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Ivan Petkov

Teamwork is a complex, dynamic, it often requires cooperation between people of different professions and mentality. A team made up of wonderful professionals can easily fail if there is no suitable atmosphere of freedom and creativity, communication between individuals and a few more essential things that will try to fit in 8 short and clear points. Of course, this can not cover the whole subject, but they would be a good start, to at least check by following them, to what extent does the atmosphere in the team you work, come close to the best.

1. Communicate!

 It may seem obvious and you might actually think this is exactly the goal of every team, but let's look at the process of communication in a little more details. First, see to what extent does your communication go only electronically. If most of it consists of only emails, memo's, orders, etc., things are not good. Secondly, improve your personal communication with your colleagues. Cherish personal communication, because it brings trust between people.

 Counterpoint: Do not think of the communication as a form of office gossiping and intrigue - this is the other extreme, which also affects poorly the relationships among colleagues.

 2. Distribution of tasks

 Proper allocation of tasks is crucial. If a man does what he likes and what he is good at, then his results and his motivation will be very good. Conversely, if he primarily is assigned to perform tasks that are not interesting for him, very soon, his motivation will drop, and his creative attitude will disappear completely.

Counterpoint: There are this type of tasks that are necessary, but people rarely like them. They are mainly administrative type associated with reporting, completing schedules and plans. It does not mean that they shouldn’t be done if people do not like them because the company cannot go without them and they are of great importance for its functioning.

 3. Sense of usefulness and a sense of satisfaction

Everyone wants to know that his work is useful, which brings him a sense of satisfaction. That is why when someone is doing good this is better to be noticed, either in formal form, or simply an informal conversation.

Counterpoint: Like anything else, when praise is used too often it loses its value and motivating force.

4. Support and assistance

When someone has a problem, there is no better way to show solidarity than the support and assistance. Everyone has had and will have those moments, when he needs help and it is easy to get it if he has given it to his colleagues before.

 Counterpoint: Support and assistance are exactly support and assistance, this does not mean that someone else would do our work for us. If someone is too often taking advantage of the help of his colleagues very soon he won’t receive any and would be isolated from the team.

 5. Freedom and creativity

 Everyone has good ideas and can contribute through them for the overall performance. People express their ideas when they are taken into account and when they feel relaxed and free to express them. Imagination manifests itself, when given space to develop.

 Counterpoint: Freedom does not mean freedom to do as we please and creativity - an excuse not to do our immediate tasks. Everyone who has ideas should also know how they can be implemented, otherwise they do not work, just because they sound good.

 6. Get into the shoes of the other person

 Destroy the traditional boundaries of communication within the team. An example for this is when someone has blocked and can not think of how to solve a problem or does not have any fresh and unconventional ideas. Go to a colleague of yours who has a profession different from yours and ask him what he thought about it. You'll be surprised how good ideas you can get from people who are burdened and even have no idea of the rules and the beaten paths in your profession. In this way, your colleagues will be glad that he has helped you, but he will also know a bit more about the nature of your work.

 Counterpoint: Of course, this does not mean that you should constantly interfere in the work of your colleagues. Use this method sparingly, so that it will have the required effects. Be imaginative and find other ways of implementing the principle of stepping into someone else’s shoes.

 7. Take each job to an end

 Fresh and unusual ideas are good, but only if they are fully implemented. Take up with them once you decide that would be profitable. Gaining good ideas, which are kept for an indefinite moment in the future, is not very reasonable. Surely the competition is not sleeping and someone may overtake you, just because you have not had the motivation and willingness to implement your good idea

 Counterpoint: Do not try to play on too many fronts. If you have lots of ideas, prioritize them in terms of potential, resources for their realization, out of which the most important one is the time, and in terms of returns they bring. Another model is to use partners to implement a project, but this is also specific.

 8. Enjoy!