Creating and maintaining a team is very essential for organizational growth and sustainability. For an organization to succeed and be competitive it is necessary that an effective team is created and maintained. From the discussions we had from the ILM workshop, various views were shared on creating and maintaining an effective team.
Below is a few of them. When creating a team, in the first place there should be a strong leadership in the helms of affair coordinating the team’s activities. The leader must be somebody who possess the personality traits described by John Adair, i.e.
- Encourager
- Harmonizer
- Compromiser
- Expediter/Gatekeeper
- Standard Setter
- Group observer/Commentator
- Follower In addition to having a great leader, it is important to select good people in creating the team.
When selecting members of the team, it is vital to select members with creative and innovative ideas.
They will be able to think outside the box to resolve difficult problems in an exceptional way without following the normal way of doing things. When the going gets tough there should someone in the team who has the flair for networking in order to obtain contacts or resources relevant for resolving a difficult situation. In the likely event the team is losing focus on their vision and mission there should be a member who can keep them on their toes in order for them not to lose focus. The leader must educate the members on the vision and mission of the team and also communicate information to members to keep them abreast of whatever is happening in the team. In order to maintain an effective team, the members need to be motivated and rewarded accordingly.
One way of motivating team members is by changing their environment by moving them to a place more attractive than where they currently are working. A typical example was when I was working in my former company I was relocated from the field to the office to do some documentation and paper work and this made me gain a different set of working experience. Rotating a job role is a major source of motivation. When people get stuck doing the same routine job over and over they get demotivated.
Team members get motivated when they are reward for a job well done. When we were under training at the Jubilee Technical Training Center at Takoradi my team repaired a faulty flow control valve which needed the attention of an expert, but because we were able to troubleshoot and maintained it, management increased our salary and this served as a big motivation for us to even work harder. During my company’s compliance week, I answered some questions about compliance and I was given a shopping gift voucher. This did not only bring joy to me and my family but also inspired me to continue to work hard. It is important that the leader knows what really motivates his team members. Some people are motivated when they receive cash reward, others are motivated by receiving vacation package for relaxation, and whiles others may just like a thank you note.
Give people more of what they like and they will stay highly motivated.
