4 Steps to Building Productive Teams

Employee Training Videos Can Model Teamwork Skills

Building a productive, unified team is not an easy task for a manager. Even when you have a great group of people on your team, daily events, time pressures, personalities and conflicts can all converge to erode strong teamwork and unity. Teamwork videos and training for managers and team members can help people get motivated to work together and can teach them skills for building productive teams.

Conflict/Disputes

Nothing pulls a team apart faster than interpersonal conflicts. To create productive, unified teams, don’t let conflict fester. Make sure team members are trained on how to resolve conflicts on their own: request a time to talk to the other person in private, at a time when you’re “cooled down,” avoid defensiveness by using “I statements” when you speak, listen and practice empathy with the other person’s point of view, and work together to come to a solution that satisfies you both. If a conflict still can’t be resolved in this manner and a supervisor or manager needs to get involved, managers should know how to mediate conflicts effectively - not by playing “judge and jury,” but by bringing both parties together in a neutral space to hear each other out, and by putting the responsibility for solving the conflict on the 2 disputing parties. This is where conflict resolution training comes helps everyone understand the skills needed. 

Achievement Problems & Accountability

When one or more members of a team are having achievement problems - they’re not “cutting it” when it comes to work performance - the rest of the team is SURE to notice. And if those team members are allowed to get away with poor work without being held accountable, overall team morale will suffer and the manager’s credibility will be eroded. For teams to function at their highest level, managers - and other team members - must hold low performers accountable for their results. This is accomplished by reminding that team member what they agreed to do, asking what happened (what went wrong), asking what they’ve learned, and how they’ll do things differently next time. Usually, this reminder - from a peer or their boss - is enough to improve the employee’s results. But if performance does not improve over time, a manager must step in to initiate formal disciplinary procedures.

Morale: “Pick each other up”

When someone on your team is having a rough day, it has a tendency to affect others - other team members will notice at the very least, and at the worst, that colleague’s bad mood may spread to other co-workers. To prevent bad mood “contagion,” if you notice someone who is having an “off” day, ask if you can help them, ask them if they want to talk about something, or simply do something kind, like leave a piece of candy on their desk or kind note in their inbox.

Inclusion

Respect is a basic tenet of any diverse, well-functioning team, but for everyone on a team to feel like they belong and are contributing, team members and leaders must take respect a step further, to inclusion. Inclusion is making an effort to include all the diverse members of a team - in decision-making, idea generation, social gatherings, information-sharing. Inclusion involves bringing together and harnessing all the diverse resources of your team in a way that is beneficial and a way that allows everyone to feel like they are contributing. Employee training videos about respect and inclusion will help teams learn to create an environment of involvement, respect, and connection where the richness of backgrounds and perspectives are utilized to create value.

Two teamwork videos that will teach teams and team leaders the steps to better cohesion and performance are The Unified Team and We’re In the Band. The Unified Team offers tools to help leaders overcome common problems and promote a sense of unity within their teams. We’re in the Band is documentary-style employee training video. It follows The Paperboys, a popular Northwest folk rock band, to find out how they combine preparation, teamwork, and connecting with their audience to achieve success.