CD Mohatta asked:
Talk to any person who has worked as a member of a team. You will get to listen some statements like-
1. Nobody will allow you to work in the team.
2. One person wants to take credit for the whole work.
3. I would have completed the job on my own faster than the team.
4. Why do not they tell you and discuss with you about the members of the team beforehand?
5. I will never again work in a team.
And many other such statements will be heard. Why?
Can one escape from teamwork? That looks difficult because no person specializes in all the disciplines. If you have to develop a product, you must have a team of designers, production and marketing staff along with the finance people. That brings us to the matter of co-ordination. The leader of the team is supposed to co-ordinate the work done by others. So the responsibility of failure if any, must first lie with the team leader.
What should a team leader do? The team leader should first draw the goals, time parameters and work process that needs to done to achieve the targets. Ideally the leader should then discuss all these issues with all the members of the team and get their suggestions and approval. What if friction develops at this stage itself? The team leader has to smoothen the process by discussing the pros and cons very thoroughly and make everyone feel as if it was their decision.
The leader must have some qualities for better co-ordination of the team. Give respect to all the members. Give all the members a patient hearing. Listen to their problems and address them as soon as possible. Anticipate friction and arrange to avoid that happening. If this is done, the team will give co-coordinated results. These are some secrets of co-ordination in a teamwork.