Team Communication
Team communication is defined as the interaction that exists among the members of a workgroup. Effective team communication is essential in determining the ability of a group in performing the assigned tasks. It also helps in determining the morale and the extent of members’ enjoyments concerning their roles in a group (Nonose, Kanno, & Furuta, 2015).
Importance of Team Communication for Leading Teams
Effective team communication is a significant factor that contributes towards high performance and productivity in a group. Team communication takes into account understanding of the individual roles in the group, members listening to the instructions, leaders offering updates, insights, and giving progressive reports. The results would be members including leaders, and the collective unit should be in a position to understand what has been accomplished and the remaining parts that need to be completed (Nonose et al., 2015).
Team communication helps in developing a sense of identity and group cohesiveness. Sharing of ideas by the group members, engaging in professional debates, and working towards coming up with feasible resolutions forms crucial bonds that are meant to strengthen groups’ problem-solving abilities. Team communication, when applied efficiently in a workplace, leads to high engagement levels among the team members. High engagement causes the employees to be happy and hence increase their levels of performance and productivity. Scholars have linked high energies at work, commitments to venturing into new opportunities and ideas to high engagement (Thompson, 2013).
Through regular interactions among the team members, various ideas and challenges encountered are discussed. Regular discussions help in piggybacking and coming up with great ideas from the good ones. The discussions also assist in detecting potential problems before they occur. Team communication could also lead to the development of both personal and professional growth. Positive role model team leaders could help the employees improve their skills, for example, communication skills and conflict management and hence increasing their productivity and performance levels (De Vries, Van den Hooff, & de Ridder, 2006).
In the workplace, team communication should involve all the members of the company. There is a need to have both the up-down communication channel where the leaders give instructions and employees offer their feedbacks. All members of an organization should understand the instructions and the feedback well.
References
De Vries, R. E., Van den Hooff, B., & de Ridder, J. A. (2006). Explaining Knowledge Sharing the Role of Team Communication Styles, Job Satisfaction, and Performance Beliefs. Communication research, 33(2), 115-135.
Nonose, K., Kanno, T., & Furuta, K. (2015). An evaluation method of team communication based on a task flow analysis. Cognition, Technology & Work, 17(4), 607-618. doi:10.1007/s10111-015-0340-4
Thompson, L. L. (2013). Making The Team: A Guide for Managers (5th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.