1. Two (or more) Heads are Better than One
When solving complex problems, usually two heads is better than one. Of course individuals must be allowed the deep thinking time required to understand and analyse, but then bouncing ideas and thoughts off the team, the team questioning or challenging the ideas, can often lead to a better outcome, exposing solutions that may not have even been considered by the individuals working alone.
The diversity of backgrounds, experience and opinions will give a more rounded view on the task or problem the team is working on.
2. Reviewing Each Other’s Work as a Learning Experience
Reviewing each other’s work: when you get the team to review each other’s work, errors can be picked up earlier, important questions can be asked and answered, all before the customer sees the result. Additionally, knowledge can also be shared amongst the team. In one organisation, this was an established pathway for learning about other parts of the system.
3. Social Interaction
Most people need this interaction in the workplace. There are some lone wolves, but most people need the interaction, even if they are not sitting side by side with the team collaborating on a problem. When a team is working well, it really is a great experience for everyone in the team.
4. Many tasks are just too big for one person to tackle
Dividing and sharing a task means that the burden is spread and quite often the task can be done sooner. Or, looking at it another way, over time the workload is shared so no one person in the team is overburdened so burnout and fatigue is avoided. Analysing and discussing how to tackle bigger tasks leads to greater understanding by the team, shared responsibility, and shared joy when the task is accomplished.
5. Combining Skills Leads to Better Outcomes
The combined skills and knowledge of the team leads to better outcomes, usually. If each person is given the environment to produce their best work, the product produced by the team will quite often be better than each of the individuals doing the task in isolation.
Credits: Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash
