You might have heard the old saying, “There is no I in TEAM“. Sometimes, each team member has to put aside his or her own needs in order to focus on the larger goals of the team.
Using Teamwork to Achieve Goals
It is important that your team use teamwork to reach their goals. They need to not only understand this, but also to be held accountable to it, which means they will need to be measured and evaluated from time to time to make sure they are living up to the cohesive standards you expect of them.
What is the best way to evaluate teamwork and appraise your team’s performance?
Maintain Accountability Within your Team
It’s the one in which you make team members accountable to each other.
Instead of rating each team member as an individual, rate them on a group basis. This forces them to keep each other accountable and helps you to get a better sense of the group dynamics.
If the team is working well, there aren’t likely to be any problems. But if all is not going smoothly, you will begin to hear rumblings about team members not pulling their weight or otherwise causing problems. In this case, it is in your best interest to find a way to bring people back to working together.
Problem Detection and Conflict Resolution
Sometimes it can help teamwork if you step in and speak with the problem member, but in order to stay consistent in your message, you might ask the group to work it out themselves.
This sends the message that no matter what, the team must work together. Suggest some teamwork strategies and methods, but insist that you will not be the one to ultimately make the decisions about who does what and how it gets done.
You can supplement your team assessment reports with individualized reports. This is particularly useful if there are rifts and conflicts between team members. This way you are able to give the high producing team members the feedback and recognition they are looking for and deserve.
Maintaining Team Order
You may also find it valuable to ask each team member to perform a 360oReview.
During a 360o Review, each individual team member evaluates both their own performance as well as the performance of other members of the team. Make sure that you explain that these comparative evaluations are for educational purposes and that they need to refrain from judgments about personality and work style.