Why teamwork should be at the forefront of organizational change

Employees quit their teams, not their organizations

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A study conducted in 13 countries, based on a sample of 20,000 employees, highlighted that employees who quit their job, don’t quit a company, they quit a team. People care more about the team they work for then the organization they are in. Employees who feel a sense of belonging to a team have a 2.3 times higher likelihood to be engaged in their work than those who don’t¹ .

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Over 80% of employees collaborate in teams, so the question to ask is: what are you doing to build effective teams?¹

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From individual to team focus

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The strive towards organizational success is often approached with a focus on individual awareness and individual development through the use of personality tests such as MBTI, DISC or CliftonStrengths 34, to name a few.  These could be interesting to bring individual based awareness to oneself and to their leaders. “Redesigning the way we work” has been cited by 92% of companies as one of their top challenges ², with part of this redesign demanding that organizations are ready to incorporate more successful, agile and team-based work³. Organizations need to focus their efforts on building close-knit, high-performing work teams.

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Teamwork as a response to growing complexity

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Many of the challenges organizations face today are complex and multifaceted. Teamwork allows for diverse perspectives and skills to be applied to problem-solving, making it more likely to find innovative and effective solutions.

As work becomes more specialized, individuals often have unique skills and knowledge. Teams enable the pooling of these specialized skills to accomplish tasks that require a variety of expertise. Teams can adapt quickly to changes in the business environment. This is essential in industries where rapid responses to market shifts are necessary, ensuring quality, speed and agility.

Though working in teams has a significant relationship with both performance outcomes in organizations and employee positive attitudes, to fully capitalize on teamwork, teams need to be effectively supported by human resources and their leaders alike⁴. 

The challenge for HR and managers

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This change represents a major challenge for human resources (HR) professionals and managers alike, as it involves a shift in focus and strategy. Transitioning from individual to team performance may encounter resistance from employees who are accustomed to working independently.

HR should employ effective change management strategies to ease this transition. Promoting teamwork often involves a cultural shift within an organization. HR must work with leadership to instill a culture that values and supports collaborative efforts, breaking down silos that may hinder teamwork. 

Effective team leadership becomes paramount in a team-oriented environment. HR needs to identify and develop leaders who can foster collaboration, facilitate communication, and guide teams toward their goals. Organizations already function in team formats. HR needs to be able to identify which teams need assistance and be able to guide them in pinpointing the key areas teams want, and need support in. This can be long and costly.

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The hidden costs of inefficient collaboration

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Businesses lose a staggering 10,000 euros per employee every year due to ineffective communications and collaboration⁵. While 75% of employers throughout the world deem collaboration and teamwork to be "very important" , 39% of employees feel that this is not the case in their organizations⁶. Teams succeed when they are both focused on getting things done and on fostering relationships. It takes deliberate effort from members and leaders to have teams that perform effectively and sustainably. 

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Technology to enhance collective effectiveness

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By using diagnostic software to analyze how teams work, what team climates are present, the collective pain points of teams, you will be able to tackle these challenges with more precision, quality and efficiency. Successfully addressing these challenges can lead to improved overall organizational performance and competitiveness. At OpenDecide we place the light where others haven’t yet, by looking at the key determining factors, based on organizational behavior and work psychology science, that lead to effective, sustainable, aligned teams, that your employees won’t want to quit.

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Article references:

1. Dr. Mary Hayes et. al (2018, July 01)."Focus on Teams Drives Engagement in the Workplace" ADP Research Institute. https://www.adpri.org/assets/focus-on-teams-drives-engagment-in-the-workplace/
2. Deloitte Insights, (2016). "Global Human Capital Trends 2016." https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/global/Documents/HumanCapital/gx-dup-global-human-capital-trends-2016.pdf
3. Deloitte Insights, (2022).  “A memo to HR” https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/insights/focus/human-capital-trends/2020/changing-role-of-human-resources-management.html
4. Richter, A. W., Dawson, J. F., & West, M. A. (2011). The effectiveness of teams in organizations: A meta-analysis. The International Journal of Human Resource Management,22(13),2749-2769. https://doi.org/10.1080/09585192.2011.573971
5. Webtorials (2017) "Workplace productivity and communication technology" https://www.webtorials.com/main/resource/papers/Mitel/paper2/2017-Workplace-Productivity-SotM.pdf
6. Dan Barraclough (2023, September 4) "The Importance of Effective Workplace Communication - Statistics" https://www.expertmarket.com/phone-systems/workplace-communication-statistics#:~:text=86%25%20of%20employees%20and%20executives,efficacy%20on%20a%20daily%20basis