• Understand the role and importance of messages that support teamwork
• Understand how to write messages to your teammates

Teamwork in the Workplace

Even though you may have had frustrating experiences with group projects in school, there are many benefits of team collaboration versus individuals working independently in work environments. Two of the most notable are:

• Increased creativity:  Every employee brings a certain body of skills and knowledge to the group and will be able to contribute different ideas, experiences, and expertise. Shared knowledge and complementary skills are strong tools to be used to handle complex projects and assignments. The more the team talks about a project, the more ideas are generated. Having the perspective of several colleagues is often better than an individual having only one set of ideas.
• Increased productivity: In the technology industry, for example, high-performing teams are the norm in the workplace. The team works with the business owner or managers to decide exactly what work is committed to be completed in a set amount of time. The team then works together to break down the work into manageable tasks. During that work cycle, the team talks every day about their progress and work may be shifted between team members based on availability and expertise. As the team remains together over several work cycles, there is a measurable increase in the amount of work the team can accomplish.

Other benefits of collaborative teams are:^[1]

1. Teams promote a wider sense of ownership.
2. Teams encourage healthy risk-taking.
3. Teams contribute to employee satisfaction and retention.

Team-Focused Messages

Given the benefits of collaborative teams in the workplace, the key is how organizations can create the proper environment to foster team creation, collaboration, and growth. The right conditions have to exist to encourage trust, camaraderie, and the sharing of experience and expertise. Team-focused communication is a key component in successful teams. Team-focused messages share information but are also designed to enhance collaboration, trust, and camaraderie among team members.

Team-focused communication messages can take a variety of forms including IM, text, chat, email, video, audio, and document sharing. Team-focused messages can be short or long, casual or formal, but they must always be professional. Since teams are increasingly geographically distributed, virtual, and/or remote, companies must provide the tools and platforms to promote and facilitate team communication. 

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