September 03, 2008, 9:50 AM — Teamwork is made even more complex as employees increasingly work at a distance from one another. While sophisticated communication devices allow team members to collaborate on a project from different locations across the country, there are also some less technology-centric ways of encouraging teamwork.
Here are seven tips to help maintain and strengthen the IT department's teamwork and cohesion.
Communicate: While it seems so simple, communication has a huge impact on everything. Obviously, the old telephone call and email still hold merit, but add some sizzle to your communication style. Internet conferencing is a useful vehicle to demonstrate programs or applications to all team members together while in separate locations. Video conferencing is also an option.
Identify each team member's role in the big picture: When each of your IT staff's responsibilities is clearly outlined, it is less likely that any task will be passed over or repeated.
Invest in a network that works: Team members can keep their files in the same location as though they were in the same office. Software is available to copy and synchronize data so that file modifications are automatically adjusted on the server and on any other open copies of the document. Sharing data across the team ensures that all employees are accessing the same information and working from the same basis.
Create checkpoints: The physical separation of team members provides an opportunity for discrepancy. Identify and address potential problems right away to avoid wasting time and in turn, lowering morale. Keep in contact! If members of the team are always communicating, discrepancies will decrease. Along the same lines, keep your messages clear. Make sure everyone knows the game plan. It’s worth the extra five minutes explaining something, rather than the headache of a botched job.
Create team metrics: Know your team's ROI and articulate that. Give feedback to the team; let them know what they accomplished and what that means to your organization. Since the IT department is judged largely on users' perceptions, information such as transactions per minute or response times may help influence opinions. One of the biggest complaints employees, particularly young employees, have is that they don’t get enough feedback from their boss.
Know when a risk is worth taking, and share it equally: Maximizing employee potential, developing new technology or increasing productivity will require you to take some risks. Team members who share equally in the risk will develop an atmosphere of commitment to progress and to the team. How do you know when a risk is worth it? Unfortunately, there’s no simple formula to follow. Managers will need to decide if what they want to achieve is worth the possibility of failure. Often it can be as simple as deciding whether or not to buy employees that new Blackberry that will sync everyone’s schedules. Sometimes it’s as complicated as whether or not to invest in a new operating system. Over time and with many decisions, it will come more naturally.
Keep creativity flowing: The IT department is a creative force. Team members can encourage one another to maximize creative potential. Keep an open mind and try to challenge employees to challenge each other. If employees are often not together, make sure to maximize the time that they are. Sometimes, the easiest way to keep team members working well together is to let them have time to talk shop. It may seem counterproductive to give them a catered lunch for an hour, but if everyone’s together, you can help lead the conversation towards creative solutions. If employees are never face-to-face, try having an open forum where their creative ideas will not only be looked at by their supervisor, but their peers. When people have time to come up with solutions, frequently they think of things that are incredible.
