifically stated that team building was basically giving the subordinates the freedom to be creative as a crucial ingredient. A creative team does not limit the members to specific rules and regulations because the members will become bored over time and lose focus. Creativity can increase productivity because it brings joy, humor, authenticity, and humility among the staff (Dyer et. al 67). It was also noted that the younger generations are easily bored with the daily work environment and require constant motivation to maintain or increase their input. One leader said that team building helped a lot of managers to stimulate the potential of workers and fight boredom as well as build trust and respect among the employees. These virtues are important in defining the work environment and consequently establishing a corporate culture, which is one based on the principle of team building.

Team leaders must possess some characteristics which not only define them as individuals but also inspire the people around them. Most of these traits, one leader said, are learned in the process of molding the leader, who is an expert that must always learn, be fair and have integrity (Dyer et. al 91). These qualities will make them attend to the needs of the members with the deserved attention as well as help them to facilitate the dreams and aspirations of everyone, making them understand the set goals. Apparently, a leader must also be influential and have the willingness to delegate some duties so that they can coherently communicate with team members. Leaders must also be confident with their ideas and instill this feeling in their members so that they can easily maneuver through hard situations as a group. The above pieces of advice that I have received from the team leaders are precise and important in establishing a successful group, and they serve as pillars of team building, which various institutions must adopt to steer towards their goals.

The concept of team building that is observable in Google relates to class discussions in almost every aspect. This company provides an ample platform for team building, where people can put their theory lessons into practice. One of the lessons covered in class lies in the steps to building a successful team. Thus, the first one is to initiate leadership in oneself by commanding authority over employees, which is vital for a leader to possess the attributes that will put them above others. The second step is to establish a good relationship with other members. As earlier stated, respect and trust are the major pillars in maintaining a strong team. Therefore, in as much as a leader must possess a commanding personality, they need to do so in a manner that attracts appreciation from others. In addition, they must build a strong relationship with their employees, which is necessary to avoid conflicts related to any cultural differences among the members. Finally, setting the rules of engagement to issues and fostering teamwork makes it easy to build a strong team (Dyer et al. 78).

Team building can be instrumental in the eventual success of any company as it helps in boosting morale among employees. A motivated workforce is able to sacrifice their time and efforts in the pursuit of the common goal. At the same time, a team leader is able to exploit the strengths of members and thwart the weaknesses of the team (Dyer et al. 23). It is only in this case that the team leader can inspire his staff and increase productivity. These lessons discussed in class are related extensively to what happens at the Google headquarters in California.

Conclusion

People have recognized and acknowledged the importance of team building in the success of an organization. As a result, many have embraced it in managing staff into achieving common goals. In this context, team leaders are important in inspiring their subordinates towards achieving a goal. As such, they possess the above analyzed traits, which help them lead their members towards a set objective. Team building is no longer an option for any group that aspires to progress but a requirement, even to giant companies such as Google Inc.

Works Cited

Dyer, William G., and Jeffrey H. Dyer. Team Building: Proven Strategies for Improving Team Performance. John Wiley & Sons, 2013.