What makes a great team?

Being a part of a team doesn’t mean working together and finishing up tasks and projects. It represents a unity that every single member can count on when it’s hard or share their successes and achievements.

Hi, my name is Julija and I am a member of CodeIT family.

Yeah, I’m feeling confident enough to consider myself to be a CodeIT family member. My colleagues are a great part of my life and take an extremely important part of it.

By this, I do not mean working extra hours or during weekends – I mean having the liberty to share the good and the bad, to give and receive support and respect, as well as a constructive criticism that has been pushing me forward constantly.

What are the factors that make a group of individuals called a team? We at CodeIT have five ammendments that we are constantly guided by.

I would list 5 factors we consider crucial for achieving genuine teamwork inside of any company. Just keep in mind – no, the teamwork and great communication don’t come naturally. You have to work on it, to grow and mature in order to stand up to the challenge and reach your objective. We always put all our efforts to maintain and ignite our team’s energy.

TRUST

Being able to admit your mistakes or oversights can often be considered normal and implied. But the reality is that employees usually try to hide them or even shift the blame on another colleague.

Creating an atmosphere where your team members feel free to share their doubts, insecurities, their mistakes and obstacles is something without there is no space for further development and growth.

That is the only way for them to make progress and improvements, but also to avoid the repetition of the same mistakes.

If your environment is based on unhealthy competition and toxic relationships, you will never earn the trust of your colleagues and will not be aware of what is happening in your company.

In order to avoid those scenarios, make sure to listen to your co-workers, to let them know they are appreciated and that their opinion matters. Try to nurture healthy atmosphere in your team and the trust will become an inevitable part of it.

UNITY

Being a part of any company surely isn’t always rainbows and butterflies. We often encounter with the periods of hard work, lack of motivation and sacrifice. However, those certain moments bring to overcoming the hard times together which is the essence of a great team.

That’s why teamwork is so unattainable and elusive. It is extremely hard to find the people who share the same energy, mission, vision and goals as the company’s. We are completely aware of that fact and can confidently claim that we are blessed to have reached that goal.

Our people represent something that we are constantly proud on and grateful for and we strongly believe that that is the key to success of any company. Our company is a great example for this claim, because, although we are a small team, we have achieved great things and have built some great products for huge clients.

CONFIDENCE

The beauty of working with people is the ability to learn and improve every day, and the open-mindedness is the only way that that can be achieved. A team is no place for ego or pride, on the contrary.

When your team members are confident of their knowledge and abilities, they cannot be egoistic nor egocentric. They would always love to be given the opportunity to share their knowledge or to mentor their beginner colleagues. Taking criticism for them represents a chance for improvement and they enjoy receiving it.

Those traits are something you would want to be a part of your company culture as that type of environment is the one where the people are going to be content, motivated, educated and, therefore, successful and goal oriented.

RESPECT

Mutual respect, no matter the title or the position in the company, is something that a successful team cannot work without. Every single member in the team must feel respected and important at all times in order to feel valuable and needed.

The lack of respect among the team members can create a hostile environment that would eventually lead to uncooperative and unhealthy atmosphere.

COMMITMENT

When commitment of your team is concerned, think about equality among all the members. Some of the main prerequisites for obtaining commitment in a team is motivating your team members, educating and challenging them, as well as allowing them to be heard and respected. When you accomplish all of the above, you will automatically receive commitment, dedication and loyalty of your team.

Always be aware of the fact that the experience is a two-way street and that the sincere communication and collaboration is the only way to growth and prosperity.

In conclusion, creating a team that can be called a family is an exhausting and time-consuming process, but once it’s achieved you realize that it was all worth it. Not only you get colleagues that you can trust, you also get people that you can rely on, give and receive advice, but also you create a working environment every member of the team enjoys and admires.

We at CodeIT have managed to reach this goal, but this list will be a constant reminder to always give our best to maintain that and to welcome every new colleague to our little family in the same manner.