“The way a team plays as a whole determines its success. You may have the greatest bunch of individual stars in the world, but if they don’t play together, the club won’t be worth a dime.” – Babe Ruth
One of the greatest traits leaders can cultivate throughout their workplace is unity, particularly in today’s workplace climate. Over the last couple of years, many organizations have witnessed spikes in workplace division, discord, lack of trust, and overall lack of engagement. Much of this can be attributed to recent political, health, and social justice events that continue to divide Americans and the world-at-large.
Creating a united work culture built upon trust, equity, and respect isn’t impossible; however, intentional planning, action, and sustainability is required from leaders and their employees. This isn’t to say conflicts or disagreements won’t arise, but leaders and employees should be equipped to resolve discord quickly and effectively when they do.
A significant component to jumpstarting workplace unity is leadership responsibility and ownership. As previously mentioned, mutual effort is required from employers and employees, but a thriving culture of teamwork and unity begins with a leader accepting the responsibility to drive necessary change for desired results. A leader’s behavior either promotes unity or division. Consider the three principles below to steer your team’s unity in an advantageous direction:
- Create a Cohesive Vision: Where there is no vision, there is no meaningful direction. If employees don’t feel as though they are working together for the common good, they are less likely to strive for unity. Consistently communicate the strategic vision and expectations to help employees move forward in one accord.
- Invest in Professional Team Development Efforts: Sometimes there are challenges only professionals and subject matter experts can help solve. Alchemy Consulting Group development process leads “groups” to work together as “teams” by identifying teamwork barriers, discussion and action planning, and realization of different styles of team members. The primary outcome of the team development process is an organization that is more effective in carrying out its mission and more successful in accomplishing sustainable bottom-line results.
- Create collaboration and avoid competition: Leaders should take the “one band, one sound” approach. Encourage individual value and uniqueness, while focusing the organization’s success on teamwork. Leaders should give individual recognition where appropriate, but avoid incentivized competition. Teamwork still makes the dream work.