It might feel like a fuzzy concept to
you, but the data shows real benefits for companies and individuals when we all
get along.
Over the past few years, you’ve probably
noticed people talking a lot more about the importance of teamwork and collaboration. Open-office layouts have become
the norm and team productivity tools have exploded in
popularity.
Some see this emphasis on open collaboration
as a passing fad or a way to lower overhead. But there are enormous benefits to
working in teams, and science proves it.
A growing body of research confirms that when
people work together, smartly, it can unleash energy that boosts creativity,
productivity, engagement, communication, and efficiency.
“Each individual has unique gifts, and talents
and skills,” says John J. Murphy, a specialist in business
transformation and author of Pulling Together: 10 Rules for
High-Performance Teamwork. “When we bring them to the table and share
them for a common purpose, it can give companies a real competitive advantage.”
Teamwork is essential to a company’s success,
says Murphy. OK, but what’s in it for you? Plenty. Scads of recent studies show
that team members benefit just as much as the corporations they work for. Last
year, the journal American Psychologist released “The Science
of Teamwork” – an entire issue dedicated to the psychology of collaboration –
packed with evidence that working in a team can make you smarter, more
creative, and more successful.
And that’s just for starters. Here are all the
unexpected ways teamwork is worth it.
10 benefits of
teamwork
1. Great ideas don’t
come from lone geniuses
Albert Einstein gets all the credit for
discovering the theory of relativity, but the truth is that he relied on
conversations with friends and colleagues to refine his concept. And that’s
almost always the case.
“Behind every genius is a team,” says Murphy.
“When people play off each other’s skills and knowledge, they can create
solutions that are practical and useful.”
That’s why Murphy recommends the first thing
you need to do is to ditch the too-pervasive idol mentality. “Tom Brady is all
that, but remember: he doesn’t win Super Bowls by himself.”
2. Diverse perspectives
help you come up with winning innovations
According to Frans Johansson, author of The Medici
Effect, some of the most innovative ideas happen at “the
intersection” – the place where ideas from different industries and cultures
collide.
“Most people think success comes from
surrounding yourself with others that are like you,” says Johansson. “But true
success and breakthrough innovation involves discomfort. Discomfort pushes you
to grow. This is where difference of experience, opinion, and perspective come
in. Diversity is a well-documented pathway to unlocking new opportunities,
overcoming new challenges, and gaining new insights.”
A recent report from the consulting firm
McKinsey & Company backs this up. It found teams made up of members from diverse backgrounds (gender,
age, ethnicity, etc.) are more creative and perform better by up to 35 percent,
compared to more homogeneous teams. Instead of looking at an issue from your
individual vantage point, you get a 360-degree picture, which can lead to an
exponential increase in ideas.
Research from Tufts University suggests that
just being exposed to diversity can shift the way you think. A study on a diverse mock jury found that
interacting with individuals who are different forces people to be more open
minded, and to expect that reaching consensus will take effort.
3. Teamwork can make
you happier
We surveyed more than 1,000
team members across a range of industries and found that when
honest feedback, mutual respect, and personal openness were encouraged, team
members were 80 percent more likely to report higher emotional well-being.
Having happy employees is a worthwhile goal in itself, but the company
benefits, too. Research from the University of Warwick in England
suggests happy employees are up to 20 percent more productive
than unhappy employees. And who couldn’t benefit from a happiness boost?
4. When you work in a
team, you grow as an individual
There may be no “I” in team, but being part of
a team can help you grow. “By sharing information and essentially cross
training each other, each individual member of the team can flourish,” says
Murphy. You might discover new concepts from colleagues with different
experiences. You can also learn from someone else’s mistakes, which helps you
sidestep future errors.
You might even learn something new about
yourself, says Susan McDaniel, PhD, a psychologist at the University of
Rochester Medical Center and one of the guest editors of “The Science of
Teamwork”.
“We all have blind spots about our behaviors
and strengths that we may be unaware of, and feedback from a team member can
expose them,” she says. Recognizing these strengths and addressing the
weaknesses can make you a better team member, and even a better person. “Maybe
working in a team you’ll discover you could be a better listener. That’s a
skill you can grow in, and then take home and use to improve your family
interactions,” McDaniel points out.
5. Sharing the
workload eases burnout
A recent Gallup study of nearly 7,500 full-time
employees found that 23 percent of employees feel burned out at work very often
or always. Another 44 percent say they sometimes feel this way. What helps?
Sharing the load.
Team members can provide emotional support to
each other because they often understand the demands and stress of completing
work even better than managers, says Ben Wigert, lead researcher for Gallup’s
workplace management practice. Managers reading this: you’re not off the hook.
The study also found that knowing your boss has your back also protects against
burnout.
6. Dividing the work
lets you grow your skills
Collaboration in the workplace isn’t unlike
teamwork on the baseball diamond. When the pitcher and outfielders each excel
at their individual roles, the team has a better chance of winning.
Off the playing field, that idea is more
important than ever. Changes in technology and increased globalization mean
that organizations are facing problems so complex that a single individual
simply can’t possess all the necessary knowledge to solve them, says Wigert.
When team members use their unique skills to shine in their own roles, it
creates an environment based on mutual respect and cooperation that benefits
the whole group, notes Murphy.
7. Recognition from
other team members can improve your productivity
Getting a pat on the back from the boss can
boost an employee’s motivation, but receiving kudos from a team member may be
even more effective. The 2014 TINYpulse Employee Engagement and Organizational
Culture Report surveyed more than 200,000 employees.
Participants reported that having the respect of their peers was the #1 reason
they go the extra mile at work.
8. Working in a team
helps you take risks that pay off
When you work alone, you might be hesitant to
put your neck on the line. What if an idea you suggest falls flat? When you
work on a team, you know you have the support of the entire group to fall back
on in case of failure. That security typically allows teams to take the kind of
risks that create “Eureka!” ideas.
But here’s one place where size does matter.
The most disruptive ideas often come from small teams, suggests recent research
in the journal Nature, possibly because larger teams argue
more, which can get in the way of coming up with those big ideas.
Wharton Business School researchers also
discovered that small is the secret to success: they found that two-person teams took 36 minutes to build a Lego figure
while four-person teams took 52 minutes to finish — more than
44 percent longer.
There’s no definitive ideal small team size,
but consider following Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos’ 2 Pizza Rule: no matter
how large your company gets, teams shouldn’t be larger than what two pizzas can
feed.
9. When you work in a
team, you’ll feel less stressed
If your team has good energy – you encourage
and inspire each other, and you have fun together – you’ll feel less stressed,
says Murphy. “Studies show that stress makes us stupid, and leads us to make
more mistakes,” says Murphy.
Of course, the converse is also true: when
your team feels less frazzled, you’ll make fewer errors. That’s worth keeping
in mind, especially if you’re one of the 61
percent of workers who cite work as a significant source of stress.
10. Good communication
boosts your creativity
Stale solutions often come out of working in a
vacuum. When people with different perspectives come together in group
brainstorms, on the other hand, innovative ideas can rise to the surface – with
one caveat. Research shows this can only happen when communication within the
team is open and collaborative, notes Wigert. The most creative solutions can
only come up when there’s a level of trust that lets team members ask ‘stupid’
questions, propose out-there ideas, and receive constructive criticism.
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