Six Strategies for Building a Cohesive IT Team

In order to provide your organization with the best IT service, you want a team that works well together, knows how to rectify difficult situations and is able to resolve differences of opinion when working on complex projects. What can a manager do to build such a team? Here are 7 team-building strategies you can implement with your IT staff:

• Create Diverse Teams – Diverse can mean from various generations or different cultures, but you also want a team with different backgrounds. This will ensure that everyone has something new and different to bring to the table and will enhance creativity and problem solving.

• Mix Up Skill Sets According to Project – Just because you have a great team for one project doesn’t mean that same team will work as well on another. For each assignment or project, consider the skill sets of each of your team members and blend them to create a team that works well together. For example, those experienced with Agile projects may not function well in a team environment using the 5S Methodology.

• Actively Manage Your Team – Being a leader means you have to be involved on every level—don’t just check in when you hear there’s a problem. Lead your team through decision-making processes or guide them through conflict management, for example.

• Communicate Goals, Clearly – Each project should have a clear set of goals, and each member of the team needs to understand them. Create a mission for each member of your team based on which team members will be responsible for what portions of the project, and share that mission.

• Listen Well –Part of being a good communicator is being a great listener. Team members may come to you with serious issues, or they may just need to vent. Either way, problems can often be repaired on the spot if you can listen, get to the root of the issue and troubleshoot immediately.

• Show Trust and Encourage Your Team – Don’t Micromanage – Your teams need to feel that you trust them to get the job done. Encouragement from you goes a long way in developing cohesive teams. If they know as a group that they’re doing a good job, they’ll want to continue.

• Allow Idea-Sharing – Before starting a project, consider holding a brainstorming session that involves all team members, even those who won’t be working directly together. One person’s thoughts may become an idea that piques everyone’s interest. And bonds often form among team members when they are allowed to express their thoughts and opinions.

The days of the IT team working in isolation are behind us. To work effectively, your employees need to know how to come together as a team. Give these strategies a try and see how your productivity levels rise!

And if you find you don’t have team members with the right skill sets, call Triumph! We know how to find the exact IT professionals you need.