The Importance Of Team Development For Productivity

Team development plays a major role in the productivity levels of your organization and the engagement of your employees.

Not allowing employees to grow will eventually catch up with you and productivity will suffer. In turn, your attempt at achieving goals will be compromised.

• What is team development?
• Why will my employees need development?
• What is included in the team development process?
• What difference does team development make?
• Team development for productivity - Conclusion

What is team development?

When it comes to employee development there is nothing more important than the communication between the employee and his manager. 

Team development is the understanding of employee needs and your ability to grow these employees to their full potential for the benefit of the organization.

For this development process to be successful there need to be a two-way and healthy relationship between the manager and his employee.

This is not a process of instruction and execution but rather a process where decisions and goals are set and achieved together as a team. 

Once this development process starts the manager and his employee become a team.

To start this process clear objectives must be set which are based on organizational goals and personal achievement. The development of an employee must be done for a reason and it must be made clear in the beginning what the expected outcome will be. 

Not doing this will put both the employee and his manager on a wild goose chase which will result in wasted time and energy.

Why will my employees need development? 

Most of the time the new employees will need development that will make them a bigger asset to the organization. 

It will also benefit the manager as each individual contributes to the overall team effort of the people that he is leading.

Doing continuous development of individuals in a team ensures that there is a bond between team members and their manager.

At the end of the day, it is the overall goal of the organization that counts, and having a well-developed and structured team reporting to you will make it so much easier to achieve these goals.

With the ever-changing work landscape today it is important that employees remain skilful, knowledgeable, and up-to-date with the work environment. 

It is therefore important for the manager to identify areas where they need development becomes essential. 

The earlier these areas can be detected the more successful the development process will be.

What is included in the team development process?

For you to have a well-developed team of skilled employees it will be necessary to have a full development program in place.

This development process must include: 

• Mentoring 
• On-the-job training 
• Personal external studies 
• Taking part in cross-functional team projects 
• Applying newly found skills in the workplace 
• eLearning programs 
• Facilitator on internal projects 
• Attending job-specific workshops

What difference does team development make?

Many organizations will see these activities as an unnecessary cost to the company. 

These are the same organizations that wonder what went wrong when their goals are not achieved as expected. It is very easy to spot these organizations as you will see that they are trying to operate with fractured teams who have no understanding of what their end goals are.

On the other hand, you will immediately see that an organization that puts the effort into developing its team will always be a leader in its field of expertise. Their employees will always be more motivated and determined to achieve company goals. 

The cost of developing your employees will be priceless as you reap the reward on a continuous basis.

Team development for productivity - Conclusion

In order for productivity levels in your organization to remain at a high level, you must ensure that employees grow with demand. The only way to do this is to keep developing your team's skills so they themselves can grow as individuals.

Most don't see team development as a necessity but when they do make it a focal point they can immediately see the difference in productivity.