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Time to break silos and join hands at workplace

Teamwork’ is the way ahead to conquer individual distractions

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Only 13% of employees across organisations can work in teams without being interrupted (and complete projects on time), says an employee-focused research study.

Is this true? In an era when team sizes are shrinking and remote/flexi working is gaining in prominence, where does the aura attached towards working in teams now stand? Does it help to work individually, rather than in teams to minimise distractions and accelerate project deliveries?

“Not really,” say HR experts. According to Praveen Rawal, managing director, Steelcase India and Southeast Asia, the evolution from ‘I’ to ‘We’ at work is going to be more significant for achieving organisational goals in 2018.

Hamsaz Vasunia, Head HR, DCB Bank, says ‘teamwork’ is about how different teams come together to service the end customer. “Today, customers want the best solution in the shortest possible time. To make this happen, different individuals have to work seamlessly without letting the baton fall. In this digital world, where a new product has to be launched in the market before the competition, every employee has to work in sync to meet the deadline. For any project to be successful, people with different skill-sets are required to complement each other. They can support each other, energise one another and maximise the overall output.”

According to Thammaiah BN, managing director, Kelly Services India, working in a team creates healthy competition amongst employees and members are able to divide workloads and pressure amongst themselves. “Thus, every individual can be allocated with responsibilities based on their specialisation.”

But beyond the multiple advantages that teamwork brings in for the organisation and its employees, there do exist distractions that cause impediments in the pathway towards team achievements. Conflicts, ego and insecurities often exist within teams that hinder fruitful collaboration. Moreover, research at the University of California points out that once a distraction occurs, it can take as much as 23 minutes for the mind to return to the task at hand.

Vivek Prabhakar, co-founder of Chumbak, says that employees get distracted only when the team gets distracted, “and each person starts working in a different direction. If the team is focused, chances of distraction are minimal. High productivity is all about a combination of single-minded focus on individual tasks, as well as a lot of collaboration to ensure that all team members are on the same track.”

Although togetherness at work is vital for value creation, in excess, it’s a killer, says Rawal. He believes that there needs to be a process wherein workers come together as a group to develop a shared point of view, and then break apart to take the next steps. “This can be achieved through a provision of spaces. Collaboration has caused a privacy crisis, especially in Indian offices where real estate is a constraint,” says Rawal. Experts note that in many companies, there is a high emphasis on open spaces and not enough on private spaces. “In India, which has a collectivist culture, organisations need to optimize real estate more to provide visual, acoustical and territorial privacy options,” says Rawal.

Virtual Working and Teamwork

With teams being agile and employees working virtually, promoting team cohesiveness assumes even greater importance. According to Thammaiah, with video collaboration tools, opportunities for interaction with remote workers can be created. “Social events and team-building exercises will make employees feel part of a team and not isolated.”

To promote cohesiveness, experts say organisations should appreciate teamwork that has achieved common goals. Secondly, conflict resolution between employees by the organisation at the earliest is necessary to ensure productivity remains protected.

Deodutta Kurane, group president, human capital management, Yes Bank, says that building teams that deliver is a leadership responsibility. “A leader must focus on training team ( to collaborate), engaging (by conducting milestone reviews and realigning tasks basis group performance), attracting the right mix of skills and personalities, and motivating teams and developing a shared mindset amongst members. This ensures that teams remain committed to delivering quality in a timely manner.”

Furthermore, employees also have a role in being good team players. Vasunia says first and foremost, individuals should keep their ego in check. “They should respect each other’s views, be inclusive, participate in team events and personally interact more while emailing less.”

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