A recent survey has found that poor teamwork causes owners
of small firms in Britain to stay late in the office, wastes valuable time and
adds to employee dissatisfaction. But all this could be avoided by encouraging
employees to work more effectively as a team.
The research, conducted by Microsoft UK, found that 37 per
cent of the 2,200 British people taking part in the study believed that one of
the main causes of time-wasting within the workplace was due to a lack of
communication between team members.
Clare Barclay, director of small business, Microsoft UK,
commented, ‘individual team members are hired for the value they can add to the
business – but don’t neglect the team as a whole. An efficient, capable
business is a team effort and employers should put procedures in place that
help and encourage employees to work together for the benefit of the whole
company.’
Here are some top tips on how businesses can help their employees
work better together:
Match tasks to skills
It’s good sense to match your employees’ key skills to their
role. You might recruit someone for their skills in one area, but if they show
potential in another, offer them the opportunity to get involved in that part
of the business. They will appreciate the opportunity to succeed and this will
motivate them and the rest of the team.
Identify role and responsibilities
Once you’ve matched your employees to their roles it’s
important they see the bigger picture. To get the best out of everyone, they
should understand how their job impacts the success of the team.
Integration across job roles
There needs to be a level of ‘role integration’ within the
business. For example, if your accountant needs to query an invoice, they must
understand how the business works just as much as the employee needs to
understand the accountant's role.
